"I met the man once, in 2012. Depp kept a house in France at the time; previously he had stayed there with his French common-law wife Vanessa Paradis and their children. He was quite fond of wine, and my uncle-by-marriage had a small vineyard, of which Mr. Depp was a fan.
Anyway I was in my uncle’s home and he just sort of dropped by. He brought his son with him; the boy was maybe nine or ten. Very polite people, a bit shy, oddly enough. He has a firm handshake, a bright smile and a warm persona, but he’s not very talkative when off-camera.
Anyway I saw him for maybe thirty minutes, tops, and he was out again. He had an Irish coffee and mostly talked to my uncle, in rather decent French. Cannot say I know the man well based on just a short encounter, but my uncle met him more often, and he was rather impressed by him. Of course my uncle briefly introduced me. Depp then asked me what I did for a living. I told him, I tried to be a writer.
“Stories, scripts, poems? Which is it, Jay-Emme…” he wanted to know.
“Just stories, mostly. Hopefully some day, a novel.”
“If you ever write a script, a really great one, send it to me first!” he offered, jovially. This was the entire depth of our interaction and yet I could never forget it. He felt strangely familiar and warm somehow. Never wrote that ‘really great script’ yet. Nor a really bad one. Just not into script writing but the thing is… I still feel as if I ever wrote one, he’d keep his word and read it, front to back.
According to my uncle — I interrogated him after because I wanted to know all he knew! — Depp is a “devoted family man” and spent most of his time off-set with his partner and children. Almost every time he visited my uncle’s vineyard, for some reason he brought along his young son. The two seemed very close and both shared a fondness for silly, childish little practical jokes. Think fart-cushions or ‘pull my finger’ level things. My uncle particularly likes Depp’s respect for different cultures and his desire to fully immerse himself in whatever place he stays. He makes real effort to learn foreign languages, get to know the culture, the cuisine, the customs. He’s not your typical ‘American tourist abroad’ type of person -- he is quite cultured, calm, respectful. A far cry from the monster his ex-wife now paints him to be, from what we could tell.
Johnny Depp is a friendly fellow in real life: he’s genuinely interested in other people and what they’re up to. He likes to bring his son places. He’s generous. And while he may have his issues, his demons, underneath it all hides a thoroughly decent human being."
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