An American in Paris

We trekked to France tracking down the always offbeat Johnny Depp to see if family life has settled him down — or if he’s still living on the edge – By Gregory Katz.

“I didn’t have a life before. Until I had kids … I just didn’t get it.”

Imagine a doting dad playing Barbies on the floor with his 4-year-old daughter while he gives his baby boy a bottle early on a Sunday morning. Now move the scene to a farmhouse in the south of France, picture the father as a somewhat disheveled but darkly handsome long-haired man with mysterious gold caps on his teeth, and you have a glimpse into the life of daddy Johnny Depp.

But the former teen heartthrob — remember “21 Jump Street”? — isn’t quite your average father. At 40, Depp loves to play loud electric guitar, wears clothes that could use a cleaning, occasionally orders $18,000 bottles of wine in restaurants, and pals around with Rolling Stones bad boys Keith Richards and Ron Wood.

Copyright 2005 USA WEEKEND. All rights reserved.

This is an article excerpt. To view the article in full, please visit the USA weekend website.

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Sasha from Kentucky: Her Encounter with Johnny Depp on 6/18/03

When I found out that Johnny Depp was for sure going to be on the David Lettermen show, I decided then and there I was going to NYC to see him.

I luckily have a friend (thank you Wes!) who knew how I could get a ticket to the Letterman taping. I knew all this was risky, but I was determined and willing to take the risk. My mother, who has always supported my Johnny Depp ?habit? was wonderful enough to go with me and help him out with the long drive (thank you Mummy!). She knew how much this meant to me and probably wanted it to happen for me so I might shut-up about seeing him. Let me say here, I don?t know why I NEEDED to see him, or meet him?but I just HAD to. My fascination with Johnny has never been a sexual one, yes he is attractive, but I honestly fell in love with his acting and brave choices he made in his career and unique personality. The Kentucky connection also drew me in. I can?t tell you how many times I?ve heard Johnny stories around here about people seeing him,

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i’m home from letterman (6/18/03) and still grinning ear to ear

hi depp fan folks,

i just got back from the letterman taping and wanted to get my report down while everything is still fresh.

i was very lucky to get a ticket. as you might know, i work for a newspaper and at one time i did the daily tv and local event listings for the sports section. one part of my job was to keep in contact with the publicity people for the different networks. i always had a good relationship with them and it was that relationship than enabled me to get a letterman ticket. last week i called one of my old contacts and asked her if she could help me. well, she busted her ass for me! it took her a few days but yesterday morning she told me she had been successful and she got me a ticket. all i had to do was show up this afternoon with my confirmation letter and a photo i.d. of myself and i was in.

johnny was already iniside when i got to the theater. i hope those outside were able to see him. the production assistant greeting people at the door told me that since i was a guest of cbs i would have one of the best seats in the house.

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Anna’s Encounter

I met him two years ago and it was wonderful! I was at work and a friend of mine told me he was in the city doing an interview with David Letterman. So Iran down to the studio and waited outside until he got there. He showed up and a lot of fans were there screaming and asking for autographs and pictures and I was just frozen staring at him.
He noticed that I was pregnant so he came right over to me, took my hand and said “Thank you for waiting here just to see me.” And I don’t remember what the hell I said. I think I told him that I loved him or something. I just thought he was such a gentleman for coming straight to me and that I might have the baby right then and there, I was so excited! LOL!
I never got to take any pictures because I didn’t have a camera with me but I did get his autograph on a picture I had with me in my purse. I’ll never forget meeting him. He was so sweet! And next time I hope I at least have my camera with me!

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IT WAS WORTH THE WAIT!

I have just had the most exceptionally wonderful, beautiful…almost surreal experience a fan can have. I met Johnny!! Wow, I can’t believe I’m typing these words. I’m absolutely floating right now so forgive me if this is a bit loopy. My friend Jesse (who collects autographs as a hobby) took me down to Letterman’s studios to try and see him. I really didn’t know what to expect…all or nothing. I’ll skip over the 8 hours of standing out in the freezing cold because what comes next supersedes any discomfort I might have felt. When Johnny first went into the building there was a rush of people and I only saw his head for about a split second and then he was gone. That was surreal enough. Next came about 2 hours of waiting I brought a bouquet of roses with a little note with me and all though there were a lot of people there clamoring & waiting for autographs people were nice enough to let me get to the front of the police barricades. God bless Jesse who helped me negotiate the crowds and get to the front. Next came about 2 hours of waiting with my head spinning and my hands freezing and then boom!

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FEBRUARY 25TH, “THE NEW SCHOOL”(12th street 6th avenue) NEW YORK CITY

FEBRUARY 25TH, “THE NEW SCHOOL”(12th street 6th avenue) NEW YORK CITY, 11:00PM eastern time:
In a hunt that would make Fred Abberline, Dean Corso, and Ichabod Crane proud. In a mere 3 1/2 hours I pieced together the great mystery of the “Inside The Actors Studio” taping. In this conundrum I managed to meet, and chat(well sort of), with Johnny Depp! My first time or even close since I tried to get on the phone with him on Howard Stern.

Let me preface this by saying the IAS taping was more vague than JD’s Blockbuster acceptance speech and in real life he seems more frail/distracted than a Taco Bell Hard taco value meal. I never actually got into the taping(due to the blatant lack of promotion and the fact it’s totally reserved for NEW SCHOOL film snobs/students) but I tracked down his exit to the awaiting car at the last minute for a very fascinating/terrifying 2 minutes which seemed like 4 hours.

IAS did a masterful job of keeping this taping a major covert secret. Like most of you I couldn’t find out a fricken thing besides that damn FEB 25th date, whatever that meant,

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JACK-O-PANDERIN’

A vivid yet distinctly fictitious recreation of the crime-plagued gutters of 19th Century London, the Jack the Ripper thriller “From Hell” is quite a homage to the dense graphic novel from which it was spawned – by Rob Blackwelder.

Depp’s performance carries the movie, to a certain extent, because his is the only character with tangible depth. We witness Abberline’s disturbing visions, and the drug-fueled process that brings them about. We know of his unhappy past (his wife died while delivering their stillborn daughter) and understand his determination.

Copyright Contactmusic.com Ltd 2005

This is an article excerpt. To view the article in it’s entirety, please visit the ContactMusic website.

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Isa’s report on the Deauville Film Festival, September 5, 2001

I went to Deauville to see Johnny on Tuesday but when I got there, I heard that he wasn’t coming until Wednesday. Actually, Johnny had changed his mind! On Friday he didn?t wanted to come at all. But then on Saturday morning he wanted to come but only on Wednesday! So the festival had to change the program between Tuesday and Wednesday. Anyway, he came down to the Royal Hotel at noon. He had lunch and then had to do some interviews inside. He came in a black mercedes car. He was seated near to the driver and he was wearing his hat. He waved “hi” with his hand. There were many people waiting for him and some security guys were there to keep us away from the car. We had to stay outside of the hotel and the car went into the park lot so we could hardly see him when he got of the car. Everybody was screaming, “Johnny! Johnny!” but he didn?t turn toward us. He just went in the hotel. He was supposed to go to the Canal Plus TV program but didn?t show up. He canceled it!

Then the press conference was at 5 pm,

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