Johnny Depp: I gave 13-year-old daughter Lily-Rose cannabis because it was 'trustworthy and good quality'

Johnny Depp supplied cannabis to his 13-year-old daughter when she wanted to try the drug for the first time and told the High Court he believes he was being a “responsible parent”.

The film star said he did not want his teenage daughter smoking marijuana in an uncontrolled environment and “going into some sort of paranoid tailspin”, and knew that his own stash was “trustworthy”.

He told the High Court he supplied some of his own drugs to Lily-Rose Depp, after discussing the decision with her mother, his ex Vanessa Paradis.

Questioned about the incident during his libel trial against The Sun this afternoon, Mr Depp denied “encouraging” his daughter’s use of cannabis and said he had been “involved in” the decision.

“My daughter was 13-years-old and as we all know at 11, 12, and 13-years-old when you go to a high school party you are approached by people who will want to give you drink because they are drinking at 12 and 13, doing cocaine at 12 and 13, and smoking marijuana at 12 and 13, doing ecstasy and doing many many drugs”, he said.

“My daughter was at a party and someone passed the joint to her. She was just 12 and she said she didn’t know what to do.

“I said ‘listen sweetheart, if you are at a party and someone hands you the joint, take the joint from the person and pass it to the next person. Please don’t experiment with drugs with people you don’t know’.”

He said he feared the drugs could be laced with other substances, and told the teenager: “Please, please, when you are really at the moment in your life when you are passed the joint and you really want to try it, I said please do me the honour of coming to me when you are ready, and you really feel you are ready.

“I don’t want your first experience to be with people you don’t know, taking things you don’t know, that you don’t trust.

“It’s a safety issue, it’s a father worried about his daughter in this kind of situation, when she came and said ‘we are ready’.

Depp said he he supplied some of his own drugs to Lily-Rose Depp, after discussing the decision with her mother
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“I know the most important thing for a child if you are going to do something like that - I would rather have them be honest with me and me be honest with them, so she doesn’t go out there and do things and hide them from me.

“I want her to trust me. If my daughter says she was ready, she was ready. I wanted to make sure the settings were perfection, put on family TV, fill the refrigerator with ice cream, fill the freezer, make a situation where the experience is as pleasant as possible.

“I don’t want a 13-year-old going into some sort of paranoid tailspin. I knew the marijuana I had myself, that I smoked myself, is trustworthy and good quality.”

Depp, who told the court he has tried most drugs but not ketamine, said he recognised that marijuana has its dangers.

Addressing barrister Sasha Wass QC directly, he added: “If this is wrong in your eyes, I appreciate what you think but I was raising a daughter and I was being a responsible parents so far as I’m concerned.”