Dakota Johnson says her grandmother Tippi Hedren still lives with lions and tigers
Dakota Johnson has revealed that grandmother Tippi Hedren still lives with lions and tigers at her home in Los Angeles.
The Hollywood star was appearing on Graham Norton when she spoke about how Alfred Hitchcock star Hedren, 90, continues to look after big cats, before sharing her childhood memories of growing up around the animals. Johnson's mother Melanie Griffiths was brought up with lions and tigers, which was chronicled in a famous 1971 Life magazine article.
"Yes, she still has 13 or 14 lions and tigers..." Johnson told Norton. "There used to be 60 cats, and now there's just a couple."
Presenter Norton then produced a vintage image of Hedren talking casually on the phone while a tiger leaps through her kitchen window.
"It is what it is," Johnson joked. "Yeah, classic. It happens to me all the time."
Norton also shared an incredible photo of Melanie Griffiths as young girl jumping into a swimming pool while a lion grabs her leg.
"Oh yes, with the leg in the mouth," the star laughed. "She didn't lose the leg."
Recalling her memories of being around the lions and tigers as a little girl, Johnson said: "By the time I was born they were all in huge compounds and it was a lot safer. It wasn't as totally psycho as it was when they first started."
Hedren is an animal-rights activist and conservationist, and runs the Roar Foundation and animal sanctuary, Shambala Preserve, in California. The preserve cares for endangered exotic big cats such as African lions, Siberian tigers and Bengal tigers, leopards, servals, mountain lions and bobcats.
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