Lily-Rose Depp on being a half-French Gemini: ‘I think the French do pleasure very well’

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We’ve gotten to the age where all of the celebrity babies we remember are all grown up and giving interviews and having celebrity romances. In this particular case, I’m sort of okay with it, mostly because I’m rooting for Lily-Rose Depp and I like her with Timothee Chalamet. They are American-French babies and they are beautiful and cheekbone-y and it’s sort of perfect. Lily-Rose covers the latest issue of W Magazine, mostly to promote The King, where she plays the French princess Catherine to Chalamet’s brooding Hal (King Henry V). You can read the piece here. Some highlights:

She doesn’t like interviews: “I’m going to say it right now—I’ve never been good at interviews. I’m shy in these situations, and I just get really nervous and stuff.”

Why be an actress and have to give interviews then? “When I’m acting, I’m not thinking about myself. Because I’m not there. You know?”

On her parents: They were determined “to keep my brother and me as much out of the spotlight as they could. Now, I’m choosing to do this job, and I know what comes with it. But when you’re younger, you don’t get to choose.”

Typical Gemini: Depp tells me that she’s a typical Gemini, meaning that she often feels like two different people in a single body. One side of her is the enthusiastic and hardworking American, then in France, she’s a 21st-century version of her iconically French mother.

French fluency: “There’s a whole aspect to the French language that’s just facial expressions and sounds,” she says, launching into a droll series of exaggerated grimaces: the world-weary eye roll, the flirty pout, the impatient exhale. Personality-wise, she says, her Gallic side embodies “a certain nonchalance about things. Not that I’m nonchalant about everything, but there’s a lightness and a joie de vivre that French people have that I try to carry with me. I think the French do pleasure very well, and that’s what I feel the most connected to.”

On nepotism: “I’m not going to say that it doesn’t make it easier to get your name out there. Obviously it does. But honestly, to me there’s also something even a little bit harder about it, because the expectations are so insanely high. My parents are both incredible artists in their own right. So all I can do is try and be my own person and do my own work.”

[From W Magazine]

Do you have a problem with her answer about nepotism? I kind of… don’t?? I mean, she acknowledges that of course her name helps her, of course that part was easy. But now people expect her to be the hybrid of her parents, and keep in mind that Lily-Rose still probably hero-worships her father. I don’t know. Yes, she could do a better job talking about nepotism, but the reality of it is, people are always going to be judging her against her parents too. Anyway, TYPICAL GEMINI.

Lily Rose Depp during the red carpet of film ' The King ' at the 67th Venice Film Festival, Venice, ITALY-02-09-2019

Cover courtesy of W Magazine, additional photo courtesy of Avalon Red.

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40 Responses to “Lily-Rose Depp on being a half-French Gemini: ‘I think the French do pleasure very well’”

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  1. Valiantly Varnished says:

    This Gemini hate must end! We are wonderful people. Minus Kanye and Depp of course

    • notpretentious says:

      Yes, it must end. Minus Trump too, sigh.

    • DS9 says:

      Depp is my birthday twin but so are Natalie Portman and Michael J Fox so it’s not all bad and boozy.

      • Valiantly Varnished says:

        Yeah I love my birthdate but I dont have any good folks that share it. I got Kanye (le sigh), Julianna Margulies, Jerry Stiller. The really cool folks are all June 9th (Im June 8th)

        Oh I just discovered I have Gabby Giffords and Keenan Ivory Wayans. So that’s cool.

      • Kebbie says:

        Anderson Cooper is my birthday twin. Rafael Nadal is also June 3rd but I don’t really know much about him. Angelina Jolie is the day after.

      • Some chick says:

        Mine is Obama! <3 <3 <3
        And Princess Meg!!
        I did ok in the game of Birthday Roulette.

    • Snazzy says:

      My dad was a Gemini. He was torn between his two sides, but he was the kindest most wonderful man. I love me my Geminis 🙂

      • Raina says:

        I’m a Gemini cusp cancer.
        I also have Aries moon and Gemini mercury and Leo mars. What’s funny is that I like to do charts as a hobby and most of my chart is eerily similar to Jolie ( sans the cheekbones) so I have this thing where I watch her wondering if I see similar personality traits. Charts are fascinating and I can see benefits to knowing certain based points. But, soul wise, as well as nurture, clearly, we’re different in as many ways.
        I am currently with a Virgo and I’ve mentioned this before….as we know Kaiser is, too. A Virgo, that is.
        Its quite grounding to be with an earth sign but, like every sign, there are several versions of it as we’re not all black and white. I love the combo so far, for the most part…stubborn as he is lol and never wrong….he’s polite when I disagree

        We all have our things.
        This young woman, Lily, well, she seems to me to be especially young and she is living her life, figuring out her identity, whatever it is. Child of celebrities to start.
        I suspect supportive parents and plenty of opportunity. She knows this. Her pride knows this. Her
        dads a Gemini as well. I can see it.

  2. Erinn says:

    I mean, the nepotism statement isn’t amazing, but it’s better than most we see.

    She’s still complaining about how her parents names can somehow hurt her, which is straight from the celebrity progeny handbook.

    I’m one of those people who find astrology interesting, but don’t particularly believe in it haha. But apparently I’m a double Gemini. Gemini sun, Gemini moon, with Scorpio rising.

    • Valiantly Varnished says:

      Oh wow…that’s a LOT of Gemini lol! I am. Gemini sun. Leo Rising. Moon in Aries. But both my Mercury and Venus are in Gemini. Im definitely a quintessential Gemini in the way I communicate.

      • Erinn says:

        Lol, it’s really probably an excess of gemini, tbh xD I definitely have a lot of the good and bad typical traits haha.

  3. undergalaxy says:

    She always looks like she’s barely restraining a sneer, haha.

  4. Skyblue says:

    Here’s the deal with nepotism I wish everyone would acknowledge , especially in Hollywood. It helps to know people at all levels and intersections, no matter what job you apply for. It sucks when you don’t know anyone.

    • Bella Bella says:

      From my perspective, the advantage of nepotism is similar to the advantage people have who grow up in NYC. You know the way the game works. You know how to get what you want. You have certain skills and a confidence that people coming from outside have to learn in order to survive and do well.

    • Granger says:

      Agree 100%. It isn’t just that doors are opened for a celebrity kid because of who her parents are. It’s the powerful people she gets to talk to when she walks through, and the calibre of work she’s offered despite the fact that she has so little experience. The average young actor just starting out in her career rarely has that kind of access and instant opportunity. Sure, a celeb kid needs to prove herself if she wants longevity in Hollywood, but it’s a lot easier to prove yourself when you’re getting acting gig after acting gig after acting gig simply because people know your last name, instead of occasionally landing a one-liner in a cable TV program (and waiting on tables to support yourself) because nobody knows who you are.

  5. Tw says:

    I have so very little interest in anything she has to say.

    • Dee says:

      She is one of the worst cases of nepotism in hollywood tbh. I feel the same about Dakota Johnson and a bunch of others.
      Timothee Chalamet is also well connected but at least he’s talented. Same with Maya Hawke.

      • DS9 says:

        I’m actually not mad about Dakota Johnson. 50SoG was a dumpster fire that no good aspiring actress should have wasted her time on. It was good that it went to someone of middling talent. And since then, she’s been rather low key, sticking to projects that are more work than promotion.

        And I liked her in Bad Times at the El Royale.

    • naomipaige99 says:

      Honestly, I only knew who she was from her last name. If it was just a picture of her without a name attached, I wouldn’t have a clue who she was.

  6. wellsie says:

    This cover is awful. They’ve made her look like a petulant, squat child with no neck.

    • Some chick says:

      Came here to say same. It’s AWFUL. W done her dirty. I was rather shocked to see it, TBH. Their covers are usually beautiful.

      Her makeup is lovely, at least.

    • schmootc says:

      Agreed, it’s really horrible. She looks like some kind of weird doll. A weird, demented doll.

    • Tiffany :) says:

      Her face on the cover reminds me of when I used to squish my Barbie’s heads. It’s a very unflattering photo.

    • Bella Bella says:

      Plus, she’s super thin and they’ve somehow succeeded in making her look chunky! Why oh why would someone pick that picture?

  7. Jb says:

    What an awful photo but I’m sure it’s tre artistic or whatever.

  8. Daisy says:

    I feel like she’s one of those people who thinks being French is a personality trait. And please, the only reason she gets those gigs is because of her parents. She’s a bad actress and even worse model. People will stop doubting her talent when she proves herself, but I can’t see it happening.

  9. Val says:

    French ppl are mostly known for their pessimist outlook on the future (says a French girl) and huge consumption of antidepressants.

    • Kebbie says:

      Lol your comment reminds me of that SNL skit with Cecily Strong and Kate McKinnon playing French women narrating funny cat videos. They come up with the most depressing and dark descriptions, it’s hilarious.

  10. Naddie says:

    I guess she’s one of the most obnoxious, smug looking and sounding famous people ever. Now, I don’t see incoherence in being an actress and disliking interviews. One is you, the other is a character.

  11. Sunnee says:

    I think she’s right about nepotism, it gets you in the door but then you’ve got to prove yourself. So many who benefit from nepotism eventually fade-in to obscurity, i.e. Lucy and Desi’s children, Joan Crawford’s daughter. A few of them manage to hold onto a career but never really becoming a star, i.e., Zosia Mamet, Bryce Dallas Howard, and a few prove to be as good or better than their parents, i.e Jane Fonda, Liza, Candace Bergen, Gwynneth Paltrow. Nepotism occurs in every industry. And it’s natural that kids gravitate towards careers that their parents have. Cops beget cops and firefighters beget firefighters. Lawyers get their kids internships, doctors get their kids in good med schools. We only seem to get upset when celebrities do the same. I think because fame and money is tied to it.

    • Bella Bella says:

      Wow. Who in that list is “better” than her parent? I would never say that Gwyneth Paltrow is a better actress than her mother, Blythe Danner, who has had a very respectable career. Also, Liza could never be better than her mother. Jane Fonda better than Henry? Really? Candace Bergen’s father was huge in his day!!

  12. FluffyPrincess says:

    There is something about her that I find really annoying.

  13. A says:

    I’m so over this strange idea that French people (or Europeans in general?) are just so much better than those North Americans lmao. Like, yeah, you get 4 weeks of vacations. But in terms of attitudes, a lot of the French people I’ve met have some of the most antiquated ideas about pretty much everything. Especially women and sexism.