‘Was never my dream’: Johnny Depp on why he did not want daughter Lily-Rose to become an actress
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Lily-Rose Depp and The Weeknd’s much-talked-about controversial HBO series ‘The Idol’ is set to release across the globe on June 4, 2023. While the show received a five-minute standing ovation at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, with particular appreciation for Lily-Rose’s performance, the actress has also continued to make news for playing the lead role in a show that has faced consistent criticism for its disturbing content, including nudity, explicit sex, drug use and strong commentary.
In the show, Lily-Rose portrays an aspiring pop star named Jocelyn, who begins a complicated relationship with The Weeknd’s Tedros, a self-help guru and modern day cult leader, in her quest to establish herself as the sexiest music star of America. Years before Lily-Rose landed in the middle of a tabloid and social media storm for her role in Sam Levinson’s drama, her doting father Johnny Depp shared that he never expected his daughter to become an actress. While the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ star recently gushed about his pride over Lily-Rose, he once said that he was “disturbed” by seeing his then-teenage daughter embarking on a journey in the acting industry.
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‘I’ll never stop worrying about her’
Lily-Rose was just 14 years old when she first made acting debut with a cameo in Kevin Smith’s horror-comedy ‘Tusk’. Shortly after, she appeared on the spin-off ‘Yoga Hosers’ with her best-friend Harley Quinn Smith. She was 15 when Karl Lagerfeld chose as her the brand ambassador of Chanel and 16, when he made her the face of brand’s iconic fragrance Chanel No 5 L’Eau.
As the actress continued to climb up the ladder of success, her father became overwhelmed by her journey. “What’s happening to Lily-Rose is something that I didn’t expect to happen this early, that’s for sure,” Depp told the Daily Mail in 2015. “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 added.
“If you’re not really looking for it, you can miss it, and Lily-Rose is on that road already and there’s nothing I can do to stop it,” the actor said. “She’s been snatched up by Karl Lagerfeld - which is a coincidence, as he spotted her mother when she was the same age, too - and when I see her with make-up and all that stuff, it’s really disturbing, because she’s a very beautiful girl, and it’s all happening so fast,” he admitted.
“Her becoming an actress was never my dream or my desire for her, but that’s what she enjoys doing, and it’s her passion and it’s where she ended up. And she’s got the goods - she can certainly deliver,” Depp revealed. “No matter how grown up she gets, I’ll never stop worrying about her. It’s a father-daughter thing,” he continued. “She’s got a sensible head on her shoulders, and I trust her to lead a sensible, responsible life, but I can’t ever see the day coming when I just switch off to let her make her own way in the world.” Depp mentioned.
Johnny Depp worked toward providing Lily-Rose a ‘normal childhood’
Depp first met the mother of his child, French singer and model Vanessa Paradis, at Paris’ Hotel Costes in 1998. The couple also announced that they were expecting a child together that same year. “I lived in a fog for 35 years - there was nothing important in my life. Then I fell in love with Vanessa, and she fell pregnant,” Depp once said as per AmoMama.
On May 27, 1999, the pair welcomed their bundle of joy, Lily-Rose, in Paris, France. “She became my reason to wake up in the morning... and my reason to live,” the actor said about his daughter, the publication noted. Shortly after, the ‘Edward Scissorhands’ star decided to settle down in the idyllic city of Paris in southern France with Paradis and Lily-Rose with the hopes of raising his daughter away from the scrutiny of the public eye.
However, Lily-Rose stepped into the world of showbiz by accident while visiting the set of ‘Tusk’, where her father played the character of Guy Lapointe. While she was asked to have a cameo appearance in one scene, the experience was enough to pique her interest for acting. “I had so much fun that day, even though I had no clue what I was doing. I still sometimes feel like I have no clue what I’m doing,” the actress said in an interview for the cover of i-D magazine’s ‘The Timeless Issue.’
During the interview, the actress also touched upon how her parents aimed to give her a “normal childhood.” “I feel like my parents did the best job that they possibly could at giving me the most ‘normal childhood’ that they could,” Lily-Rose said. “And obviously, that still was not a normal childhood. I’m super aware of the fact that my childhood did not look like everybody’s. But at the same time, it’s all that I know, so I have had to find comfort in it somehow,” she explained. “I’m really lucky that I’ve been surrounded by people who value normalcy and who value real life and I think that’s the only way to exist in this world and not go insane,” the actress added.