Johnny Depp had been engaged to virtually every woman he dated in Hollywood, but everything
changed when he met Vanessa Paradis.
When they were together, they were one of Hollywood’s biggest and most mysterious
couples — gracing us with stylish outfits, holidaying in France and generally raising
the bar for romance.
Today we’re looking into their love story.
From how he was stunned the moment they met and how she fell for him four years BEFORE
they started dating, to bizarre tales of why they ended things after 14 years together.
As the story goes, Johnny and Vanessa met in Paris in 1998 while he was filming The
Ninth Gate.
Okay, that’s already romantic.
They crossed paths when he was having dinner with colleagues, and she was sitting with
a group of friends.
Johnny was struck by the sight of her back, recounting that his “life as a single man
was done” the moment he spotted her.
Her back, her neck, and then her eyes.
“You have this feeling — I can’t explain what it was, but I had it when I met her.
I saw her across a room and thought: “What’s happening to me?”
By that point, Vanessa had already been in love with him for years, having fallen for
his charms when they met at his Los Angeles nightclub, the Viper Room, in 1993.
She remembers the first time perfectly.
Johnny just shook her hand, and Vanessa thought, “OK, that’s it.”
He was so sweet, so different.
He genuinely seemed like a good person.
Vanessa just knew...
“He made a big impression on me and during my years of solitude, he never left my thoughts,”
she said.
Luckily, they met again and engaged in a whirlwind romance.
Just three months after they started dating, she became pregnant with their daughter, Lily-Rose.
And about a year after the “back” sighting, the couple welcomed her into the world.
Johnny was always open about how fatherhood had changed him, adding how he used to be
possessed with himself, and suddenly there was someone who depended on him.
“Once I held my daughter in my arms, it was like some veil had been lifted, or a layer
of fog had been removed, and I suddenly had clarity.”
The couple went on to have a son and enjoyed a quiet life in a quiet village in the South
of France.
The Pirates of the Caribbean star constantly talked about his devotion to his long-time
love throughout their relationship.
Johnny even admitted that, even though he’d been engaged to almost ALL the women he dated
in Hollywood, it wasn’t until he met Vanessa that things changed for the better.
“I think when you are young you are hoping that this person will be the right one, the
one you are going to be in love with forever, but sometimes you want that so much you create
something that isn’t really there.”
The family did their best to maintain a low-key existence, keeping their lives under the radar
as much as possible.
And Paradis even opened up about how distance makes the heart grow fonder.
“We understand that, if we want our relationship to continue, we must give each other space,
allow each other to go off on our own, and trust each other.”
The privacy of their children was always sacred to the famous couple.
In 2004, Johnny warned paparazzi to stay away or “I’ll bite your nose off!”
Johnny became the epitome of a clean, family-oriented man.
He was clear and profound about what caused this transformation: “Meeting Vanessa”.
Though, she denies reining in the actor, instead claiming: “We tamed each other”.
Although they shared 14 happy years and were often thought of as one of Hollywood’s strongest
couples, they never wed.
Both were reluctant to conform to tradition.
“Marriage is really from soul to soul, heart to heart.
You don’t need somebody to say, okay, you’re married,” Johnny said.
However, he said he wouldn’t mind if Paradis “wanted to get hitched,” joking that it
was down to him not wanting to spoil her surname, “The thing is, I’d be so scared of ruining
her last name!
She’s got such a good last name.”
For her part, Vanessa said that she’s more married than anyone can be — they had two
kids.
When they were together, they were one of Hollywood’s biggest and most mysterious
couples — gracing us with stylish outfits, holidaying in France and generally raising
the bar for couples all over the world.
Johnny and Vanessa have equally quirky individual styles that are part rock’n’roll and part
vintage.
It was always a pleasure to see them together on the red carpets.
When Depp and Angelina Jolie were starring in the 2010 film The Tourist together, there
were multiple reports that Paradis wanted her long-time boyfriend to withdraw from the
film.
Allegedly, she wasn’t comfortable with some of the more explicit sex scenes.
In the end, he reportedly asked that one of them be cut from the film, but not because
of Paradis, but because it cheapened the movie.
And in 2011, rumblings of trouble in paradise began to surface.
Many celebrity couples believe they will make it through the thick and thin of life and
stay together forever, but often, that is not the case.
Sources claimed Johnny had grown restless and wanted out, while others alleged that
Vanessa wanted to focus on kick-starting her career after years of devoting herself to
Johnny’s.
Paradis and Depp surprised the world when they announced they had “amicably separated”
in 2012, following Depp’s notable solo appearance at the Golden Globes.
Both had previously talked about the strain that their conflicting schedules had on their
relationship.
As Depp told Rolling Stone, “Relationships are very difficult.
Especially in the racket that I’m in because you’re constantly away, or they’re away
and so it’s hard.”
It wasn’t easy on Vanessa.
It wasn’t easy on Johnny.
It wasn’t easy on the kids.
He later revealed that he had tried to numb himself as much as possible, as it was excruciating
to break up with someone he shared his life with for 14 years.
Paradis was reluctant to discuss the split in the press, explicitly telling French Elle,
“Who said that artists should sell their soul, expose everything about themselves?
It’s my duty to promote this movie, and my albums, but can you imagine what it feels
like to see people making a business out of your pain?”
The French singer also hinted that the couple had had problems from the very start, saying
that sometimes you are very much in love with someone, but it’s making you unhappy, and
you think things can change and work it out.
One of the more ridiculous allegations was that of Vanessa being horrible to Johnny’s
mother.
At the time, Heather Rassel was amidst a nasty divorce from Johnny’s nephew, Billy.
According to her take on things, Johnny’s eventual decision to choose his beloved mother,
Betty Sue, over Vanessa ultimately tore the couple apart.
In an interview with The Sun, Heather made her feelings on Vanessa clear.
“I’m sorry, but she was a total bitch.
It’s what ended their relationship,” she claimed.
“His mum Betty would never complain to Johnny about Vanessa or to her face.
She was always polite, nice and cordial to her, but to us, she was a lot more honest.”
Johnny had a rather strained relationship with his mother.
His father was absent for a large part of his life, and Johnny was raised alone by Betty
Sue, who was working double shifts to survive.
Sadly, the actor did not come from a “secure home” and did not have a “safe home life”.
At her funeral, Johnny Depp said that his mother was probably the “meanest human being”
he had ever met in his life.
He had previously revealed that she would give him “irrational beatings” and throw
things at him.
Sometimes it would be an ashtray or a phone.
However, he also alluded that it was her childhood that made her the way she was.
It’s a relatively well-known fact that Depp turned to drugs as a child.
Elaborating on how he got there, Johnny said that his mother used to ask him to get her
“nerve pills” when he was only 11 years old.
He further revealed that he soon realized that the “nerve pills” would actually
calm his mother’s nerves down.
Hence, the young boy took one of her pills and thus began his drug use.
He would later use drugs and alcohol only to “numb the pain” he felt at his younger
age.
During his formative years, there was no stability in his household, but the situation shaped
Johnny into the more “nurturing person”, he thinks.
Well, as far as we can tell from how his kids turned out, Johnny succeeded in making them
feel safe and loved, even when he and their mother broke things off.
The 22-year-old Lily-Rose has followed in her father’s footsteps, starring in projects
such as The Voyagers, A Faithful Man, and Netflix’s The King alongside her ex-boyfriend
Timothee Chalamet.
She’s also a Chanel brand ambassador.
Jack tends to stay out of the spotlight in comparison to his famous family.
And Depp said he was “very proud”, noting that he wasn’t shaping up to become an actor
but showed evident talent in other creative fields.
“My boy, Jack, has always been a very talented draftsman,” Depp told the Inquirer.
“He also plays music very well, and I couldn’t be any more proud of him.”
People say he looks just like Johnny at that age, sporting his father’s famous brown
locks, but we can’t help but notice how Jack eerily resembles his dad’s Pirates
of the Caribbean co-star, Orlando Bloom.
Despite their sad split, Johnny and Vanessa have worked hard to remain friends, and Johnny
is even said to have joined his former partner and her husband Samuel for Christmas one year.
He can’t stop gushing about their enduring friendship, saying they are on excellent terms
and there’s nothing weird or strange.
It’s very normal.
“She’s a great mom and a great woman.”
“If you love, you have to love beyond what you think is love.
I know it sounds like some sort of Hallmark card, and I don’t mean it to, but you cannot
abandon ship.
You’ve got a couple of kids and a woman who’s been good to you.
So, keep loving.”
That’s all we have for you today, Juicers!
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