After 14 years together, actor Johnny Depp and French singer Vanessa Paradis are on the brink of splitting up, according to a front-page story on People magazine.
This comes as a surprise as Depp, 48, and Paradis, 39, have never married but have had a stable long-term relationship since 1998. They have two children, Lily-Rose Melody, 12 and John Christopher Jack, 9.
Perhaps the writing was on the wall when Paradis was conspicuously absent at last Sunday’s Golden Globes in Beverly Hills, where Depp walked the red carpet alone. The pair have not walked the red carpet together for more than a year.
According to People, sources close to the pair say that while the both of them are residing in Los Angeles, they have been living separately for some time now. Their two children attend a private school there, and Paradis looks after them while Depp goes off for filming.
It was love at first sight for Depp when he first laid eyes on Paradis in 1998 at the Hotel Costes in France, where he was filming the Roman Polanski movie, The Ninth Gate.
“I think I lived the first 35 years of my life in a fog...She turned all that around with her tenderness and understanding. We've considered ourselves husband and wife since the day we moved in. We just haven't gone through the formalities,” said Depp in an interview with New Ideas magazine in 2005.
In 2010, Depp explained to OK! why he and Vanessa never tied the knot. “I never found myself needing that piece of paper. Marriage is really from soul to soul, heart to heart. You don't need somebody to say, okay you're married...
“If Vanessa wanted to get hitched, why not... But the thing is, I'd be so scared of ruining her last name. She's got such a good last name.”
Representatives of both Depp and Paradis have not answered calls for comment, and the People story goes on the newsstands tomorrow.