Antonio Banderas, 54, gushes about former wife Melanie Griffith, 57, as he publicly comments on their divorce for the 1st time since splitting with the actress last year June after 18 years of marriage and vowing to keep the breakup details private. Banderas stated the divorce was meant to be done in a ‘loving and friendly‘ manner and he’ll ‘always love‘ her.
While appearing on a Spanish TV show El Hormiguero, he said: “It was a hard year. I had lot of work and my private life was also hard, but life goes on. I really admire Melanie as an actress, I have always said that. I have a big respect for her in her career, for that reason she is in the film (‘Automate’). She is a person that I loved, I love and I always will love, whatever our status is.”
Melanie had also previously commented on her relationship status now, saying she’s happy to be treading on a new chapter in her life and she hoped to find a more down-to-earth kind of guy. ‘I think I’d like to meet a cowboy, like a real man’s man,’ Griffith told Mario Lopez. ‘Like somebody who’s a man and who’s not concerned with this town,’ she further explained.