Johnny Depp Talks About His Homes



About His Island:

If there's anything I really want, it's privacy. Maybe I should do what Brando did 30 years ago - buy an island. Maybe take my girl and some friends and just go there and sleep. And read, and swim and think clear thoughts. Because you really can't do that [in Hollywood]. You can't be normal - you can't just hang out and have a cup of coffee and pick your nose. (1999)

[The island is a] very necessary part of the balance. Here in Hollywood, with this work, that's one type of animal. The island and the idea of going to a place where there are no telephones, no cars, no street lights or noises - there's just nature and the sea and the wind and the sun - that brings things down to their absolute base level. It's a great education for the kids. It serves a lot of purposes and it's good to get away, definitely. (Source: Sunday Mail, June 25, 2006)

I love running around on the beach with the children, going swimming. (Source: The Independent, July 7, 2006)

I just always had that in the back of my mind, that idea you know of living on a desert island as we all do probably so... and this thing showed up and I snatched it. (Source: David Letterman Show, July 27, 2006)

I defy any painter to capture those shades of blue. I was just lucky that this place found me. (Source: Vanity Fair, July 2009)

I look forward to my kids growing up on the island, spending months out of the year here... learning about sea life and how to protect sea life... and their kids growing up here, and so on. (Source: Vanity Fair, July 2009)

Theoretically, this place can add years to your life. Money doesn't buy you happiness. But it buys you a big enough yacht to sail right up to it. (Source: Vanity Fair, July 2009)

If you're in a situation where you are kind of not allowed to be normal, where you're not treated as normal somehow even though you are normal, you got to go away and find a place to sit for a minute and try to make sense of stuff. (Source: Entertainment Tonight, June 18, 2009)

About America:

I am an American. I love my country and have great hopes for it. It is for this reason that I speak candidly and sometimes critically about it. I have benefited greatly from the freedom that exists in my country and for this I am eternally grateful. (2003)

I would never be disrespectful to my country, to the people, especially the kids who are over there serving in the armed forces. My uncle was wounded in Vietnam, paralyzed from the neck down. I would never say those things the way they claim I said them. (2004)

I essentially said the United States is a very young country compared with Europe. We're still growing. That's it. I wouldn't say anything anti-American. I'm an American, and I love my country. (2004)

I would never insult the American people. I used the metaphor of a puppy dog, but I never said ignorant puppy dog. I said it's a very young country compared to old Europe, or Asia. It was misinterpreted. I was talking about the government, and especially the current administration. Never about the troops, even if I was not particularly enthusiastic about going to Iraq or whatever. I love my country. But fuck, if want to say that I don't agree with the president's choices or words or intentions, so what? Even if I had said what they printed - which I didn't - what's the big deal? Some actor blurts out this thing - who gives a shit? He's an actor! (2004)

I called them, three or four people, and I said, "It's very easy for a publication to print whatever they want to print as a representation of me, but it's not me. If you would allow me just a moment to represent myself... if you still feel like I'm a shithead or a schmuck afterwards, then fine. But at least hear me out." These were heavy, right-wing, military people: one was a cop ... one had a nephew who'd been wounded in Iraq. I told them, "What was printed was ugly, but this is what I meant..." And each one of them said, "I understand." [response to hate mail and calls he received following the Stern article] (2004) I love going back to America, to see my family and friends. But it's wonderful to get back to France and live in a tiny village with nothing around. (Source: People magazine, December 5, 2008)

About Living In France:

It's been very good to me, this country. It's been welcoming, and it's given me what I've always wanted - a really cool, simple life. (2003)

Living [in France] has been good for me. It's given me the opportunity that when I do come back to Hollywood I can almost enjoy it. (2003)

[Being in France] was amazing at first, because I didn't speak the language. I loved that, because I didn't have to talk. It was great just to be out among people and not have the responsibility to say anything. I wasn't thrown into the spotlight to be the novelty or to entertain. (2004)

Ultimately, though, what I love about being [in France] is the culture, which is very old. (2004)

I love it [in France]. I've always loved it there. The phones don't ring as much. Movies are never brought up in conversation. I'll take the kids and we'll go out to the trampoline and the swing set, and we'll stop by the garden and see how our tomatoes are doing. You know, old-fart stuff. Good stuff. (Source: Newsweek, June 26, 2006)