Johnny Depp has been involved in a number of high-profile relationships. There was his three-year engagement to Winona Ryder, his long-term relationship with Vanessa Paradis, and his contentious split from Amber Heard, whom he sued for defamation.

Fans believed the Pirates of the Caribbean actor was on the verge of settling down with Paradis, with whom he shares custody of their children, Lily-Rose and Jack. However, by the end of 2011, the actor—who stated that he would rather leave his partner than cheat on them—began dating Heard, with whom he had worked on the film The Rum Diary.

In 1998, while shooting The Ninth Gate in France, Depp and Paradis met for the first time. He stated to the Daily Mail, “It was the Hôtel Costes. She was wearing a dress with an exposed back, and I saw that back and that neck, and then she turned around and I saw those eyes, and—boom! My life as a single man was done.”

The star of The White Wedding afterward remarked on their “instant” chemistry. She shared, “We were in two different worlds — him in America, me in France — but we had friends in common. We saw each other sometimes for four years. But then, the day we found each other in Paris, we were both in the same world and free, and it was just instant. There was no more time to waste—just no way around it.”

The couple’s separation was reported in January 2012, and rumors of the split began when Paradis showed up to a film premiere without Depp the same month. Depp first shot off the rumors in May, but he and Paradis confirmed the news the following month. They avoided talking about their relationship for nearly a year. However, behind the scenes, they were able to maintain a positive co-parenting relationship.

In 2016, when Depp was facing claims of domestic violence, Paradis came out in support of him. She wrote it all out in a letter: “In all these years I have known Johnny, he has never been physically abusive with me, and this looks nothing like the man I lived with for 14 wonderful years.”