Just because Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith put an end to their nearly-20-year marriage in 2014 doesn’t mean they’re not still the best of friends.
In an interview with Vulture, the 59-year-old Spanish actor revealed not only are he and the “Working Girl” star on good terms, they are as close as ever.
“I am not married with Melanie anymore but she is my family,” said Banderas of Griffith, 62. “She is probably one of my best friends, if not the best friend that I have.”
In the interview, Banderas recalls the first time he met his future ex-wife, admitting it was literally a case of love at first sight.
“The first time I went to the Academy Awards after we got a nomination for ‘Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown’, we got on the red carpet and I saw this blond woman and I knew her because I saw movies of her, but I didn’t remember [her name] at the time. So, I said to [director] Pedro [Almodovar], ‘Who is she? Who is she? What is her name?’ Pedro said, ‘That’s Melanie Griffith!’ I said, ‘That’s it. Oh my God.’ Six years later, I was married to her.”
Banderas also gushed with pride about Dakota Johnson, Griffith’s daughter with previous husband Don Johnson.
“I met her when she was five years old!” says Banderas of the “Fifty Shades of Grey” star. “I followed every single step of it. I’m so proud of her. I saw her the other day in Toronto and she looks — as I said in the social networks when I put a picture of her and myself, I put there, ‘My radiant Dakota.'”
