He earned his wild man reputation, but these days Johnny's happy hanging at home in Paris with his kids.

Johnny Depp needs no introduction, the man who made us cry in Edward Scissorhands and swoon in Chocolat is currently flinging himself about the screen in the wonderfully silly Pirates Of The Caribbean and soon to be seen in the weird Once Upon A Time In Mexico. But it's not just his film career he's famous for ‑ his string of romances with Winona Ryder, Kate Moss, and Sherilyn Fenn have been very high profile. These days, he's happily ensconced in France with partner, singer Vanessa Paradis and children, four‑year‑old Lily Rose and two ­year‑old son Jack. B's LA correspondent, Donna Walker‑Mitchell tried not to faint...

Johnny: Is there an ashtray anywhere in this whole city? [Wanders around the hotel room and finds one, picks it up and takes a seat]. Do you mind the poison because I can go and put it out if you like?

B: It's fine, don't worry about it.

J: Thanks, I appreciate it.

B: What do your children think when they see daddy on the big screen?

J: My four‑year‑old (Lily Rose Melody Depp) saw me in Edward Scissorhands and Benny And Joon and she saw the trailer for Pirates, which she loved. She made me rewind it over and over again, so she could see me dressed as a pirate [laughs]. It's funny but it's never really registered with her that mummy and daddy are actors. She knows that mummy is a singer and now she believes that I'm a pirate. She's absolutely convinced. B: You recently took your family to Disneyland. How did you not get mobbed?

J: I have my head down a lot [laughs]. I wear a baseball cap and push a stroller and do this [mimics himself walking around, hair over his face, sunglasses on and head down]. The thing is, people don't generally take any notice of you when you're walking that way. So, next time you're at Disneyland and you see some weird guy walking around with his head down, that's me!

B: If someone does recognise you, though, do you admit you're Johnny Depp?

J: If somebody catches you, then you have to 'fess up and admit who you are. And that's OK. Basically, it's a nicer experience if I can get through it without being recognised because I don't want to take anything away from my kids and their experience of something like Disneyland. Snow White, Cinderella ‑ they're the things to be looking at, not Daddy

B: Now has fatherhood changed you?

J: It's changed everything. Well, everything and nothing really It's more revealing of the person you always thought you could be, but didn't know what steps to take to arrive there, and having my kids ‑ having my family ‑ pushed me in that direction. My family has made me a much better person. I'm much more centred than I've ever been.

B: You seem like a radically different person to who you were a decade ago...

J: Way older [laughs].

B: You were regarded as a rebel. What do you think you were rebelling against?

J: [Lights another cigarette and stares out the window]. It was confusion. I didn't understand what any of it was about.

B: What do you mean?

J: Well, most people around me were telling me that I had to do movies and they had to be successful and that I had to have money and all that stuff. At the same time, I wasn't comfortable in that role and it wasn't what I wanted. You know, I knew that wasn't happiness. I didn't know what happiness was. I went through a very nasty few years where I just poisoned myself to medicate myself to try and not feel that. I wasn't comfortable in that role.

B: What changed it all for you?

J: Kids give you perspective and strength. Things that I was freaked out about before become nothing. Having kids changed it all.

B: If you hated being surrounded by those sorts of people early in your career, what was it that made you take on the job?

J: It was all a mistake [laughs]. It was really a complete fluke. I moved out to LA from Florida in 1983 when I was 20 and I was a guitar player in a band called The Kids. Moving to Los Angeles was a big thing for us because we went from making decent money to each of us averaging about $25 a week. That'll open your eyes. We started having to do odd, weird jobs.

B: Such as?

J: I was selling ink pens over the telephone and not making any money at that. I was really at my wit's end. I remember filling out job applications when Nic (Nicolas) Cage ‑ who was a buddy of mine for a long time ‑ said he wanted to introduce me to his agent. I thought, "Fine, at this stage, I'll try anything just to make some money." She sent me to read for the director Wes Craven and somehow, miraculously I got the gig (A Nightmare On Elm Street). Then I was paid scale, which was $1,200 a week. At that time, that sort of money to me was just unheard of I'd never dreamed of that. I remember calling my Mum and telling her how much I was going to get paid. I said it was great because I'd just do this one job for fun and get the money, then go back to playing in the band.

B: What was your mum's reaction?

J: The first thing my Mum said was, 'Well, what kind of movie is it?" [laughs] I had to say, trust me Mum, it's not that type of movie!" I told her it was a horror film and she felt better about it. She couldn't believe how much I was being paid, to go from $25 a week to $1,200 was quite a leap.

B: Struggling for cash must seem like a lifetime ago.

J: Money for me is freedom and it's not as though I invented that notion. Money for me and for my family has done nothing more than offer us the luxury of simplicity. I was able to buy a house in France, that's probably the first place in my life that I've ever been able to call home. Beyond the fact I call it a home, I know it will be there long after I'm floating away It's a home t at can be for my kids and their kids and so on and that gives me a very good feeling.

B: You seem very much in love with your partner, Vanessa Paradis. When did you know she was the one?

J: It was instantaneous and unexplainable. It was just instinct. You see a beautiful girl across the room, you have some sort of animal reaction, but there was no way for me to know that first moment I saw her what an amazing, generous person she is and what a great mother she was going to be, which makes her even more beautiful. The first time I saw her, I remember just seeing the back of her neck, then she turned around and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I don't know what the attraction was, but it was magic. Destiny.

B: Have you worked on any of her albums?

J: On her last studio album, Bliss, I played guitar on two or three of the songs. She's a very talented girl. She wrote everything and she just asked me for a couple of chords, so I didn't do much of anything. I still play every day ‑ it's still one of my great loves.

B: When did you know that acting was the path you were meant to follow?

J: I think it was in March 1986 when I went to the Philippines with about 30 other guys to film Platoon. It was around then I knew that somehow I'd been put on this road and this was what I was meant to be doing. I kind of gave in and said, 'Well I guess I'm going to try and be an actor now" So far, it's worked out OK [smiles].