Heather Joy Arrington and Elle Fanning. | Source: Getty Images
Heather Joy Arrington, Dakota, and Elle Fanning's mom was not an intense stage mom and supported her daughters' incredible careers which started when they were toddlers.
Heather Joy Arrington had her daughters in many different activities, like sports, violin, and ballet, to see what they had an affinity for. Yet it came out of the blue that neither of her children had the sporty gene, which runs strong on both sides of their gene pool.
The mother of two is sporadically seen with her daughters in paparazzi shots but does to chase the limelight for herself, nor has she ever been a 'momager.' The Fanning sisters are known for their perfect manners on set and sending handwritten thank you notes, a habit both their parents encouraged.
Heather Joy Arrington Was a Tennis Player
Elle and her sister were meant to be the next Venus Williams and Serena Williams, "The Great" actress has joked. Heather, who had attended the University of Miami on a tennis scholarship, signed her eldest daughter up for tennis classes when she was three.
When she saw that little Dakota did not like getting sweaty or hot, Heather made peace with the fact that her daughter would not be an athlete. "The Runaways" star explains:
"They quickly realized that my sister and I were different from what they had expected their kids to be. And they supported that. Really, they sacrificed so much for us, basically gave up the life they had planned."
Yet Dakota says she "really loves having a mom who knows about sports." On a podcast, she used the example of how a New York cab driver would turn down the volume of a game when they get into the car, underestimating that Heather "knows everything."
Heather, born July 15, and her sister were raised on old southern manners in Georgia, the daughters of Mary Jane Arrington and Rick Arrington, a former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback. She married Steven Fanning, a baseball player for the St. Louis Cardinals, on September 9, 1992.
The couple Hannah welcomed their first child, Dakota Fanning, in Conyers, Georgia, on February 23, 1994. The tennis player included Dakota in the process when she became pregnant again.
The four-year-old slept on a cot in her mother's hospital room through her sister, Mary Elle Fanning's birth on April 9, 1998, while a tornado raged outside. She woke up to ask, "What is it?" as her mother did not know the gender of her girls beforehand.
In preparation for filming her birthing scene in "The Great," Elle got unconventional help from her mother; she watched a video of her sister's birth. She was impressed that her mother had not used painkillers for the procedure.
A tabloid broke the news in October 2016 that Steven had filed for a divorce. He cited "irreconcilable differences." According to the report, he did not request alimony from Heather, and as their daughters were 18 and 22 at the time, child support was not a factor.
Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning at the "Uptown Girls" premiere on August 4, 2003 | Source: Getty Images
Heather Joy Arrington Supported Her Daughters from behind the Scenes
When both daughters worked in the entertainment industry, Heather would travel with Dakota, and Mary Jane, her mom, would chaperone Elle.
When asked what level of stage mom Heather was on the "Sibling Revelry" podcast in 2020, Dakota dared the hosts, Kate Hudson and Oliver Hudson, to find a photograph of Heather on the internet that was not a paparazzi photo of her walking with her daughters.
The actress said that her mother was always "present and aware of what was going on" when she was filming a project but kept to her corner on set.
During the promotion of the 2013 bio picture "The Last Of Robin Hood," where Susan Sarandon plays her pushy stage mom, Dakota said:
"I don't have any experience with stage mothers."
Heather did not micro-manage her daughter beyond asking if she knew her lines and trusting Dakota when she replied in the affirmative.
"It seems like the kids wanted to do it, and the family built a life around that," Sofia Coppola said of her experience working with the family.
Unlike some parents of famous child actors, Heather never demanded to see snippets of her daughter's scenes. Director John Polson had this to say about Heather and her mom:
"They're delightfully Southern — they have that absolute inability to take a compliment. You'll say to Joy or Mary Jane, 'Elle is just amazing.' They'll say, 'Well, that's because she has an amazing director!' "
Elle Fanning (R) and mother Heather Joy Arrington are seen in Soho on August 31, 2017 in New York City. | Source: Getty Images
Heather Joy Arrington Has Amazing Relationships with Her Star Daughters
Dakota and Elle Fanning are also connected to the Duchess of Cambridge.
During lockdown in 2020, Heather commissioned an adorable cake of Strawberry Shortcake wearing a mask for Elle's April birthday. Dakota called herself the "luckiest girl in the world" to have Heather as a mom in 2019.
Elle Fanning and her mom Heather Joy Arrington are seen on August 17, 2015, in Los Angeles, California. | Source: Getty Images
Heather Joy Arrington Said to Have Royal Blood
The Fanning sisters started a Hollywood dynasty and are also (distant) blue bloods. Researchers at Ancestory.com worked through 700 years of historical documentation that draws a clear line between Heather and King Edward III.
According to the ancestry site, Elle and Dakota Fanning are the 22nd great-granddaughters of the king that ruled England between 1330 and 1376.
Naturally, this familial link with the British royal family has no impact whatsoever on the line of succession, and the Fannings are unlikely ever to get an invite to a coronation.
Through this same maternal link, Dakota and Elle Fanning are also connected to the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton. Her mother, Carole Goldsmith, is also a distant relation to King Edward III. This makes the Fannings and the Duchess 21st cousins.
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