Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Personal Life

After his first marriage with Lori Anne Allison ended, Depp dated and was engaged to Sherilyn Fenn (whom he met on the set of the 1985 short film Dummies), Winona Ryder, Jennifer Grey, and Kate Moss. Since 1998, Depp has been involved with Vanessa Paradis, a French actress and singer whom he met while filming The Ninth Gate. The couple have two children. Daughter Lily-Rose Melody Depp was born May 27, 1999, and recently (2007) recovered from a very serious illness, an E. coli bacteria infection that was causing her kidneys to shut down, and that caused an extended hospital stay, although earlier it was reported she had blood poisoning due to stepping on a rusty tack. Son John "Jack" Christopher Depp III was born April 9, 2002. Johnny is not currently married, and has noted that having children has given him "real foundation, areal strong place to stand in life, in work, in everything." "You can't plan the kind of deep love that results in children. Fatherhood was not a conscious decision. It was part of the wonderful ride I was on. It was destiny; kismet. All the math finally worked." The family divides its time between Los Angeles and a villa in France.

Depp also owns a 45-acre island in the Bahamas, where he spends some of his time. He said on the Late Show with David Letterman that Marlon Brando advised him how to evaluate the island so he was able to successfully purchase it. Depp had co-starred with Brando in the film Don Juan DeMarco, one of Brando's last films.


One of Depp's closest friends is director Tim Burton, with whom he has worked six times to date. He has referred to working with him as "coming home," and he wrote the introduction to Burton on Burton, a book of interviews with the director:

"What more can I say about him? He is a brother, a friend, my godson's father. He is a unique and brave soul, someone that I would go to the ends of the earth for, and I know, full and well, he would do the same for me."

In 2003, Depp was quoted as criticizing the United States in Germany's Stern magazine, commenting that "America is dumb, is something like a dumb puppy that has big teeth—that can bite and hurt you, aggressive." Although he later asserted that the magazine had misquoted him and that the quotation was taken out of context, Stern stood by its story, as did CNN.com in its coverage of the interview, which added his remark that he would like his children "to see America as a toy, a broken toy. Investigate it a little, check it out, get this feeling and then get out." The July 17, 2006 edition of Newsweek reprinted the "dumb puppy" quotation, verbatim, within the context of a Letter to the Magazine. Depp has also disagreed with subsequent media reports that he says paint him as a "European wannabe," saying that he enjoys the "simpler" life and anonymity that living in France provides.

Depp has been arrested several times, with his first arrest in Vancouver B.C. for a late-night altercation in a hotel lobby. He was accused of allowing illegal drugs to be sold at his club The Viper Room, after actor River Phoenix died in front of the club from an overdose of heroin and cocaine in 1993, although the owners were deemed as not involved in the death. In 1994, Depp was arrested and questioned by police for allegedly causing serious damage to a New York City hotel suite. He was arrested again in 1999 for fighting with paparazzi outside a restaurant while dining in London with his girlfriend, Vanessa Paradis. Depp dislikes fans taking pictures of his family and has threatened paparazzi who have attempted to photograph his children.

In May 2006, Autograph Collector Magazine published its list of 10 Best & 10 Worst Hollywood Signers, with Depp topping the list of Best Signers.

Depp, a musician, is a keen guitar player. He is a fan of The Rolling Stones and the gypsy musical group Taraf de Haidouks with whom he is friends. Another friend is singer, songwriter, and guitarist John Frusciante, whom Depp encouraged to record his first solo album after leaving the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He produced a mini-documentary called Stuff about John's life. He is friends with Marilyn Manson. Known to be a fan of the band Deadsy, Depp can be seen wearing a wristband with the band's logo in a segment on the Fear and Loathing DVD. He played slide guitar on the Oasis song "Fade In-Out" (from Be Here Now, 1997), as well on "Fade Away (Warchild Version)" (b-side of the "Don't Go Away" single). He played acoustic guitar in the movie Chocolat and on the soundtrack to Once Upon a Time in Mexico (he wrote "Sands' theme", although the track is credited to "Tonto's Giant Nuts"). He performed on his long time friend Shane MacGowan's (Of The Pogues) first solo album and was a member of P, a group featuring Butthole Surfers singer Gibby Haynes and Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea. Additionally, he has appeared in the music videos of several artists, notably for Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers ("Into the Great Wide Open").

Along with Sean Penn, John Malkovich and Mick Hucknall, Depp co-owns the Parisian restaurant-bar Man Ray.

He has thirteen tattoos, including an Indian head, "Lily-Rose" (the name of his first-born child) over his heart, "Betty Sue" (his mother's name), a sparrow flying over water with the word "Jack" (his son's name) below it (the sparrow is flying towards him rather than away from him as it is in Pirates of the Caribbean), and a ribbon reading "Wino Forever" (it originally read "Winona Forever", but Depp had the tattoo altered after his breakup with Winona Ryder).
Fans have noted that he bears a resemblance to the actor Skeet Ulrich. At the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards, Chris Rock jokingly introduced him as "the rich man's Skeet Ulrich."

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