News | Entertainment
16 Jul 2025 9:32
NZCity News
NZCity CalculatorReturn to NZCity

  • Start Page
  • Personalise
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • Finance
  • Shopping
  • Jobs
  • Horoscopes
  • Lotto Results
  • Photo Gallery
  • Site Gallery
  • TVNow
  • Dating
  • SearchNZ
  • NZSearch
  • Crime.co.nz
  • RugbyLeague
  • Make Home
  • About NZCity
  • Contact NZCity
  • Your Privacy
  • Advertising
  • Login
  • Join for Free

  •   Home > News > Entertainment

    Don Johnson “hand-raised” dozens of lions and tigers with his ex-wife Melanie Griffiths

    The ‘Miami Vice’ star, 71, helped Melanie, 64 and his ex-mother-in-law Tippi Hedren, 91 - nurse lion and tiger cubs at Shambala Preserve, the sanctuary she founded


    Don told the hosts of ‘The Jess Cagle Podcast with Julia Cunningham’:

    “We hand raised those lions and tigers. Probably between Melanie and I, we hand raised 20 or 30 lions and tigers. And when they get to be teenagers, which is around six months old, then we would take them out to the reserve. But yeah, we would raise them, bottle feed them and then move them over to regular cat food. I got pretty good at working with the wild cats."

    Along with the lions and the tigers, Melanie and Don raised Dakota Johnson, 32, who herself is now an actress with with credits in movies such as ‘50 Shades of Grey’ and ‘The Social Network’.

    Dakota previously spoke of how her grandmother’s reserve was still active, but smaller, but admitted it was "psycho" to begin with.

    She said: “She has 13 or 14. There used to be like 60 cats, and now there’s just a couple. 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.”

    Tippi’s animals famously featured in a Life magazine feature in 1971, showing Neal, a lion who made her home his own, such as cuddling with the family and getting into Melanie's bed. It was stupid beyond belief."

    Along with Dakota, the actor has four other children; Jesse Johnson, 38, whose mother is model Patti D’Arbanville and three kids with his current wife Kelley Phleger, a 21-year-old daughter named Grace, and two sons Jasper, 19, and Deacon, 15.

    © 2025 Bang Showbiz, NZCity

     Other Entertainment News
     16 Jul: Rita Ora thinks mutual support is the key to her marriage to Taika Waititi
     16 Jul: Sarah Jessica Parker refuses to watch And Just Like That...
     16 Jul: Lala Kent knew about Brock Davies' affair before it became public knowledge
     16 Jul: Billie Lourd's kids will "freak out" about her Smurfs role
     16 Jul: Kelly Clarkson cried after cancelling the opening night of her Las Vegas residency
     16 Jul: David Kaff has died aged 79
     16 Jul: Brody Jenner has married Tia Blanco
     Top Stories

    RUGBY RUGBY
    All Black Sevu Reece has declared himself ready to return to the test arena More...


    BUSINESS BUSINESS
    Inflation's back on the rise around the world More...



     Today's News

    Business:
    Inflation's back on the rise around the world 9:27

    Entertainment:
    Rita Ora thinks mutual support is the key to her marriage to Taika Waititi 9:10

    Entertainment:
    Sarah Jessica Parker refuses to watch And Just Like That... 8:40

    Law and Order:
    The cause of death of a baby found at an Auckland recycling plant nearly four years ago, remains a mystery 8:37

    Business:
    As house prices drop, will the retirement nest egg still be such a safe bet? 8:27

    Politics:
    Federal Court rules Australian government doesn’t have a duty of care to protect Torres Strait Islanders from climate change 8:17

    Entertainment:
    Lala Kent knew about Brock Davies' affair before it became public knowledge 8:10

    Education:
    The deaths of three people in an afternoon-school crash has rocked the small Auckland town of Waiuku 8:07

    Education:
    Florida is fronting the $450M cost of Alligator Alcatraz – a legal scholar explains what we still don’t know about the detainees 8:07

    Politics:
    Why Israel is conducting strikes in Syria as sectarian violence rages 7:57


     News Search






    Power Search


    © 2025 New Zealand City Ltd