Johnny Depp had been with French singer Vanessa Paradis since 1998 when he ran into actress Amber Heard on the set of  2011’s The Rum Diary. Then he started filming The Lone Ranger in February of 2012. Word has it that Heard visited him on the set. Then, all of a sudden in June of 2012, his split from Paradis was announced. We’re not saying Amber Heard caused the split. But the timeline is nonetheless interesting.

Fast forward to 2015 when a besotted Depp marries the bisexual Heard. Then all heck breaks loose in 2016 when they split, with Heard claiming Johnny had been physically abusive during their relationship. She even rolls up to court sporting (fake or real?) bruises. The Heard/Depp relationship is toxic.

Johnny Depp’s career is crumbling around him. What does Vanessa Paradis do? She wades in to defend Johnny Depp, saying she had never known him to be violent or abusive to her or their children Lily-Rose and Jack. She insists he was kind, attentive, and considerate. And when Depp sued UK’s The Sun tabloid in 2020 for calling him a “wife-beater”, there Vanessa was again, giving a statement saying Depp was not the abusive sort.

So how close are Johnny and Vanessa these days? Oh, they see one another from time to time. And they are what might be called “on friendly terms”. But are they friends?

Let’s take a look at how close Vanessa Paradis and Johnny Depp really are.

The Amber Thing

It’s one thing for a couple to split up because of differences of opinion or some such. It’s an entirely different thing for love birds to call it quits because one of them is cheating. So, the timeline of Johnny Depp’s dealings with Amber Heard is relevant. Johnny first met Amber in 2010 on the set of The Rum Diary. And she reportedly visited him on the set of The Lone Ranger in 2012.

So, was it a coincidence that four or five months after he began filming The Lone Ranger in 2012 that he announced his split from Paradis? And, oh yes, about the same time Heard split up with her girlfriend Tasya van Ree.

Another point: It’s one thing to walk out on a significant other. It’s a completely different thing to walk out on a significant other and the kids you had with him or her.

For The Sake Of The Kids

Both Vanessa and Johnny made “it’s time to move on” noises when they split. They both emphasized that they would work hard to minimize the damage inflicted on their children Lily-Rose and Jack by the breakup. Johnny rambled on and on about how becoming a dad had changed his life and how much the kids meant to him. And he threw in phrases like “it was hard” just for good measure.

If the “Amber theory” holds true, then all the words coming out of Johnny’s mouth were just an attempt to spin his leaving Vanessa and the kids for another woman.

Vanessa has been a class act from day one of the breakup. She has never bad-mouthed Johnny and, in fact, has come to his defense on more than one occasion, particularly when Amber Heard started throwing dirt around.

Now remarried to French actor/director Samuel Benchetrit, she allowed Johnny to visit her and the children in July of 2020 in Paris just before he jetted off to take on Amber Heard in a UK court. Of course, phrases like “reunited” and “quality time” were used in reporting the tender little scene. The whole thing was a PR man or woman’s dream, probably intended to paint a “happy families” picture that reinforces the good relationship between Paradis and Depp.

Depp’s reputation has taken a battering. He desperately needs all the friends he can get. And getting the stamp of approval from Vanessa Paradis goes a long way towards bolstering his sagging and battered image.

The Verdict

Paradis is a class act. We know that. She is probably not Johnny Depp’s biggest fan but defends him. Why? Well, it is almost certainly for the sake of her children Lily-Rose and Jack.

To begin with, she almost certainly doesn’t want her kids to live with the scandal of a discredited, “wife-beating” father.

And let’s get practical: Depp still foots the bill for security for their kids. And her family has had the use of his French chateau-like village. While not dependent on Depp in any way, the perks his stardom brings are icing on the cake.

The last thing Vanessa Paradis wants is a broken, bankrupted Johnny Depp. When he shuffles off this mortal coil, a chunk of his fortune will almost certainly go to Lily-Rose and Jack.

How close are Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis? The answer is not very. If the Amber theory is right, then Vanessa has probably enjoyed the spectacle privately, while making all the right noises publicly. The outcome will affect the future of her children. She probably defends Depp, appears to be his ally even, for their sake.