Tragic Details About Johnny Depp's Kids, Lily-Rose And Jack

The following article mentions domestic abuse allegations, mental health struggles, and an eating disorder.

From 1998 to 2012, actor Johnny Depp was linked to model and singer Vanessa Paradis. The two became parents for the first time on May 27, 1999, when daughter Lily-Rose Depp was born. Their second child, son Jack Depp, arrived on April 9, 2002. Both kids were born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. Jack and Lily-Rose split their childhoods between the City of Lights and City of Angels.

In September 2008, Paradis spoke with the Belgian magazine Weekend Knack about her desire to shield her children from the public eye, but also acknowledged that they may want to get in the entertainment industry one day. "Look, now I indeed keep them away from the cameras, because I don't want our children to be forced to share in our fame against their will," Paradis said (via People). "They didn't ask for that. Not yet. The day that they will decide for themselves to do things that might bring them into the spotlights, then I won't stop them." 

While Jack's continued to lay low, Johnny and Paradis' eldest has already followed her parents' footsteps. In recent years, Lily-Rose Depp has completely transformed into a Hollywood A-lister. And sure enough, she seems to have the support of both of her parents. While the kids — Lily-Rose, at least — might walk red carpets now, the way has not been paved in gold. Despite all of the best efforts of Johnny and Paradis, Lily-Rose and Jack have faced some tragic circumstances throughout their lives.

In 2007, Lily-Rose Depp was hospitalized after she contracted E.coli and suffered kidney failure. She was hospitalized in London, and both Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis didn't stray from her bed for days. Lily-Rose was only 7 at the time, and there were moments throughout the harrowing experience where they feared she was near death. Understandably, this was devastating for Johnny and Paradis. At an event for Rhonda's Kiss, a fundraising organization to help cancer patients, Johnny recalled his own traumatic experience with his daughter. "To the parents in the room who I was speaking about earlier, I was one of those parents, for weeks, when my daughter was ill," Johnny said, per Hello! magazine. "I lived in the hospital for three weeks with my kid, not knowing if she was going to make it or not." 

On a 2015 episode of "The Graham Norton Show," the host spoke to Johnny about his efforts to visit children in hospitals dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow. Memories of the horrible episode with Lily-Rose came flooding back. "I spent time in Great Ormond Street when my daughter was ill," Johnny said. "I've known darkness in my life, but that was the darkest period ever." Johnny shared that he had been filming "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" at the time, and production was halted until Lily-Rose recovered. It was painfully evident from Johnny's conversation about Lily-Rose's illness that it had been hellish for their family. 

Before Lily-Rose Depp's showbiz career took off, she developed an eating disorder. In a 2016 interview with Elle France (via Hello!), Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis' daughter opened up not only about her history with anorexia, but how comments about her body in general can be very triggering. "It hurts a lot and depresses me, because I have spent a lot of energy fighting the disease," Lily-Rose said. "All who are familiar with this problem, know how difficult it is to return to a normal life." In the same interview, she noted how much progress she had made in her recovery journey. "I have battled an eating disorder for a long time and am very proud of the results that I have achieved," she said.

Lily-Rose has also said mom Vanessa Paradis' own body positivity has shaped her for the better. "I was raised by a French mother who taught me that there was nothing shameful about your body," she told The Face in 2019 (via The Standard). "She's taught me a lot about self-confidence."

Lily-Rose Depp is no stranger to snarky, judgmental, and cruel social media comments. In a November 2022 interview with Elle, she got candid about her experience dealing with online trolls, the alienating effects of being online, and how social media changes the way that people communicate with you. "People think that you're a video game character and say all these horrible things about you that they would never say to your face," she began. "I think we feel a little too protected by our screens."

Understandably, Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis' daughter has felt compelled to create some boundaries online to protect her well-being. "I've really stopped using [Instagram] in a personal way," she told British Vogue in 2016. "I never like revealing too much about myself." Even though she mostly keeps her Instagram account pretty professional, she told Elle that she still has to deal with rude comments online. She noted that one of the more common digs is that she's only where she is today because she's a child of two people who are successful in the entertainment industry. While she recognizes her privilege, Lily-Rose has also pointed out a double standard in the nepo baby conversation. "I just hear it a lot more about women, and I don't think that it's a coincidence," she told Elle.

In a September 2019 interview with W Magazine, Lily-Rose Depp shared that she struggles with "a ton of anxiety" and noted that interviews can be tough for her. "I'm shy in these situations, and I just get really nervous and stuff," she said. Though she's certainly no stranger to the public eye — after all, she's the child of Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis — that doesn't make her immune to all of the scrutiny and expectations that might come her way.

Johnny has said it's been hard to watch his daughter pursue a career in acting. "[W]hen 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 told the Daily Mail in November 2015. He went on to say that he never had the dream for his children that they would seek out acting, but he's had to accept it. "No matter how grown up she gets, I'll never stop worrying about her," Johnny went on. "It's a father-daughter thing." That's certainly true, and Johnny Depp and his daughter are very close. Nonetheless, the veteran actor knows first hand the pitfalls of fame, and understands what Lily-Rose is up against. 

In a 2023 interview with i-D (via Paper), Lily-Rose acknowledged that she is grateful for her career, despite how taxing it can be. "If I have to deal with a little bit of anxiety to keep doing what I love, then I'm ready," she said.

In 2015, Johnny Depp married actor Amber Heard. The following year, Heard filed for divorce from Johnny, accusing him of physical and emotional abuse. Johnny later sued Heard for defamation after she wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post about domestic abuse in 2018; Heard countersued Johnny for defamation. When the two went to court in 2022, Johnny offered his account of Heard's relationship with his kids in an effort to support his case. "My daughter Lily-Rose did not come to the wedding," Johnny said in his testimony, per Us Weekly. He also claimed that Lily-Rose Depp and Heard had a fraught relationship. Lily-Rose stayed mostly quiet when her father and former stepmom were in court.

Back in May 2016, however, Lily-Rose jumped on Instagram to defend her father, writing, "My dad is the sweetest, most loving person I know, he's been nothing but a wonderful father to my little brother and I, and everyone who knows him would say the same." As the legal drama continued to unfold, Lily-Rose refrained from speaking on the allegations. "When it's something that's so private and so personal that all of a sudden becomes not so personal...I feel really entitled to my secret garden of thoughts," she told Elle in November 2022. "I also think that I'm not here to answer for anybody, and I feel like for a lot of my career, people have really wanted to define me by the men in my life."

While his sister and parents seem to embrace the limelight, Jack Depp, whose real name is John Christopher Depp III, has kept largely out of the public eye his entire life. He's chosen to maintain his privacy even into adulthood, and so news about Jack is scant. During a 2014 interview with The Philippine Daily Inquirer, Johnny Depp noted that his son did not seem interested in being a star. "Aside from school plays and things, he hasn't shown any desire to become an actor. Whew!" Johnny said, evidently relieved. 

In 2018, when he was 16 years old, Jack ended up in headlines after he reportedly experienced a health issue. His mother, Vanessa Paradis, was slated to attend the premiere of her new movie "A Knife in the Heart" in Paris, but she reportedly had to skip the event all together because of some emergency involving Jack. "Unfortunately, Vanessa Paradis was not able to join us tonight, she had to be absent because of her son's serious health problems," the French magazine Public said at the time. Later that same week, a source told People that Jack was spotted out and about in Paris. According to the tipster, the teen seemed to be doing "a lot better." 

As speculation continued to bubble up, a separate source insisted to People that there was no cause for concern. "He's fine and doesn't have a health issue," they said. Neither Paradis nor Johnny commented on Jack's health.

In June 2012, Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis announced that their 14-year relationship had come to an end. Their breakup took a toll on their two children, Lily-Rose and Jack Depp. In a June 2013 interview with Rolling Stone, Johnny opened up about how hard it had been on his family. "The last couple years have been a bit bumpy," Johnny explained. "At times, certainly unpleasant, but that's the nature of breakups, I guess, especially when there are kiddies involved." He also noted that the process was hard on everyone involved, but he and Paradis did what they could to do right by Lily-Rose and Jack. "The thing is, kiddies come first. You can't shield them, because then you'd be lying. So you can at least be honest with your kids, and you say the absolute truth to your child — that was very important to not pussyfoot around," he said. 

Johnny also said he stayed sober through the split because he wanted to be as clear-headed as possible. "I had something pretty serious to focus on, really, which was making sure that my kids were gonna be cool," he said.

As previously mentioned, Johnny Depp and Amber Heard went to court in 2022, and the trial was nothing short of a media circus. Years before the trial took place, Johnny shared that he was concerned about the ways in which all of the allegations impacted Lily-Rose Depp and Jack Depp. "I'm sure it wasn't easy for my 14-year-old boy to go to school, you know what I mean? With people going, 'Hey, look at this magazine, man. What, your dad beats up chicks or something?'" Johnny said in an October 2018 GQ interview. "Why did he have to go through that? Why did my daughter have to go through that?"

Johnny's kids also came up during the trial. Per CBS8, during his testimony, Johnny stated, "Since I knew that there was no truth to it whatsoever, I felt it my responsibility to stand up, not only for myself in that instance, but stand up for my children." He later added, "I wanted to clear my children of this horrid thing they were having to read about their father, which was untrue." Johnny was ultimately awarded over $15 million in damages after a jury decided Heard was liable for defamation. 

If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, struggling with mental health, or dealing with domestic abuse, contact the relevant resources:

• Visit the National Eating Disorders Association website or contact NEDA's Live Helpline at 1-800-931-2237. You can also receive 24/7 Crisis Support via text (send NEDA to 741-741).
• Reach the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.
• Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.