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Show Melanie Griffith spent her youth fleeing—through sex, marriage, alcohol, drugs— from relentless insecurity and self-doubt. Now, with a newfound serenity and settled into family life, she speaks of the crucial lesson she will pass on to her daughters: First, LoveYourself “GROWING UP, I FELT VERY insecure,” Melanie Griffith recalled whenI asked aboutherchildhood.“I realize how muchthataffected me, and that’s why I now makeour family the focus of mylife.” We were in thelibrary: of the 1925 Mediterranean-stylevilla in Los Angelesthat the 42-year-old actress and her husband, the actor Antonio Banderas, 39, restored last year. “And this house.” she added, “seemsto representthe feeling of stability SR CR TTT Poe etaaa | EN ec eT my Ot eC Ture that we hope to create for our- “Before, selves and our children.” I wanted to knowhow Griffith MObody fh had reachedthelevel of serenity wanted me to she now seemsto enjoy.It was, she admitted,theresult of strug- take my life in gling through tumultuoustimes. my own hands. Bom Aug.9, 1957, to the actress Tippi Hedren and Peter Griffith, an felt I finally actor turned New York ad executive, Melanie was only 4 when her parents divorced and her mother gy) identity moved to Hollywood.“tIfelt a real had to find my sense of instability,” Griffith told and what I me.The family situation was further really value.” complicated whenherparents both remarried. Her father and his second wife soon had a daughter and sonoftheir own;her mother’s second husband,the TV producer Noel Marshall, had three older sons from a previous marriage. “With myEast Coastfamily, I was the oldest and wasexpected to be very. very good,” Griffith explained. “With my mother and Noelon the West Coast, I wasthe youngest and a brat who had to be reprimanded..1 boarding schoolto give me the chance to | always feared abandonment, because I growup,” she added.“ButI was defiant. didn’t feel I fit in anywhere.” [thoughtI knewwhatwasright for me.” She hid herfears behinda rebellious (The couple married four years later, in streak. She was barely 15 when she met 1976, but were divorced by the nextyear.) the 22-year-old actor Don Johnson and Griffith also was precociousin her announcedthat she wanted tolive with professionallife. At 16, she auditioned him. “T didn’t have to put upa big fight,” for what she thought was a modeling Griffith recalled. “I moved in with him assignmentand instead wascast as the in a cottagein the HollywoodHills.” runaway daughterin Arthur Penn’s film WhatI really needed wastobe sentto Night Moves(1975). Several film roles 8 YE GE LEN. A Careerof Allure and Laughter with Harrison Ford and Sigourney Weaver. “Body Double,” 1984, crittitn ACR WOKE: § eeeceRem reee £6 PHOTOGRAPH AY BLAKE LITTLE: STYLIST, ROBERT BEHAR: TOP BY PRADA PAGE 4+ AUGUST 6, 2000 + PARADE MAGAZINE |