Antonio Banderas and Stepdaughter Dakota Johnson Reunite in Cute Pic
Originally appeared on E! Online
Dakota Johnson is back with her Paponio.
The Madame Web star recently reunited with her stepfather Antonio Banderas in his hometown of Málaga, Spain, where he is directing a Spanish version of the '70s musical They're Playing Our Song at his Teatro del Soho CaixaBank theater.
The Mask of Zorro actor, who was once married to Johnson's mother Melanie Griffith, shared photos of himself and the Fifty Shades of Grey actress onstage with several people. Antonio, 63, also posted a shot of the two of them inside the restaurant Atrezzo, one of several he co-owns in the town.
He captioned his July 9 Instagram post, "Happiness: Dakota in Malaga!"
Antonio and the 34-year-old, whose dad is actor Don Johnson, have reunited several times since he and Melanie divorced in 2015 after 18 years of marriage.
"I come from a family of many a marriage and I got very lucky," Dakota said in 2019 at the Hollywood Film Awards, where she presented Antonio with the Hollywood Actor Award for his performance in Pain and Glory. "I got a bonus dad who I realized that, over time, is actually one of the most influential people in my whole life."
More from E! Online
Antonio, who moved back to Málaga and opened his theater that same year, is known to Dakota by a special nickname.
"She called me 'Paponio,'" he told E! News' Francesca Amiker in 2022. "I am 'Papi' and 'Antonio' altogether, so she always called me 'Paponio.'"
For Dakota, her Paponio is also a role model.
"I remember growing up with him, and how he would train for things and get ready for stuff," Dakota told E! News at the Madame Web premiere in February. "I'm disciplined, and take care of my body and do the proper training needed—he's really hard core with that stuff—but I learned a lot from him."
Look back at Antonio and Dakota's cutest moments over the years...
Dakota Johnson had her first acting role in Antonio Banderas' directorial debut, 1999's Crazy in Alabama, which starred her mother, Melanie Griffith. Johnson played Sondra in the movie, which didn't mark the first time she had spent time with her stepfather on a set, telling Architectural Digest that she once delivered an Easter basket to Madonna while Banderas was filming Evita with the pop star in Budapest in 1996.
Those memories are still cherished by Banderas, who previously said, "She's my daughter, I love her. I've been with her on my shoulders, traveling all around the world."
While Johnson wowed in a gold Gucci dress at the 2017 Academy Awards, it wasn't the first time she attended the major event. In 2000, a then 10-year-old Johnson accompanied her stepfather and mom to the Oscars. Wearing a purple dress and jacket, Johnson even did interviews with the couple, chatting with the late Joan Rivers, adorably turning to Griffith to ask, "Um...is it?" when Rivers asked if this was her first Oscars.
"Dakota called me Paponio, which is a mixture between papa, which is 'daddy' in Spanish, and Antonio," he told Vulture of the adorable nickname she had given him while growing up. "I am her Antonio papa, so Paponio."
Johnson got emotional when she presented an award to Banderas at the 2019 Hollywood Film Awards.
"I come from a family of many a marriage and I got very lucky," Johnson, whose dad is actor Don Johnson, said. "I got a bonus dad who I realized that, over time, is actually one of the most influential people in my whole life," she said. "When I was six years old, my mother married a man who brought an unbelievably bright light and a whole new world of creativity and culture—and one remarkably magical little sister into our family."
Tearing up, Johnson continued, "My stepfather—f*#k! Antonio Banderas burst into our lives. He was so vibrant and so fun and so funny and his English was abstract and we found it absolutely amazing. He loved my mother, and my siblings and I so big, and so fiercely and so loud, that it would change all of our lives together."
After accepting the award, Banderas returned the favor, sweetly shouting out Johnson and her sister, Stella, 25.
"I want to dedicate this to two people that I love, one is right here, Dakota, for something very simple, because you always call me papi, and still now you call me papi and I love that!" the Pain and Glory actor said on stage. "You have no idea how much I love that!"
At the 31st Palm Springs International Film Festival several weeks later, Banderas revealed to E! News that he had no idea that Johnson would be giving such a touching speech.
"It was all a surprise," he said. "Totally. I mean, I knew that she was going to give the speech, but I had no idea whatsoever how she was going to just do her speech, she didn't tell me anything."
It was a poignant moment as it confirmed to him that the two decades they spent as a family meant just as much to her as they did to him.
"I thought and felt that all of those years," Banderas admitted. "But I knew that it was a confirmation that all of those years that Melanie and I spent together, they were years that was not only just about Melanie and me, they were about the family. They were worth it all."
For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App