Dakota Johnson Weighs in on Reported Feud With 'Fifty Shades' Co-Star Jamie Dornan

Dakota Johnson has opened up about the making of Fifty Shades of Grey like never before – including her alleged feud with co-star Jamie Dornan. The two played the starring roles of Ana Steele and Christian Grey, respectively, and longstanding rumors suggested that they did not get along in spite of their intimately close scenes together. This week, Johnson said that there was never any truth to those stories in an interview with Vanity Fair.

"There was never a time when we didn't get along," Johnson said candidly when asked about Dornan. "I know it's weird, but he's like a brother to me. I love him so, so, so much. And we were really there for each other. We had to really trust each other and protect each other... We were doing the weirdest things for years, and we needed to be a team: 'We're not doing that,' or, 'You can't do that camera angle.'"

Fans naturally speculated about Johnson and Dornan as they starred in perhaps the most famous erotic romance franchises of the last several decades. Some shared clips from interviews where the two seemed awkward around each other as evidence of behind-the-scenes drama. However, the stars themselves have only ever had positive things to say about one another.

Dornan notably praised Johnson at the premiere of the final movie, Fifty Shades Freed in 2018. At the time, he told Entertainment Tonight: "I was only cast five weeks before we started filming the first movie, and that's when I met Dakota for the first time. [Now] it's been three years, [and] Dakota and I are very close. We've got a great sort of love and respect for each other. We're great friends and I think that makes it easier, you know? So it's definitely more comfortable."

Dornan aside, Johnson did share some frank thoughts on the making of the film franchise. She said that author E.L. James "had a lot of creative control, all day, every day, and she just demanded that certain things happen. There were parts of the books that just wouldn't work in a movie, like the inner monologue, which was at times incredibly cheesy. It wouldn't work to say out loud. It was always a battle. Always."

Pointing out some of the other production snafus, Johnson said that the making of the entire trilogy "just became something crazy. There were a lot of different disagreements. I haven't been able to talk about this truthfully ever, because you want to promote a movie the right way, and I'm proud of what we made ultimately and everything turns out the way it's supposed to, but it was tricky."

"There are things that I still cannot say because I don't want to hurt anyone's career and I don't want to damage anybody's reputation, but both Jamie and I were treated really well. Erika is a very nice woman, and she was always kind to me and I am grateful she wanted me to be in those movies," Johnson said. "Look, it was great for our careers. So amazing. So lucky. But it was weird. So, so weird."