It was the perfect pairing – a handsome British singer and a glamorous Hollywood star – and for eight years, Chris Martin and Dakota Johnson seemed on track for a happy ending.
But three weeks ago, sources close to the former couple confirmed the pair’s love story had flamed out – leaving Johnson ‘devastated’.
Now, the Daily Mail can reveal one person still hasn’t given up on the couple: the actress’s mom, Melanie Griffith, who thinks the split is a ‘huge mistake’ and is putting in the effort to bring them back together.
‘Melanie is desperately working behind the scenes to save Dakota’s strained relationship with Chris,’ a well-placed source told the Daily Mail.
‘She’s convinced that they are meant to be together and isn’t giving up on them. She thinks her daughter is making a huge mistake and needs to meet Chris halfway.
‘Melanie has always felt a kinship with Chris, he’s like a son to her.’
Martin, 48 and a father of two, and acting royalty Johnson, 35, were first spotted together in 2017 and were most recently seen in May.
The relationship had weathered multiple break-ups and make-ups, according to sources, and the pair reportedly even became engaged in 2020.
Johnson – whose dad is movie icon Don Johnson – even became close to Martin’s two children, Apple and Moses, whom he had with ex-wife Gwyneth Paltrow.
‘I love those kids like my life depends on it,’ she told Bustle last year. ‘With all my heart.’
But that wasn’t enough to prevent trouble in paradise with sources telling the Daily Mail the pair had been having ‘the same issues for some time’.
While the couple themselves have called time, Griffith, 67, has refused to concede defeat and is now badgering the pair to go to relationship therapy, as well as woo-woo ‘energy work’ in a bid to get them back on track.
‘Melanie has been seeking advice from her friends in the healing community, mostly in the Malibu area,’ an insider dished.
‘She’s been trying to get Dakota and Chris to work with a non-traditional couple’s therapist who incorporates energy work to help detect and detach generational trauma.
‘She said all they need is some laser focus guidance to set them straight once and for all.’
But while Griffith – who has a checkered relationship history of her own that includes divorcing Johnson twice and a high-profile marriage to actor Antonio Banderas – is dead set on saving her daughter’s relationship, she is nervous of appearing controlling or obtrusive.
‘Melanie doesn’t want to be the meddlesome mother, but she has years of recovery and practices a solid spiritual program,’ the insider added.
‘She said she’s coming from a place of authentic love for her daughter, rather than control.
‘She wants them both to be happy, if they’d just leave their egos at the door and lead with their hearts.’
That may be a tall order at the moment with rocker Martin currently touring with his band, Coldplay, while Johnson has been promoting her ironically named comedy, Splitsville.
As a result, sources say the pair have been leading increasingly separate lives with Martin playing dates in Las Vegas, Denver and El Paso in the last three weeks alone.
Also on the schedule are stops in Toronto, Nashville and Miami next month, plus a succession of August dates at London’s Wembley Stadium and a two-night stop in the down-at-heel Yorkshire town of Hull.
Johnson is also promoting a second movie – romantic comedy Materialists in which she stars opposite Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal.
The movie was released amid the split drama on June 13 and has grossed $24 million in the US and Canada to date and $7 million worldwide.
