Dakota Johnson has spoken candidly about her complicated feelings surrounding motherhood, while also offering a playful—and pointed—take on her long history of dating musicians.
The actor was in a six-year relationship with Coldplay singer Chris Martin, who shares two children, Apple, 22, and Moses, 20, with former wife Gwyneth Paltrow.
Afterward, Johnson was romantically linked to indie artist Role Model. More recently, speculation has connected her to Machine Gun Kelly, who is also a father of two.
Her connections to the music world stretch back even further. About a decade ago, the daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith was involved with Matthew Hitt, frontman of the band Drowners.
In a new Vogue cover story, Johnson was asked why so many musicians appear in her romantic history. Her response was lighthearted: “They like me. I don’t know what to say. And I like them.”
When the 36-year-old was asked what made musicians difficult to resist, she laughed and replied: “A lot! A lot. Tricky motherf***ers.”
Dakota Johnson has opened up about her feelings on musicians and her sadness over not yet having started a family
During a new Vogue cover interview, Johnson was asked about her history with musicians and joked: “They like me,” before adding, “And I like them”
The daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith has recently been linked by dating speculation to Machine Gun Kelly, pictured in Cleveland in May
Johnson also admitted that she “really” wants to become a mother. “I didn’t expect to be this age and at this place in my life, but for whatever reason, that’s the plan of the universe,” she said. “So I would love that. I hope that that happens for me.”
She continued: “I’ve always felt, especially the last few years, that there is a soul that wants to come through. And I hope that I’m lucky enough to be able to do that.”
Filming her upcoming movie The Three Incestuous Sisters made those emotions especially vivid. Johnson said co-stars Saoirse Ronan and Jessie Buckley, along with co-producer Ro Donnelly, had their young children with them on set.
“It’s hard to be around my best friends, and even on set, and everyone has their baby, and, you know, starting families, and things turned out differently than I thought,” the Fifty Shades of Grey star said. “But it’s okay. I’m hopeful for that.”
Asked directly about her current relationship status, Johnson remained guarded, telling Vogue: “I don’t want to say anything about that.”
She explained that she is “obsessed with people not knowing where I am or what I’m doing,” adding that she is “far too porous and sensitive and present” to cope easily with that level of public attention.
Romance rumors involving Johnson and Machine Gun Kelly intensified this week after the pair were reportedly seen leaving the same car and entering a New York apartment owned by Taylor Swift. TMZ reported that Swift was away at the time.
Kelly, 36, whose real name is Colson Baker, is reportedly said to have first met Johnson at Swift’s wedding to Travis Kelce at Madison Square Garden in July.
Johnson said she “really” hopes to have children, acknowledging that she never expected to be at this point in her life but remains hopeful about becoming a mother
“It’s hard to be around my best friends, and even on set, and everyone has their baby,” Johnson said, reflecting on how her life has unfolded differently from what she imagined
Johnson was in a six-year relationship with Coldplay frontman Chris Martin before Our News Outlet confirmed their breakup in June 2025; the pair are pictured in 2019
A month ago, claims began circulating that she had broken up with Role Model, aka Tucker Pillsbury, 29, who is pictured onstage at the Leeds Festival this August
As far back as a decade ago, the ‘ nepo baby’ of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith was involved with Matthew Hitt, lead singer of the Drowners; Hitt pictured last week
A month ago, claims began circulating that she had broken up with Role Model, aka Tucker Pillsbury, 29, whom she purportedly dated for eight months.
Kelly is father to two daughters – Casie, 17, by his teenage sweetheart Emma Cannon, and Saga, nearly 18 months, by Megan Fox, with whom he had a tempestuous on-off relationship over a span of four years.
Fox and Kelly split in November 2025, four months before their baby’s birth, when she allegedly discovered he had been speaking to other women behind her back.
Meanwhile, Our News Outlet confirmed in June 2025 that Johnson and Martin, 49, had decided to break their years-long engagement.
They were rumored to have had two previous brief breakups and subsequent reconciliations, one in 2019 and one in 2024.
Johnson enjoyed a famously amicable bond with Martin’s ex-wife Gwyneth Paltrow as well as the former spouses’ children Apple and Moses.
‘Dakota held a flame for them to be together because she loved him so much and loved his kids so much,’ the insider explained of their split.
‘Dakota is devastated that she isn’t going to be around his kids as much anymore, but wants them to know that she is always there for them.’
Martin and Paltrow married in 2003 and split in 2014, a development Paltrow inspired widespread mockery by describing as a ‘conscious uncoupling.’
