Vanessa Paradis Talks Johnny Depp Split: "I Don't Have the Recipe for Happiness"

Singer-actress doesn't want "to see people making a business out of [her] pain"

By Rebecca Macatee Aug 13, 2012 3:17 PMTags
Johnny Depp, Vanessa ParadisBret Thompsett, Matt Symons/Pacificcoastnews.com

Breakups are always a touchy subject, even more so when your ex is one of the world's most famous actors.

In a recent interview with French Elle (excerpted by People) to promote her latest film, Cornouaille, Vanessa Paradis spoke out for the first time about her split from Johnny Depp. But understandably, she didn't exactly want to pour her heart out to the mag.

"I don't want to talk about him," she said. "Who said that artists should sell their soul, expose everything about themselves?…It's my duty to promote this movie, and my albums, but can you imagine what it feels like to see people making a business out of your pain."

"I don't have the recipe for happiness, but I think the engine is simply having the desire," the 39-year-old singer-actress, who split with Depp in June after 14 years together, revealed. "It's not feeling obliged or forced or repeating yourself."

"I hate, for example, whenever you hear someone say: 'You have work at being a couple,'" she said. "No, you have to want to be there…And for me, I want to be right where I am right now.'"

Paradis and Depp, 49, are parents to Lily-Rose, 14, and Jack, 10. "My children are grown now, they are more independent," said Paradis. "My daughter loves singing above all else. Jack, he's a guitarist."

Whether or not her and Depp's children will follow in their parents' famous footsteps is TBD. "I can tell you that if they decide to launch themselves into this kind of career it will be a good thing for music," she said. "For my part, although I do not regret what I did, I'd prefer that my daughter takes the time to learn, and, especially, to live her childhood thoroughly."

Fortunately for Lily-Rose and Jack, they have two loving parents who both want the best for them, whatever that may be.