Dakota Johnson revealed that her father, actor Don Johnson, cut her off financially after she was rejected from the prestigious Juilliard School. The 35-year-old actress discussed this experience with “Materialists” co-star Pedro Pascal for Elle UK.
Johnson applied to Juilliard but was rejected and did not attend college as her parents had initially expected. As a result, Don Johnson limited his financial support for Dakota, forcing her to audition for acting roles.
“It was fine, I really didn’t want to go to college,” Johnson recalled. “And because Juilliard felt so small – the idea of being in a classroom with the same group of people, and figuring out how to be a human in that environment, after growing up surrounded by so many different kinds of people and immersed in different cultures through traveling all over.”
Don Johnson has a rule in his family where if you don’t go on to college and get a job, you’re off the “family payroll.” When Dakota was graduating from high school, Don asked her about her plans for college, and she told him she didn’t want to attend. He warned her that acting would not be stable enough as a career.
However, Dakota’s luck changed when she landed a role in Aaron Sorkin’s 2010 biographical drama “The Social Network.” Her breakthrough came when she starred as Anastasia Steele in the 2015 film “50 Shades of Grey” and reprized her role in its sequels.
Source: https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/dakota-johnson-struggled-pay-rent-father-don-johnson-cut-financial-support