Lily-Rose Depp and her family relationships, in their own words
Who is Lily-Rose Depp, the 22-year-old daughter of Johnny Depp and his ex-wife Vanessa Paradis? We take a glance at the actress, model, and Chanel ambassador; looking back at her relationships with school, work, her less-known facts, her father, and her ex-stepmother, Amber Heard.
To help give us a clue of who Lily-Rose Depp really is, Johnny Depp loves to reveal his daughter's best qualities to the press. In 2015 he told the Daily Mail, "Lily’s really together, she's a sharp kid and one of the smartest human beings I have ever met.”
Johnny continued: ”Whatever she is doing, if she needs any advice, I'm there for her. Kids are going to make their own decisions, but I guess that the only thing you can do as a parent is to offer support. And I do.” Certainly, the Depp name has helped her along the way. But before all the spotlights shone on her, Lily-Rose was just another tiny baby.
Depp and ex, Vanessa Paradis, welcomed their baby daughter into the world at the end of last century. Lily-Rose was born on the 27th of May 1999. A few years later, her brother, Jack, joined the family.
Johnny and Paradis dated from 1998 to 2012, after his split from supermodel Kate Moss. Paradis was also a model, but it’s not only Lily-Rose’s looks that she gets from her French mother.
Lily-Rose is also lucky enough to boast fluency in French thanks to her mother. She was born in the upscale Paris suburb Neuilly-sur-Seine and raised as a bilingual child.
Cinema Blend reports Lily-Rose speaking to Keira Knightley about her dual cultures for Interview magazine, saying, “Both feel very natural to me in different ways. I speak exclusively French with my French family, and exclusively English with my American family. So I feel very at home in both of them. I’ve always spoken French with my mom. That was important to her, and it’s important to me.”
“When I have kids one day, I will definitely want them to speak both French and English. And also, you can have a secret language with people. When my brother and I were at the same school, whenever we wanted to say something that was going to stay just between us, we could say it in French and nobody would understand,” the actress continued.
As a child, Lily-Rose played with dolls while looked on by her godfather Marilyn Manson. She grew up around stars such as Karl Lagerfeld and Natalie Portman and was, of course, of great interest to the press.
The 'Pirates of the Caribbean' actor, Johnny Depp, told 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' in 2015 that he created characters playing dolls with his daughter. "We played a lot of Barbies, my daughter and I," he said. "I used to test characters on her, yeah, playing Barbies." Captain Jack's roots?
But the dolls may have seen their better days by the time Lily-Rose had finished with them. Her own website states she always had a bit of a ‘wild streak’. But she openly says that her parents were never too strict, meaning she really had nothing to rebel against.
On an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, her father let the world know just how switched on his daughter was. "She's amazing," he said. "The problem is she's infinitely more sophisticated than I am. She can run circles around me, and she knows that she's got me wrapped around her pinky."
Johnny Depp admits to the Daily Mail that she was a ‘sharp kid’ growing up, whilst being very enthusiastic about her many other qualities. He said, "It's such a funny thing when you see your daughter transitioning from your baby, your little girl, to suddenly being a young woman," he said.
Kids grow up so fast. At 16 years old, Lily-Rose Depp made the decision to quit school. She wanted to work as much as possible in the acting industry, make a name for herself and pursue her career.
"I realized after working on 'La Danseuse' and 'Planetarium' in Paris that it was impossible for me to pursue acting as a career and still attend classes and be able to do my homework," she said in an interview for Buro 247. She starred in 'Planetarium' in 2016 alongside Natalie Portman.
But acting wasn’t the first choice for the young star. She told Vanity Fair in an interview, "I wanted to be a singer, but once I started acting, I felt so comfortable. Now all I want to do is act."
When the Telegraph asked Paradis in 2013 how she would feel about her daughter following a similar career path, she confessed, "I'd rather for her to have time to be a kid. I mean, she already has such a spotlight on her just because of her parents."
But the spotlight may have helped jumpstart her career and today, she's recognized as a talented actress. Lily-Rose was nominated for the Most Promising Actress at the 2017 Cesar Awards and Lumières Awards for her portrayal of the American dancer with a tragically short life in 'La Danseuse,' Now it was her own talent that was catapulting her to stardom.
Despite her height being less than 5 foot 5 (smaller than even the smallest runway models), Depp is also a high-fashion model.
She entered the modeling world at just 15 years old when Karl Lagerfield handpicked her to be the face of Chanel, way back in 2015.
Lily-Rose Depp was the face of a Chanel eyewear campaign in September 2015. At 16 years old, she was the youngest global Chanel ambassador ever, but the actress has always had an affinity with the brand, thanks to her mother also being a spokeswoman for Chanel since 1991.
Lily-Rose talked about Chanel’s role in her life in an interview with LOVE magazine, "Chanel has always been this big thing for me - there are baby pictures of me wearing my mom's Chanel pumps."
Timothée Chalet and Lily-Rose were dating from October 2018 to April 2020 - approximately 18 months. They met on the set of the Netflix Shakespeare adaptation, 'The Kin,' where the Depp-Paradis spawn really proved her talent.
Now it seems Lily-rose Depp has found love in the form of rapper Yassine Stein. Originally from Casablanca in Morocco, the musician stepped into the French rap scene in 2020. He is also a director and member of L’Odre Collective. They have been dating since November 2021.
Lily-Rose, despite having openly dated men, has said she does not want to label her sexuality. Many thought that the actress was coming out, but she explained in an interview with NYLON, "I was just trying to say that kids and people, in general, don’t have to label themselves… If you like something one day then you do, and if you like something else the other day, it’s whatever. You don’t have to label yourself, because it’s not set in stone."
The actress has suffered for a long time from the eating disorder anorexia. She admitted her hardships battling the disease in a milestone moment when she appeared on the cover of French Elle magazine.
She told the magazine, "I have spent a lot of energy fighting the disease… I was much younger when I faced with anorexia, it was very difficult to deal with it. All who are familiar with this problem, know how difficult it is to return to a normal life." The young actress is proud of overcoming the upsetting social media comments about her weight and is happy with her recovery process and the results she has achieved.
When Lily-Rose was a child, she had a serious E. Coli infection. At the time, her father was worried that her kidneys would completely shut down. Later, Johnny told Graham Norton that it was his 'darkest period ever.'
As a fiercely protective father, Johnny Depp says that the allegations against him by ex-wife Amber Heard have forced him to 'stand up' not only for himself but also for his children. He said, according to Nicki Swift. "I wanted to clear my children of this horrid thing they were having to read about their father, which was untrue."
Lily-Rose has mainly defended her father’s character on social media and not spoken out directly about Ms Heard. However, Johnny has been forthcoming with information during the trial. His comments put into question Lily-Rose’s relationship with her former stepmother.
Depp stated that Lily-Rose did not attend her father’s wedding with Amber Heard - a small affair of only 20-25 guests in Virginia. He said that his daughter and fiancée were not on 'particularly great terms, for several reasons.' Depp also claimed that his son, Jack, and his sister have a 'non-existent' relationship with Heard.
A now-deleted throwback photo on Lily-Rose’s social media has suggested how she feels about her father’s efforts in this ugly trial. It said: "My dad is the sweetest most loving person I know."
On the other hand, Lily-Rose Depp also had some wise and more ambiguous words to add to 'Entertainment Tonight.' She said that "nobody is perfect," and how everyone needs to have a "lot of self-awareness."
Lily-Rose is about to star in the upcoming HBO show ‘The Idol’ which, according to Deadline, follows a pop star who falls in love with a cult-leading nightclub owner. The production will also star The Weeknd and is set to be a real hit. Unfortunately, due to changes in creative direction and necessary reshoots, we may have to wait for it a little while longer.