Dakota Johnson says she wants to slow down her acting career and make room for a family, telling Vogue that she has felt for years that there is a soul waiting to come into her life.
The 36-year-old actress, whose breakout role as Anastasia Steele in the «Fifty Shades of Grey» films made her a household name in the 2010s, said starting a family is something she genuinely wants. «I really do. I do, 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. 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.»
Johnson acknowledged that watching friends and co-stars build families can be difficult when her own life has taken a different shape than she once imagined. Even so, she said she remains hopeful that parenthood will still happen for her.
The comments come as Johnson signals a shift in how she wants to live and work. After years of moving from one production to the next, she described a growing desire to step back and experience a more grounded daily life. «I've worked back-to-back for so long that now I have this deep calling to shift my perspective a bit and maybe have a bit more of a real life,» she said. «I've been gone for, like, 20 years. The people in my life are so used to me leaving for months at a time.»
That sense of constant departure has shaped her relationships, she suggested, and her main goal now is to live authentically. «I want to unfold and unfold and really lovingly embrace this life,» she said.
Johnson built her career steadily before «Fifty Shades» turned her into a star, with early roles in films including «The Social Network» and «21 Jump Street.» She went on to appear in «Peanut Butter Falcon,» «Madame Web» and «The Materialists,» balancing studio projects with smaller, director-driven work.
Her next film, «Verity,» is a psychological thriller based on Colleen Hoover's novel and also stars Josh Hartnett and Anne Hathaway. Johnson plays Lowen Ashleigh, a ghostwriter hired to finish a book series written by Verity Crawford after Crawford suffers an injury, only to discover that the situation is not what it appears to be.
Johnson said the film's director, Michael Showalter, gave her direction that was «so extremely camp,» a style she does not naturally identify with as an artist. She described the experience as fun nonetheless, with the cast and crew drawing on erotic thrillers as a shared reference point. «Our references and guidelines were all these erotic thrillers that people are like, Okay, this is ridiculous, but I'm enjoying myself,» she said.
Johnson comes from a family with deep Hollywood roots. Her mother is Academy Award-nominated actress Melanie Griffith, her father is «Miami Vice» star Don Johnson, and her maternal grandmother is actress Tippi Hedren.
For now, the actress appears to be weighing a future that includes both a demanding career and the personal life she has long wanted, telling Vogue she hopes the universe will make room for both.