Johnny Depp will always love Vanessa Paradis.

Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis

Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis

The pair - who have children Lily-Rose, 16 and Jack, 12, together - split in 2012 and although Johnny has since married Amber Heard, 29, he admitted Vanessa, 42, will always have a special place in his heart.

Johnny, 52, told the Daily Mail newspaper: "She's a great mother and a great woman. And when you've got a woman who's been good to you, who you have a couple of kids with, you don't just abandon ship. The love may change, but you keep loving her, no matter what."

Meanwhile, Johnny revealed that he was surprised to find love with Amber because "actors and actresses don't find it easy to get on together".

He said: "In a lot of ways I am everything Amber wouldn't want to be with, and in a lot of ways, she's everything I wouldn't want to be with, because actors and actresses don't find it easy to get on together.

'But she has a very good perspective on her career - she's a very smart woman who has a lot to say about a lot of things. Plus, she's into old blues musicians - she has the ability to bring up the names of really obscure old guys like Slim Harpo or Tampa Red - and when I saw that, well, there was no way around it. She's a wonderful girl and I'm very lucky."

And Amber also has a great relationship with Johnny's children.

He said: "They are all close, like pals, and it's been great. It's amazing when you see things that you are proud of in your children. They're good kids - smart, polite and caring, and they've turned out incredibly well, especially having lived alongside me, because most parents' jobs don't require the sort of weirdness that mine does!

"Jack draws really well and he also plays music very well. But aside from being in school plays, he hasn't shown any desire to be an actor, I'm relieved to say."

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