Just like Paradis

I have always admired Vanessa Paradis for her mix of French chic and bohemian style, but also for her talent in balancing her career and motherhood successfully.

Vanessa in the Chanel Coco Cocoon campaign

Vanessa modeling for Miu Miu in 2008

In her native France, Vanessa is most famous for her singing and acting but in the rest of the world, right now she is famous for being the face of Chanel Rouge Coco and Chanel Coco Cocoon, but mostly for swinging hands with Johnny Depp for over a decade.

Vanessa as the face of Coco in 1992

Vanessa became famous at 14 when she released her first single called "Joe le taxi".  The video below for L'Incendie is a favourite:

In an interview with Harper's Bazaar, Vanessa commented on her relationship with Johnny.

"He is a very special guy. He has so many talents. He is a wonderful father and does so many different things so well," she says.

Among other things, he speaks very good French, although they mostly converse in English, and he also plays a mean guitar, she said.

The family, she says, tries to maintain a low-key existence.

"Our jobs make us do extraordinary things, and we travel and see lots, but the rest of the time we’re quiet," she says. "We don’t go to many parties or do a lot of red carpet."

In France, however, Paradis, who was a child star at 14, was known for her wild reputation.

She acknowledges she was "a bit provocative" as a teen, "desperate to be a woman, to look like a woman, though not really to have the life of a woman."

Vanessa on stage

Though their relationship began in 1998, they actually met four years earlier, when Depp was dating that other famous beauty, Kate Moss. She describes their first meeting as a 'coup de foudre', which basically translates as love at first sight.  

Both once known for their rebellious behaviour, she denies reining the actor in. "I didn't tame him - we tamed each other."

Yes, of course their life together sounds incredibly idyllic, but she does come across as very down-to-earth, very likable.  While some of us might think that Vanessa is the luckiest woman on earth, my guess is that it is Johnny who is the lucky one in this relationship, yes? 

H