Johnny Depp (Rolling Stone)
Johnny Depp has opened up about his split with Vanessa Paradis for the first time.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, the “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor said that they are trying to “make the best of it” for the sake of their children, Lily-Rose, 14, and Jack, 11.
Depp, 50, and Paradis, 40, ended their 14-year relationship last summer and the actor is now dating his 27-year-old “Rum Diary” co-star Amber Heard.
Speaking about the split, he confessed to the magazine, “The last couple years have been a bit bumpy,” adding, “At times, certainly unpleasant, but that’s the nature of break-ups, I guess, especially when there are kiddies involved.”
“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 her. It wasn’t easy on me. It wasn’t easy on the kids,” he said.
“It doesn’t stop the fact that you care for that person, and they’re the mother of your kids, and you’ll always know each other, and you’re always going to be in each other’s lives because of those kids. You might as well make the best of it.”
Depp explained that he did not hide the truth about the separation: “You can’t shield them, because then you’d be lying. So you can at least be honest with your kids, and you say the absolute truth to your child — that was very important to not pussyfoot around.”
And he admits his new-found sobriety helped him with that: “I definitely wasn’t going to rely on the drink to ease things or cushion the blow or cushion the situation, ‘cause that could have been fatal.”