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"Johnny Depp is breaking his silence about the end of his 14-year relationship with Vanessa Paradis in the July 4 issue of Rolling Stone. The never-wed couple (parents to Lily-Rose, 14, and Jack, 11) announced their breakup in June 2012, but the notoriously tight-lipped Lone Ranger actor had kept quiet about their split -- until now.\r\n&amp;quot;The last couple years have been a bit bumpy,&amp;quot; Depp tells the magazine. &amp;quot;At times, certainly unpleasant, but that&amp;apos;s the nature of breakups, I guess, especially when there are kiddies involved.&amp;quot;\r\n\r\nDepp, 50, continues, &amp;quot;Relationships are very difficult. Especially in the racket that I&amp;apos;m in because you&amp;apos;re constantly away or they&amp;apos;re away and so it&amp;apos;s hard. It wasn&amp;apos;t easy on her. It wasn&amp;apos;t easy on me. It wasn&amp;apos;t easy on the kids. So, yeah. The trajectory of that relationship -- you play it out until it goes, one thing leads to another. So for whatever reason that &amp;#xAD;ceases, it doesn&amp;apos;t stop the fact that you care for that person, and they&amp;apos;re the mother of your kids, and you&amp;apos;ll always know each other, and you&amp;apos;re always gonna be in each other&amp;apos;s lives because of those kids. You might as well make the best of it.&amp;quot;\r\n\r\nCompared to his breakups with previous girlfriends Kate Moss and Winona Ryder, Depp says he handled his split with Paradis with more maturity. &amp;quot;In terms of the breakup, I definitely wasn&amp;apos;t going to rely on the drink to ease things or cushion the blow or cushion the situation,&amp;quot; says the star, known for trashing hotel rooms in the early &amp;apos;90s. &amp;quot;&amp;apos;Cause that could have been fatal. I felt it was my duty to be real clear throughout that. I had something pretty serious to focus on, really, which was making sure that my kids were gonna be cool.&amp;quot;\r\n\r\nDepp tells Rolling Stone that his children are doing fine in the wake of his breakup with the French model and actress, 40. &amp;quot;They&amp;apos;ve been incredibly understanding, incredibly strong throughout the whole ordeal. And it&amp;apos;s hard on every side. You know, Vanessa&amp;apos;s side, certainly not easy. My side, not easy. The kids are the most complicated,&amp;quot; he explains. &amp;quot;The thing is, kiddies come first. You can&amp;apos;t shield them, because then you&amp;apos;d be lying. So you can at least be honest with your kids, and you say the absolute truth to your child -- that was very important to not pussyfoot around.&amp;quot;\r\n\r\nUntil Lily-Rose&amp;apos;s birth in 1999, Depp says he didn&amp;apos;t understand his purpose in life beyond acting. &amp;quot;It really was as if a veil was lifted, and things became clearer, and I went, &amp;apos;Oh, I f-cking get it now! That&amp;apos;s what it&amp;apos;s for! That&amp;apos;s what it&amp;apos;s for, this beautiful little creature that I took part in creating, making.&amp;apos; I didn&amp;apos;t have a real handle on what life was supposed to mean or be or anything like that. And I still don&amp;apos;t. And I&amp;apos;m not sure that life is supposed to mean anything or be anything at all,&amp;quot; the actor muses. &amp;quot;But as long as you have the opportunity to breathe, breathe. As long as you have the opportunity to make your kid smile and laugh, and move it forward.&amp;quot;\r\n\r\nDepp doesn&amp;apos;t talk about his 27-year-old girlfriend Amber Heard (whom he met while shooting the 2011 movie The Rum Diary), but he does explain how his own upbringing affected his philosophies about parenthood.\r\n\r\n&amp;quot;I wouldn&amp;apos;t say my youth was the perfect model in terms of raising a kid. It was a relatively violent upbringing. If you did something wrong, you got hit. If you didn&amp;apos;t do something wrong, you got hit. But my parents, they did the best they could with that they knew, and so I figured I&amp;apos;d do the best with what I knew, which was do pretty much the opposite from what you guys did -- and I think I&amp;apos;ll be all right,&amp;quot; Depp tells Rolling Stone. &amp;quot;Not to say they were bad parents, because they weren&amp;apos;t. They just didn&amp;apos;t know any different, and it was a very different time. My mother was raised in a shack, in the wilds of Appalachia, where the toilet was an outhouse. She used to say she did the same things that her mom did -- and her mom certainly didn&amp;apos;t know any better. With my kids, they&amp;apos;re told 75 times a day that they&amp;apos;re loved. One thing I know is they feel loved and secure and happy and needed and necessary and a part of something.&amp;quot;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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