Fashion has fallen head-over-heels for Lily-Rose Depp. With Vanessa Paradis and Johnny Depp for parents, her genetically blessed features and cool kid lifestyle made her a massive social media celebrity before she had ever even given an interview — though when she did, it was for i-D, of course! — but her speedy ascent to Chanel muse and campaign star took her dad by surprise.
“What’s happening to Lily-Rose is something that I didn’t expect to happen this early, that’s for sure!” he told the Daily Mail. “She’s been snatched up by Karl Lagerfeld — which is a coincidence, as he spotted her mother when she was the same age, too — and when I see her with make-up and all that stuff, it’s really disturbing, because she’s a very beautiful girl, and it’s all happening so fast,” he explained.
Speaking about Lily-Rose’s appearance in iO Tillett Wright’s Self Evident Truths project — a series of photographs of people who identify as LGBTQI that was interpreted as her coming out as not straight — Johnny says, “She’s got thousands of followers on social media, and they were all taken completely by surprise. But not me. I already knew because she tells me everything — she’s not afraid to say anything to me. We’re super tight and I’m very proud of our relationship. Lily’s really together — she’s a sharp kid and one of the smartest human beings I have ever met. She’s far surpassed myself there — and my friends, too! Whatever she is doing, if she needs any advice, I’m there for her. Kids are going to make their own decisions, but I guess that the only thing you can do as a parent is to offer support. And I do”.
Lily-Rose has four films coming out in 2016, including a co-starring role opposite Natalie Portman in Planetarium, but her dad says he has nothing to do with her chosen career path: “Her becoming an actress was never my dream or my desire for her, but that’s what she enjoys doing, and it’s her passion and it’s where she ended up,” he says, adding, “And she’s got the goods — she can certainly deliver”.
It looks like Lily-Rose has pretty much got her life on lock, but her dad still reckons he’ll always be anxious about her. “No matter how grown up she gets, I’ll never stop worrying about her. It’s a father-daughter thing,” he says, “She’s got a sensible head on her shoulders, and I trust her to lead a sensible, responsible life, but I can’t ever see the day coming when I just switch off to let her make her own way in the world”.