Don Johnson met the mother of his eldest child in a rather unconventional manner.
In an interview with People magazine, the “Miami Vice” star recalled he met model and actress Patti D’Arbanville “because I was working on a movie in New York, and I went down to Andy Warhol’s factory.”
“I walked in, and standing on the table stark naked was the mother of my first son. She was doing what I think was the very first cover photo shoot for Interview magazine,” he continued. “She was just so beautiful and captivating.”
Johnson had previously been briefly married to Melanie Griffith when she was 18 in 1976, after first meeting when she was 14. They divorced in November that same year.
During that break, he and D’Arbanville became a couple in 1981 after reconnecting at a restaurant, where Johnson arrived with then-girlfriend Tanya Tucker but left with D’Arbanville, according to a 1984 interview with the magazine.
“She moved in that night,” he told the outlet at the time. “And we stayed in bed for about eight days. The houseboy kept bringing food and water.”
“I walked in, and standing on the table stark naked was the mother of my first son.”
— Don Johnson
D’Arbanville became pregnant with their son, Jesse, and they mutually agreed to not get married.
“I can’t commit to marrying right now,” he told her, and D’Arbanville replied, “I’m not into that either.”
Fatherhood and their relationship helped Johnson quit drugs and alcohol.
“I walked into the breakfast room one morning,” he said in the 1984 interview. “The sun was shining, and the birds were singing, and Patti was feeding the baby. I came staggering in and sat down and looked at them, and she looked at me, and I knew that if I didn’t do something, she was going to leave. So I said, ‘Patti, I’m a drunk and a drug addict, and I’m going to do something about it.’”
In 1985, he landed his breakout role on “Miami Vice,” and a year later, in 1986, he and D’Arbanville permanently split.
Johnson went on to marry Griffith a second time in 1989, and they remained together until 1996. Johnson also adopted Griffith’s son from her relationship with actor Steven Bauer, Alexander Bauer, per People.
After his split from Griffith, the “Doctor Odyssey” star married Kelley Phleger in 1999. The couple share three children: Atherton Grace, Jasper and Deacon.
The 74-year-old credits his happiness with Phleger to staying young and energetic.
“Marry right!” he told People magazine, adding, “A bad marriage will age you.”
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