Johnny Depp worked the hell out of a blue suit at the Rum Diary premiere in London last night. I think he looks really good here, and like he’s almost back to his old self. It’s probably his perfectly tousled hair, his goatee that looks like it just sprung up unattended but was probably carefully cultivated, and the fact that he looks just like he used to. Remember his 2008 Oscar appearance with Vanessa Paradis? He looks the same here with a few extra pounds that he carries very well.

Johnny is still making headlines for being drunk a lot, just like his character in Rum Diary. In mid October we saw video of Johnny falling over drunk while trying to sign autographs, and at the NY premiere of the Rum Diary Johnny appeared drunk and at some points was held up by a bodyguard. As Evil Beet speculates, Johnny could simply have been acting wasted at the premiere to promote the film, in which his character is a raging alcoholic. This week’s In Touch asks if Johnny is out of control and quotes a “friend” who says that Vanessa is “disgusted” with his drunkenness. They use the photos of Johnny being held up by the bodyguard to illustrate their point.

Johnny Depp is a dedicated 48 year-old father of two. But lately, the former hell-raiser seems to be regressing to his hard-partying youth.

“Johnny mellowed himself out over the past 10 years,” a friend explains, even swearing off hard alcohol at the behest of longtime partner Vanessa Paradis. Now, the friend says, he’s fallen off the wagon – and it’s threatening to destroy his relationship.

“Johnny went on a spectacular bender recently while visiting LA. He was stumbling around and slurring his words.” Perhaps Johnny – currently promoting The Rum Diary… has just gone method? If so, he’d better shape up. “Vanessa is disgusted,” the friend says.

[From In Touch, print edition, November 14, 2011]

I believe that Johnny drinks a lot, and that he has been drinking as he’s doing promotion for Rum Diary. He was wasted during his Vanity Fair interview and he just did an interview with The Daily Mail in which he got drunk with the journalist and the screenwriter/director of Rum Diary, Bruce Robinson. (Shown below.) Robinson blamed Depp for convincing him to drink again after he was abstinent for six years. So it definitely sounds like Johnny loves getting drunk and shooting the sh*t with his friends. He looks sober here, though, and like he’s cool with promoting the film. Look at how cute he is kissing Amber Heard! (Kaiser reviewed her look here.) I bet they had a great rapport on set. If it’s true that his partner is “disgusted” that he’s getting so drunk, I hope everything is ok for him at home. Maybe he’s drinking because they’re having problems, and they’re having problems because he’s drinking. It can be cyclical that way.

Photo credit: WENN and Fame