Johnny Depp has revealed he gave daughter Lily-Rose marijuana when she was just 13 years old, claiming it was ‘responsible parenting’.
The revelations were made in court on Tuesday, as the actor, 57, and his ex-wife Amber Heard, 34, appeared in Depp’s trial against News Group Newspapers after The Sun branded him a ‘wife beater’ in 2018.
In his testimony, the From Hell star said that he wanted Lily-Rose, now 21 and an actress, to feel ‘safe’ with the drug in her early teenage years.
The actor replied: ‘I got sober off alcohol and remained sober… I can’t remember exactly how long but it was a long while.’
The lawyer referred to an email Depp sent to Sir Elton on March 22 2012 with the subject ‘100 days’.
The email read: ‘My dearest Elton, 100 f****** days of clarity for an old reprobate t**t like me. No one would ever have believed it possible but for a select few, most importantly you.’
Ms Wass said Depp began using the term ‘the monster’ to describe his drunken alter ego, as she revealed how the Rocketman hitmaker helped him go straight.
But Depp said it was ‘a simple fact’ that he ‘would have been swallowed up by the monster’ as he meant he ‘would have been consumed by this poison – the monster here is death’.
The message also referred to his ‘brain and liver resembling Mrs Thatcher’ – referring to the former prime minister – and spoke of the ‘eternal savagery against myself’.
It concluded: ‘I would have been swallowed up by the monster were it not for you.’
Paradis and Depp split in 2012 following a 14-year relationship from which they share daughter Lily Rose, 21, and son Jack, 18.
The former couple, who never wed, have remained firm friends and even spent last Christmas together in Paris with their children.
Depp was also asked about his excessive drinking towards the end of his 14-year relationship with Paradis.
He told the court: ‘I would definitely say that towards the end of my relationship with Ms Paradis, the mother of my children, it was a very painful time – to break up with someone that you have been with for 14 years and that you have two children with.
‘So it was a very painful time and I was more than likely trying to numb myself as much as possible.’
Depp said the family was ‘on the verge of falling apart’ and that Ms Paradis was ‘very, very sad’.
He added: ‘I didn’t like making her sad and I didn’t like making my children sad.’
The Hollywood legend is suing The Sun newspaper and has branded those accusations ‘sick and completely untrue’ at a long-awaited blockbuster libel trial.
During the first day in court, Depp claimed he decided to divorce Heard after she defecated in their marital bed ‘as a prank’ as he denied hitting her and said that she had abused him throughout their marriage.
The actor said Heard or ‘possibly one of her friends’ was responsible for the incident, but claimed she dismissed it as ‘just a harmless prank’.
It came as Depp accused Heard of being a ‘narcissistic sociopath’ as his defence reeled off a list of incidents in which she had allegedly attacked him.
Among Depp’s claims were that Heard severed his finger by throwing a vodka bottle at him during an incident in Australia in 2015.
He also said she became ‘verbally aggressive’ on a private chartered flight in late 2014 or early 2015 before chasing him ‘repeatedly punching me in the face’. As Depp fled into the plane’s toilet Heard punched him again, he told the court.
In contrast, the actress’ lawyers painted Depp as a domestic abuser who repeatedly attacked her when he was drunk or high on drugs.
Depp is suing News Group Newspapers, publishers of the Sun and executive editor Dan Wootton over a 2018 article which referred to him as a ‘wife beater’.
It appeared under the headline ‘Gone Potty How can JK Rowling be ‘genuinely happy’ casting wife-beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?’
But in court testimony filed today, Depp claimed Heard was a calculating, narcissistic sociopath who married him to progress her own career.
The Edward Scissorhands actor said nothing in life has upset him as much as Heard’s ‘words and behaviour’ towards him.
Depp said he first met Heard when she auditioned for The Rum Diary, and later reconnected with her when they were promoting the film.