The Untold Truth Of Antonio Banderas' Ex-Wives

May 2024 · 2 minute read

Melanie Griffith has battled addiction for most of her life. She began drinking wine at 10 and slowly started relying on cocaine and alcohol to fill a void. As she told Vanity Fair [via People] in 1994, "I was never loved unconditionally," which was likely the result of having a superstar mother, Tippi Hedren, and busy ad executive father, Peter Griffith.

Her dependence intensified — she was secretly drinking and doing drugs on the job. The turning point came when she showed up to the Working Girl set too drunk to walk down some stairs. Filming stopped and, the following day, assistant director Mike Haley demanded she pay $80,000 to cover lost production costs. In return, he wouldn't report her to studio execs. Three weeks later, the actress checked into rehab.

Griffith relapsed and returned to rehab in 2000. This time around, her children had been the catalyst. As she explained to AARP in 2011, "I started on pain pills when I hurt my knee skiing and just kept taking them. The kids knew; Dakota and Stella called me on it." Meanwhile, Griffith had been sure she was balancing addiction and motherhood perfectly. As she told PORTER Magazine [via E!], "I was a totally functioning mom. I wasn't like a drunk-on-the-floor, out-of-it person. I didn't do some things I probably should have done, but, mostly, I was there for my kids."

Griffith entered rehab for a third time in 2009 and, in 2015, she celebrated over five years of sobriety.

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