PEOPLE, December 1, 2003 – The Sexiest Man Alive…Johnny Depp
Title: The Sexiest Man Alive…Johnny Depp
Author: Lisa Russell
Publication: PEOPLE
Issue: December 1, 2003
There he was in Disneyland last summer, strolling through the park with his girlfriend and their two children. They were any family: the 4-year-old girl with her face buried in a cloud of cotton candy, the 20-month-old boy asleep in a stroller. But onlookers who caught a glimpse of the drop-dead features beneath the slouchy hat and dark glasses probably did a double take. The family guy was Johnny Depp, out introducing his kids to Pirates of the
Caribbean, the theme-park ride that inspired the year’s biggest nonanimated blockbuster and catapulted his art-house career into the bright, shiny mainstream. After spending a lifetime rebelling against the Man, Depp has been tamed, at 40, by the Mouse.
Say hello to the new Johnny Depp, this year’s Sexiest Man Alive. Once infamous for his brooding eccentricities, he has mellowed. Prior to parenthood, “I just wasted a whole bunch of time.” he declared recently. And because he arrived at his new happy place without selling out, without becoming slick or packaged or politically correct, he is a hero to his fans and an idol to his young costars. “Lovely, lovely, lovely, lovely, lovely” says Keira Knightley, his castmate in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. “He’s very cool. He’s a gorgeous guy. Eye candy.”
Settled in a medieval-style house in L.A.