It feels like it’s the summer of divorce, right? Celebrities are either splitting, finalizing their divorces or just doing it all in one go, as we saw with Blake and Miranda. In this case, Melanie Griffith, 57, and Antonio Banderas, 54, have finalized their divorce and signed the papers a year after they announced a breakup. This story is getting to me a little, because I’ve followed them for so long and because Antonio and Melanie are striving to remain friendly with each other. They just attended their daughter Stella’s high school graduation along with other family members. Melanie Instagrammed some photos that make it look like they all got along great. Plus Antonio had only nice things to say about Melanie, as he’s done throughout their relationship. I’m sad!
Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas have reportedly taken the final step toward ending their 18-year marriage more than a year after their split.
The duo reportedly signed their divorce papers and are now just waiting for a judge to sign off to make it official, according to TMZ, which first reported the news.
“It’s been over for a while,” a source close to Banderas tells PEOPLE. “There’s not a lot of drama with the two of them. They’re at the point where they can be civil to each other. They’re doing this in a healthy way. I know that Antonio is looking forward to the next chapter in his life.”
The recent signing took place well after the longtime couple first announced their split in June of last year, issuing a joint statement explaining their decision to end their “almost twenty-year marriage in a loving and friendly manner honoring and respecting each other, our family and friends and the beautiful time we have spent together…”
This was a fourth marriage for Griffith and a second for Banderas, who in January told a Spanish-language publication the former couple are still on good terms.
“We’re going to keep seeing each other,” he said. “We will continue. The family isn’t dead, not at all.”
I went through Melanie Griffith’s Instagram account and she posts a lot of sweet throwback pictures, quotes and current photos from her life. She’s also friendly with her first ex husband, Don Johnson, with whom she has daughter Dakota.
There was one quote that Melanie posted that cracked me up. She seems to be taking a dig at her ex’s new girlfriend. (The last we heard Banderas was dating a 30-something Dutch investment consultant.) She posted this at the end of December, right around the time Antonio was getting serious (and getting papped) with his new girlfriend.
Ha, damn girl! Well Melanie is officially single now. Maybe we’ll see her step out with someone new soon. I still wish they could have made it work, I really liked them together.
The photos below of Melanie and Antonio are from March, 2014 and November, 2013. Credit: WENN.com
Stella is lovely. Praying that she doesn’t ever alter herself surgically. Melanie has rendered herself unrecognizable.
She really does look different, doesn’t she? It’s sad how someone could dislike herself so much to want to change everything about her appearance
Her face looks painful, as if her mouth can’t move properly or relax.
I just watched Automata on Netflix and she was in it, in addition to him starring. Her scenes were painful to watch. He did a good job, though.
I never really followed this couple but just curious why this didn’t work out? Whenever I saw pics of them, I always thought they were cute together.
I find it rather refreshing that these two are maintaining their family without having to cram it down all of our throats at every given moment. They aren’t out to prove to the world that they can divorce better than anyone else…but they are, and I’m happy for them.
Paltrow/Martin and Garner/Affleck…take notes.
It really bothers me that remaining amicable is some amazing newsworthy thing. When you have kids together it should be the standard.
I agree. But it is incredibly difficult. My ex and I have finally managed it after 7 years of off and on animosity. For the first time ever I was invited to their house for a party for my daughter. Sad, right?
I can’t believe she is only 58. I really liked her and Don Johnson together. They were so hot. I was a fan of Antonio’s back when he was only making Spanish films. They got together when he could barely speak English. There must have been a very strong physical attraction to each other, but I never got them as a couple. They seemed mismatched.
I thought her and Don Johnson were hot together too!
Melanie has had a lot of issues (addiction of various forms, including plastic surgery). That kind of thing wears a partner down. Plus the unforgivable crime of aging when your partner realizes he has plenty of hot, younger pieces at the ready.
I think that, at one point, Antonio publicly threatened to leave her if she had any more plastic surgery. He really did seem to care for her but yes, her multiple issues probably weighed heavily on him.
She seems like she has a good personality, so I hope she can continue to battle her demons.
Melanie suffered from pill addiction for years and years while married to Antonio. Then she managed to sober up for a while, and he was very happy. It didn’t last though.
I don’t think it’s fair to blame Antonio for this divorce, and his new girlfriend is not some super young bimbo either.
Sour grapes on that Instagram post, makes her look petty. No woman laughs it off when her ex takes up with a woman twenty years younger. Just hold your head high and keep moving, Melanie.
She’s lucky Nicole didn’t answer back. Would have been too easy. ” No thanks, I have enough with Antonio.” ” I doubt they would be as filling.” Etc, etc.
We’re almost the same age, and I’m so sad about what she’s done to her face. She was achingly beautiful and now she looks synthetic. I never imagined a moment in which I’d compare my looks to hers and like mine better.
Tacky tweet.
A “Dutch investment consultant.” Some career woman. Funny, how she’s always with Antonio, on his arm in every country he’s in, never apart. Now, she’s just another younger woman who latches onto a rich older celeb and her identity is being at his beck and call traveling with him.
I know. It’s a tough job but someone has to do it.
I read that Antonio and Melanie clashed over her daughter Dakota Johnson pursuing 50 Shades. During the early part of 2013, several actresses were being considered, but many publicly eschewed the role.
Emma Watson, for one, responded to rumours she was one of the front runners by tweeting a scathing, “Who here actually thinks I would do 50 Shades of Grey as a movie? Like really. For real. In real life.”
Pretty Little Liars star Lucy Hale auditioned, but said it made her “uncomfortable”, and The Carrie Diaries’ Chloe Bridges told Cosmopolitan that, “The scene was, like, the girl telling her friends about some sexcapade she had. But it goes into extreme detail and uses the word ‘sperm’ a couple times. I was like, ‘I don’t know, guys, I have to go home to my grandparent’s house in a few months at Christmas, I don’t know if I can do this.’”
I think the perception that other actresses were publicly distancing themselves from the project made it seem like Dakota was going begging, willing to take what other actresses wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole.
The subject matter being so risqué was also a big factor. Antonio, despite being a Hollywood actor, is still very much a staunch Catholic, Mediterranean male who, despite acting with women in compromising situations, probably still has a double standard for the women in his own life. Dakota pursuing this role made him very uncomfortable. He would have been concerned about his own daughter Stella, who looks up to her older sister, and the negative influence/attention being drawn to their family.
Melanie is tight with the Kardashian mom, and I think when you surround yourself with people whose mantra is fame-at-all-cost, and a woman who sees absolutely no problem with using her own daughters as a ladder to fame and money, then any second thoughts you would have had goes out the window. As Melanie herself grew up rather liberally in Hollywood, it was inevitable that their different sensibilities would clash over this issue. Antonio’s disapproval also made Melanie defensive and made her feel Antonio was critical of her parenting.
Ultimately, Dakota is not his daughter and he had no say.
I don’t think Melanie was that comfortable with Dakota’s performance in 50 Shades.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7VdAUNa-OVg
I doubt Melanie’s daughter doing 50 shades, had anything to do with their divorce. I would like to think they had bigger issues in their marriage to decide to call it quits, especially for a couple that put in 18 years. They did amazing for Hollywood standards.
Nevertheless doing 50 Shades really put Dakota on the map. It gave her tons of publicity, magazine shoots (not just gossip mags but Vogue and other ‘quality’ magazines) and lots of money. So while a horrible film it was a smart move for her. If nothing else she’s now able to be financially independent of her parents
I wish Melanie and Antonio could have lasted too. But I guess, in the words of the Randy Crawford song, ‘Everything must change…’
There used to be a lot of talk that he always had someone on the side and that she condoned it.
By the way, I think that Melanie, in spite of her plastic surgery overkill, is more special and glamorous than Antonio’s new girlfriend Nicole Kimpel. Nicole, on the other hand might be less high-maintenance than Melanie… http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3169320/Antonio-Banderas-54-walks-hand-hand-girlfriend-Nicole-Kimpel-34-shoots-promo-video-Spanish-hometown.html
She looks totally gorgeous in the red dress in the first photo.
@deborah I completely agree!
Maybe Melanie should be flattered that Antonio’s dating a woman who even looks a bit like her…
This Nicole looks like she’s had some “work” done herself and is older than her given age?
After 20 years, I wonder what really was the deal breaker here?
Saw them together on a flight about 5 years ago. He was lovely. She was loony.
Details, details!
I sat across from them on a slight angle. She was obsessed with knowing the precise time and kept asking when flight would land. The flight attendant kept reassuring her of both. Still, every 10 minutes she would ask again. The flight attendant told her the times based on info from the captain. Still not enough for M. She asked yet again. He snapped at M saying it was asked and answered. Then he graciously apologized to the flight attendant. M finally stopped asking after that. So odd. And memorable.
Yeah, it’s sad. They seemed to weather a lot of storms together and seemed genuine, but i wouldn’t be surprised if he cheated throughout either. And zzzzzzzzzzz at him going immediately to a woman 20 years younger.
If they are so friendly, and everything is so great between them, why would she bother having that Antonio tattoo lasered off her arm? I mean, they were together for almost 20 years, have a child together. I just don’t think I would bother erasing my past. Besides, it must have hurt like hell to have that thing removed!
I think it’s just something famous Hollywood couples say publically nowadays, even if it’s through clenched teeth and one of the other is seething with resentment…
But I give them credit for trying, and maybe, just maybe, the longer they keep saying the split’s amicable, done with love and respect, the more they’ll actually internalize and believe it.
The post about the ex’s new girl wanting leftover sandwich is so petty. Clearly you’re not over it if you’re taking digs like that. Grow up and move on.
It really is—everyone is someone’s “leftovers” so to speak. I have a friend who refuses to date a man who was married or in love with anyone else, needless to say at 44 she has been in and out of relationships. She wants to be someone’s one and only. It isn’t possible. There was always someone before, get over it and for Melanie, now there is someone after.
I don’t know why I pull for some couples of the celebrity variety; it’s not like I know them. But I was definitely pulling for these guys.
Random thoughts:
love that they use the Scan “Mormor” for Tippi
their daughter is beautiful (no surprise with those genes!)
Tippi runs the Shambala wild animal sanctuary, and this alone to me makes her awesome.
MG had a weird upbringing and was allowed to date a much-older guy (Don Johnson) when she was 14 or something. I feel for anyone who has to grow up in LA and that bubble. Their daughter really sweet looking and too bad about their marriage. But I think AB was really bored of her. She probably would have stayed with him forever.
Meh, that wasn’t just LA; it was the 70s…
Even in my Mass. town, I remember teen girls dating older guys, and their parents were okay with it, as if these men were shepherding their daughters.
Strange times those were!
He seems like the marrying type. He’s practically for most of his adult life so I wouldn’t be surprised if he marries again. I wish Mel sobriety and the ability to see that she really doesn’t need any more plastic surgery.
I think she is also good friends with Steven Bauer, one of her other ex’s and father of her son Alexander. At least she goes to his premiers etc. She definitely likes to date actors but she does pretty well to keep them all as friends.