PALIN MITENK BLOG

By Tamara Abraham

The world's most envied woman? Actress and singer Vanessa Paradis is married to Johnny Depp


Musician, actress and Chanel muse, Vanessa Paradis is famously private. But in a rare interview she reveals what it's like to be the world's most envied woman.

Given her delicate frame and feline features, it's not really surprising that heartthrob actor Johnny Depp fell in love with Vanessa Paradis.

Twelve years later, with two children, four homes and their own Caribbean island (they call it F*** Off Island), it seems the couple lead a lifestyle as perfect as their razor-sharp cheekbones.

But Paradis is more famous in her native France in her role as an actress and singer. A former child star (she had her first hit, Joe Le Taxi aged 14), she has worked with Gérard Depardieu and Serge Gainsbourg - 'a dream come true' - and is the darling of Chanel designer Karl Largerfeld.


And it is in this guise that she appears in the latest issue of Harper's Bazaar, all tousle-haired and smouldering.

Wearing head-to-toe Chanel (what else), the images, shot in Paris's exclusive Hotel de Crillon, show a woman that seems far younger than her 37 years - the distinctive gap between her teeth adding a girlish charm.

Notoriously private about her family (of her children she says: 'They are not in the public domain') it is rare for Paradis to discuss her life with Depp, 46, a man that many women will admit to having fallen for at some point, whether as Edward Scissorhands or more recently as Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean.


Youthful: Paradis, 37, favours a typically Gallic lifestyle and likes red wine, though she has quit smoking roll-ups


Star turn: Paradis is more famous in her native France in her role as an actress and singer

Though their relationship began in 1998, they actually met four years earlier, when Depp was dating that other famous beauty, Kate Moss. She describes their first meeting as a 'coup de foudre', which translates as something like love at first sight.

Both once known for their rebellious behaviour, she denies reining the actor in. 'I didn't tame him - we tamed each other.'


Low-key: Paradis with Depp in a rare red carpet appearance at the Oscars in 2005


Three months after they got together, she became pregnant with their daughter Lily-Rose, now 11. Their son Jack, now eight, was born three years later.

In the interview she reveals that, though they mostly speak English together, her husband speaks very good French, and also plays a mean guitar.

'He is a very special guy,' she says. 'He has so many talents. He is a wonderful father and does so many different things so well.'

She adds that the family enjoy a low-key existence. 'Our jobs make us do extraordinary things, and we travel and see lots, but the rest of the time we're quiet,' she says. 'We don't go to many parties or do a lot of red carpet.'

But life was not always so subdued for Paradis, who was likened to Lolita as a teen.

She admits that she was 'a bit provocative' during that period, desperate 'to be a woman, to look like a woman, though not really to have the life of a woman.'

As a result there was a major backlash against her - she was spat at in the street and insults were graffitied near her family home in Paris.


Notoriously private: Paradis and Depp like to escape to their Caribbean retreat, F*** Off Island


When asked how, in her late thirties, she still looks so good, she shows evidence of a typically Gallic lifestyle: 'I quit smoking roll-ups, which helps enormously,' she said. 'I do drink lots of water, though I like wine - Bordeaux.'


Of course celebrities don't open up for nothing, and the reason in this instance, is her latest film, L'Arnacoeur (The Heartbreaker), a romantic comedy starring Andrew Lincoln (This Life and Love Actually).

The film stars Paradis as an heiress caught between two men - her billionaire fiancé, played by Lincoln, and a professional lothario hired by her disapproving father to break them up.

Early reviews have been promising, and Paradis looks stunning as Juliette, floating around the Riviera in a wardrobe that would make Carrie Bradshaw jealous (check out the trailer below).

But she says she is not at all like her stiff and stubborn character: 'She listens to her head. I like to listen to my heart,' she explains.

For Paradis, at least, it's a philosophy that seems to have worked a treat.
The full feature appears in the July issue of Harper's Bazaar, on sale Monday June 7.


source: dailymail