Swiss magazine "Construire"
March 20, 2001
by Christiane Rebmann
Adaptation by Patricia Brambilla
(Translation by Karelle)

Vanessa in Heaven*

(* The original title is 'Vanessa in Firmaman,' 'Firmaman' being a song of her last album. It's a pun between 'firmament' which means 'Heaven' and 'maman' which means 'mummy'.)

The gamine has grown up. And discovered happiness between Johnny Depp and her daughter Lily-Rose. Vanessa Paradis tastes the perfect love.

Meeting with Vanessa Paradis before her concerts on April the 5 in Geneva and on the 6 in Nendaz.

Le Petit Prince, a family hotel, a little shopworn in Sainte-Maxime, near Nice. A suite from which a mingling smells of pizza and cigarettes escapes.

Glamour is over. Vanessa Paradis, 28, dyed her blonde hair to black. As a result, her big green eyed baby face looks harder, more adult like. "In my last movie, I had to play a Spanish girl. Clear hair didn't fit well," the singer-actress explains by smiling, as if apologizing. "Do you mind if I smoke?" she politely asks. When she's speaking, her voice has a much deeper and harsher quality in tone than on 'Bliss', her last album, dedicated to the two most important people in her life: Johnny Depp and Lily-Rose Melody, their one and a half year old daughter.

On the cover of your last CD 'Bliss', we see a different photo of you. Is it your new image?
I wanted to distance myself from the usual glamour shoot. This one is very honest, it shows me as I am. It's Johnny who took and touched it up on his computer. The fuzzy effect gives the feeling my dreams are engraved in it.

Is happiness you talk about in the title-song 'Bliss' a dream or a reality?
'Bliss' is a declaration of love for the man of my life, Johnny. I'm sure of that: we are made for each other. I have often been in love. But I've never had a relation as intense as with Johnny. I want to spend the rest of my life with him.

Johnny Depp is famous for his outbursts of temper. He even beat up a journalist once. Is he more easy to get along with in private?
Johnny is a wonderful father. He is very helpful. He likes to see Lily-Rose growing up as much as I do. He wouldn't miss a minute.

"In France, I always feel 'hunted down.'"

Johnny is American, you are French. Have you already decided where you will live?
Always where the other will work. Lately, we stayed 5 months in Los Angeles during the shooting of a Johnny film, 'Chocolat'. I took this opportunity for recording my album. I love to move, though it's less practical since we have a child. It's for this reason that we have also a regular apartment in France.

Why not in Los Angeles?
I hate to generalize, but architecture here is more beautiful, food is better, and people more charming. The French are sometimes more grumbling than Americans but they're also more realistic and closer to real life.

You don't like the Americans?
I've come to know very nice Americans. They look shallow sometimes but they are more open-minded and more talkative than us. We French can be really boorish.

You are a famous couple. Where does the media trouble you the more, in France or in the United States?
In France, they are more insistent with me. Because here, I am part of the public property. But I don't have the right to complain.

Do you think it's normal?
Such stories happen only because we are in the public eye. It's the flip side of the coin, the dark side of success. That being said, I'll never get used to it. I always feel hunted down.

Let's talk about cinema. Isn't it trying to play in the same movie as Johnny, 'The Man who killed Don Quixotte'?
Unfortunately, we had to stop the shooting because one of the main actors fell gravely ill. As a result, we couldn't work together. We were enormously delighted because it was an opportunity for the 3 of us to be together. But I have to confess that I was also scared to play in the same movie as Johnny.

Scared of what?
To disappoint him. He is much more experienced than I am. And I want him to be proud of me in all fields.

Why couldn't he be proud of Vanessa Paradis, the actress?
I like making movies. But I don't think I'm particularly good as an actress.

And as a singer?
It's the same. I like to sing but I think I don't sing well. I feel marvellously comfortable in front of a microphone. But when I listen the recordings, I think: 'Oh my god. It sounds terrible.'

It looks like an inferiority complex.
I hate to have such little self-confidence. I sometimes mope because I think I'm bad at everything. But on another side, those complexes are a motor that push me to get better. Too much self-confidence can get you to be blase.

"I finally know why I am on earth."

Does Johnny give you courage?
Without him, I could have never recorded this CD. For the first time, I wrote and produced a big part of the songs by myself. His faith in me was so strong that I didn't want to disapoint him.

You are one of the most beautiful women in showbiz. Are you satisfied of your look?
There are lots of things that I don't like in my physique. But I accept what God gave me. I can compensate with makeup. But I'll never use plastic surgery. At least, I hope I'll always know to resist the temptation of deleting the marks of age. I think facelifted women are hideous, although Katherine Hepburn's wrinkles are magnificent. It's beautiful when one can see a whole life engraved on a face.

Paris is the Mecca of shopping. Do you spend a lot of money on clothes?
I love to shop. In this moment, I am into buying kids clothes. Lily-Rose can't wear all that I buy for her! My second indulgence is to go around to antique dealers. I collect Art Deco and Art Nouveau objects, green-and-red-velveted sofas. And old frames. I also like to mess around making lamps with pearls. I know, it sounds crazy. I've become very stay-at-home. And I've found I have a fondness for cooking.

You became more thoughtful with the birth of your daughter?
I am less selfish. I've become a lot stronger. I finally know why I am on earth. I'm a a lot happier human being. It's thanks to my relationship with Johnny. Before I met him, I had abandoned the hope to find one True Love.

END OF ARTICLE

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