Dakota Johnson's family cut her off financially when she chose to pursue acting

Dakota Johnson was financially "cut off" by her family after she decided to pursue an acting career.

The 34-year-old star is the daughter of actors Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith — but they wanted Dakota to go to college rather than following in their footsteps.

Speaking about her dad on the Today show, Dakota shared: "He cut me off. He said if you go to college, you still get an allowance. And I was like, 'Well, I'm going to be an actress.' So he was like, 'Alright, well you're on your own.' I was cut off."

The brunette beauty ultimately turned to modelling in order to pay her rent while she pursued her acting ambitions.

Dakota said: "I definitely had moments where I couldn't afford groceries and things like that and needed to ask my mum to help me. She was the nice one."

In 2021, Don discussed his daughter's decision to shun college during an interview on Late Night With Seth Meyers.

The 74-year-old actor insisted that he was simply following family rules by refusing to give money to Dakota.

Don — who was married to Melanie between 1989 and 1996 — shared: "We have a rule in the family that if you stay in school, you get to stay on the payroll. And towards the end of high school, I went to her and I said, 'Um, so, do you want to go visit some colleges or something like that?'

"And she went, 'Oh, no, I'm not going to college.' And I went, 'OK. Well, you know what that means. I mean, you won't be on the payroll anymore, and how are you gonna manage?' And she says, 'Don't you worry about it.'"

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