Antonio Banderas on his ex-wife Melanie Griffith: "We are still best friends"

BarcelonaIn the nineties, one of the couples formed as a result of sharing screen time was that of actors Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith. The couple met at the 1989 Oscars ceremony, where Banderas accompanied Pedro Almodóvar for Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988). It wasn't until 1995 that love blossomed during the filming of Fernando Trueba's comedy Two much (1995). Banderas and Griffith married a year later and had the actor's only biological daughter, Stella Banderas, who is now 29 years old. In 2015, the couple officially divorced. Nevertheless, their relationship did not cool down. In an interview with People magazine, Antonio Banderas confesses that he still maintains a great relationship with Melanie Griffith: “We are still best friends”.

Banderas explains, eleven years after the divorce, that he still meets with Griffith. “When I go to Los Angeles, we get together and have a great time. It's a very healthy relationship, and it's been very positive for our children,” says the actor. Melanie Griffith already had two children from two previous relationships: Alexander Bauer, son of actor Steven Bauer, and actress Dakota Johnson, daughter of fellow actor Don Johnson. Banderas assures that Griffith is an “incredible mother” and says he enjoys seeing “how her children have become good people”. “When we were a couple and when we separated, we were always very honest –explains Banderas–. We parted ways in a very cordial manner, which was very important for the children and for us.” The 65-year-old actor has been in a romantic relationship for a decade with businesswoman Nicole Kimpel, 44.

Dakota Johnson spoke in 2019 about the good relationship she had with her stepfather during the Hollywood Film Awards ceremony. The actress presented the award for best actor to Banderas for his work in Pain and Glory (2019), which earned him his first and only Oscar nomination. “There are times when, when your parents remarry, you can have a nightmare. But I got a gift of a father, and over the years he has become one of the most important people in my life,” the actress stated during the awards speech.

Banderas and Griffith were photographed this April at a dinner in Los Angeles and shared images on their social networks in which they appeared together with their daughter Stella and her husband, Alex Gruszynski. In another interview with People magazine, Banderas explained that the heart attack he suffered in 2017 was "the best thing that had ever happened to him in his life." "I was too worried about trivial things and we forget that we all have to die," stated Banderas.