Johnny Depp was born in Owensboro, Kentucky to John Christopher Depp Sr. and Betty Sue Palmer. He has one brother, Danny, and two sisters, Christie (who was formerly Johnny's personal manager) and Debbie. The Depp family has mostly Irish, German and Cherokee ancestry. The book "Johnny Depp: A Kind of Illusion" states that the Depp family originated with a French huguenot Pierre Deppe or Dieppe who settled in Virginia around 1700. Johnny Depp has said he doesn't know the origin of his surname, but he repeatedly jokes that the name translates to "idiot" in German (which is actually true, as it is a minor insult meaning fool, moron, or idiot.). Depp's maternal great-grandmother, Minnie, was a full-blooded Cherokee, and his father also has distant Cherokee heritage. The family was constantly on the move during Depp's childhood, and he and his siblings lived in more than twenty different locations, finally settling in Miramar, Florida in 1970, when he was 7. Depp engaged in self-harm as a child, owing to the stress of dealing with family problems and his own insecurity. He has seven or eight scars from practicing self-harm. In a 1993 interview, he explained his self-injury by saying that "his body is a journal in a way. It's like what sailors used to do, where every tattoo meant something, a specific time in your life when you make a mark on yourself, whether you do it yourself with a knife or with a professional tattoo artist".
Depp's parents divorced in 1978, and he dropped out of school a year later to become a rock musician. (As he explained on Inside the Actors Studio, he attempted to go back two weeks later, but the principal told him to follow his dream of being a musician, which Depp said was "really sweet.") Depp's mother bought him a guitar at the age of twelve, and he began playing in garage bands. He played with a band named, "The Kids", who had modest local success and set out for Los Angeles, California in pursuit of a record deal. At this time, they changed their name to "Six Gun Method." Depp married Lori Anne Allison, his makeup artist, and the sister of the drummer of the band, on December 24, 1983. The marriage caused friction between the band members, and the group split before signing a record deal. Depp subsequently also collaborated with the band Rock City Angels and co-wrote the song "Mary", which appeared on their debut for Geffen Records, "Young Man's Blues". During Depp's marriage, his wife worked as a makeup artist and he worked a variety of odd jobs, including a telemarketer for ink pens. Later, his wife introduced him to actor Nicolas Cage, who advised Depp to pursue an acting career. In 1985, Depp and Lori divorced.
Since his first marriage ended, Depp has dated and been engaged to Sherilyn Fenn, Winona Ryder, and Kate Moss. Depp is now living with French singer and actress Vanessa Paradis, whom he met while filming The Ninth Gate in 1998. The couple have two children, daughter Lily-Rose Melody Depp (born May 27, 1999) and son Jack John Christopher Depp III. (Johnny has said that he named his son Jack because of one of Johnny's idols, Jack Kerouac.) Depp has noted that having children has given him "real foundation, a real strong place to stand in life, in work, in everything." "You can't plan the kind of deep love that results in children. Fatherhood was not a conscious decision. It was part of the wonderful ride I was on. It was destiny; kismet. All the math finally worked." The family divide their time between Los Angeles and a villa in France. Depp also owns an island in the Bahamas, where he spends some of his time.
In 2003, Depp was quoted as criticizing the United States in Germany's Stern magazine, commenting that "America is dumb, is something like a dumb puppy that has big teeth—that can bite and hurt you, aggressive." Although he later asserted that the magazine had misquoted him and that the quote was taken out of context, Stern stood by its story, as did CNN.com in its coverage of the interview, which added his remark that he would like his children "to see America as a toy, a broken toy. Investigate it a little, check it out, get this feeling and then get out." The July 17, 2006, edition of Newsweek reprinted the "dumb puppy" quote, verbatim, within the context of a Letter to the Magazine. Depp has also disagreed with subsequent media reports that he says paint him as a "European wannabe", citing the fact that he enjoys the "simpler" life and anonymity that living in France provides.
Depp has been arrested several times. His first arrest was in Vancouver B.C for a late-night altercation in a hotel lobby. He was accused of allowing illegal drugs to be sold at his club The Viper Room, after actor River Phoenix died in front of the club from an overdose of heroin and cocaine in 1993, although the owners were deemed as not involved in the death. In 1994, Depp was arrested and questioned by police for allegedly causing serious damage to a New York City hotel suite. He was arrested again in 1999 for fighting with paparazzi outside a restaurant while dining in London with his girlfriend, Vanessa Paradis. Depp dislikes fans taking pictures of his family and has threatened paparazzi who have attempted to photograph his children. In May 2006, Autograph Collector Magazine published its list of 10 Best & 10 Worst Hollywood Signers, with Depp topping the list of Best Signers.
Along with Sean Penn, John Malkovich, and Mick Hucknall, Depp part-owns the Parisian restaurant-bar Man Ray. He has thirteen tattoos, including "Lily-Rose" (the name of his first-born child) over his heart, "Betty Sue" (his mother's name), a sparrow flying over water with the word "Jack" below it (the sparrow is flying towards him rather than away from him as it is in Pirates of the Caribbean, and it's for his son Jack), and "Wino Forever" (originally "Winona Forever"; Depp had the tattoo altered after his breakup with Winona Ryder).
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