Johnny Depp gained a new perspective when he became a father.
“There was a great veil lifted,” the Ebenezer star, 63, said during a CBS Mornings appearance on Friday, November 13, “that I had no idea had existed when my first child was born. I literally felt like a veil had been lifted from my vision.”
Depp shares daughter Lily-Rose, 27, and son Jack, 24, with ex Vanessa Paradis.
“Suddenly, I understood exactly what everything had been for,” he continued, explaining that he used to question his acting career before he had kids.
“I never knew the answer to those questions until that veil was lifted, and instantly I knew,” he said. “This is why you’ve made every single move in your life. This is what it’s all about. Even if you’re not particularly, like, a self-obsessed person, it is the first real, selfless moment that one could have, when your child arrives, there’s nothing else in the world that exists.”
When asked whether he’s held onto that “purpose” now that his kids are older, Depp responded, “Oh, for sure.”
Depp and Paradis, 53, were in a relationship from 1998 to 2012, although they never married. The pair welcomed Lily-Rose in 1999, followed by Jack in 2002. The now-exes raised their kids out of the spotlight in France.
“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 told Weekend Knack magazine in 2007. “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 has opted to keep his life private, Lily-Rose followed in her parents’ footsteps as a model and actress. When she was 15 years old, she was hired by Karl Lagerfeld to be one of the faces of Chanel. Lily-Rose has also starred in various films and TV shows, including Tusk (2014), The King (2019), The Idol (2023) and Nosferatu (2024).
“I know my childhood didn’t look like everybody’s childhood, and it’s a very particular thing to deal with, but it’s also the only thing that I know,” Lily-Rose told Elle in 2022.
Last year, Depp reflected on his kids’ childhoods and how quickly they grew up.
“Years get away from us, don’t they?” he said in an interview with The Times of London in June 2025.
“Oh man, my kids growing up in the south of France in their youth? I was Papa. I cannot tell you how much I loved being Papa,” he continued. “Then, suddenly, Papa was out the window. I was Dad. But Papa was awesome, and I’m getting old enough for Papa to possibly come back. Some motherf***er’s going to have to call me Papa!”
