Navigating life in the limelight is something Johnson has done since her own childhood days—as she grew up in a blended family that included her actor dad Don Johnson as well as her Oscar-nominated mom Melanie Griffith and stepdad Antonio Banderas, plus six siblings.
“When I was little, there were times when it was really quite frightening, and people would aggressively and physically try to get to my mom when we were just going to the supermarket or something,” the Suspiria star recalled to Vogue Germany in 2025. “If you accept that as normal as a young child, it can lead to a lot of insecurities.”
“Then, of course,” she continued, “there’s the fact that you’re in the public eye, and the world knows about your private life in a way that’s very invasive, outrageous, and painful. So yes, there are downsides, but there are also incredible advantages—like with everything, I think.”
It’s not that Johnson is complaining about being famous. It’s just that she doesn’t appreciate it when boundaries get crossed.
“There’s a set time and place to be photographed for what I do. That’s part of my job,” she acknowledged to Bustle in 2024. “But to be photographed when I don’t know I’m being photographed and it’s a private moment? That feels like the most invasive, violating, horrible thing. People say that’s the price you pay when you’re famous, but I don’t believe that’s necessarily true.”
Comparing the paparazzi to “invisible germs,” as Johnson called them in a 2021 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, she does her best to avoid them.
“Luckily, I figured out ways to evade them, and I’m not giving away my secrets,” she continued. “But truly it takes a lot to have a private life.”
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