Johnny Depp Vanity Fair July 2009

Johnny Depp covers he July issue of Vanity Fair Magazine.

For his interview Depp took Vanity Fair contributing editor Douglas Brinkley around his 45-acre private Bahamian island, Little Hall’s Pond Cay, telling Brinkley that the island “is my decompression. It’s my way of trying to return to normalcy…. Escapism is survival to me.”

When asked if there is any Hollywood icon he still hopes to spend time with, he says: “I already met her. Elizabeth Taylor.”

He says he once attended dinner with Taylor and found her to be “the best old-school dame I’ve ever met. A regular, wonderful person. Billy Bob Thornton and Steve Martin were also there. Boy, did I take to her. For dinner she ordered liver and onions and just smothered them with salt. I admired that. She’s an astonishingly great broad.”

Little Hall’s Pond has six different beaches–named after Depp’s partner, Vanessa Paradis, and their children, Lily Rose and Jack, as well as his mentors Hunter S. Thompson and Marlon Brando–each with a personality and cove of its own, and one patch of water deemed “Heath’s Place” after the late actor Heath Ledger. There are several small residences, all solar-powered, and transportation consists of a fleet of green golf carts.

Of the island Depp says: “I don’t think I’d ever seen any place so pure and beautiful.  You can feel your pulse rate drop about 20 beats. It’s instant freedom. And that rare beast–simplicity–can be had. And a little morsel of anonymity…. Whenever I was getting frustrated about being ‘novelty boy’ and making movies, I told myself, Calm down. I can come down here and disappear. I spent the Christmas season here with Vanessa and the kids. You can feed hot dogs to the nurse sharks in the Exumas–but it’s best to not swim when doing it.“

We also learn in the interview that when he can’t sleep or gets bored he paints:  “When I can focus on something like guitar or painting, I do.  I started painting people I admire, like Kerouac, Bob Dylan, Nelson Algren, Marlon Brando, Patti Smith, my girl, my kids. I painted Hunter a couple of times. Keith Richards. What I love to do is paint people’s faces, y’know, their eyes. Because you want to find that emotion, see what’s going on behind their eyes.”

Of his future his future on the island, he says: “Nobody is going to ever ruin the Land and Sea Park. It’s like a rare gem, a diamond. I look forward to my kids growing up on the island, spending months out of the year here … learning about sea life and how to protect sea life … and their kids growing up here, and so on…. Theoretically, this place can add years to your life.”

He adds: “Money doesn’t buy you happiness. But it buys you a big enough yacht to sail right up to it.”

Depps issue of Vanity Fair hits newsstands in New York and Los Angeles on June 3 and nationally June 9.