Johnny Depp was battling rumours last night that his long-term relationship with French singer and actress Vanessa Paradis is on the rocks.
The Pirates of the Caribbean star is on the brink of a split because of the couple's constant bickering, according to a report in the US.
'People around him are worried about how Johnny is doing because he and Vanessa seem so fractured right now,' a source told the RadarOnline celebrity website.
The unsubstantiated report appears to contradict the 48-year-old actor's claims in interviews about his enduring love for Miss Paradis, 39, the mother of his children, Lily-Rose, 12, and nine-year-old Jack.
RadarOnline quoted a source close to the star as saying: 'Johnny isn't handling anything well right now.'
The site also suggested the Hollywood heartthrob is seeking legal advice over the alleged unravelling of the 14-year relationship.
'Johnny has started reaching out to lawyers, probably to quietly discuss how to get out of the relationship.
'They're not married but they've been together for years and have kids together so it isn't as easy as just breaking up.
'Johnny is so talented at acting, but he doesn't seem able to hide how badly things are going right now,' the unnamed source added.
There were claims of problems in the relationship last April when a French magazine splashed a photo on its front page of Mr Depp appearing to kiss another woman.
The woman turned out to be the actor's publicist Robin Baum who reportedly attended the unveiling of Penelope Cruz's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame with Mr Depp while Miss Paradis was at home in France with their children.
At the time, Voici magazine wrote: 'Are Johnny and Vanessa heading for a split?'
'Whenever Johnny and Vanessa are rumoured to be having relationship problems, it's Robin who as his press officer has to deny them.
'This woman is dangerous.'
France's 24heuresactu website said: 'Is Johnny cheating on Vanessa and splitting up one of the world's best-known celebrity couples?'
Miss Baum had not responded to a request for comment at time of going to press last night.
The actor was most recently spotted on New Year's Eve in Los Angeles with Miss Paradis, their two children and a woman believed to be his mother, Betty Sue.
He was married briefly in the early Eighties to make-up artist Lori Anne Allison before his high-profile romances with actress Winona Ryder and supermodel Kate Moss.
But he has been with Miss Paradis since 1998, when they met on the set of the Roman Polanski thriller, The Ninth Gate.
Speaking about their first meeting in an interview last year, Mr Depp said: 'She was wearing a dress with an exposed back and I saw that back and that neck, and then she turned around and I saw those eyes, and - boom! - my life as a single man was done.
'You have this feeling,' he added. 'I can't really explain what it was, but I had it when I met her.
'I saw her across a room and thought: "What's happening to me?"'
He said the couple hadn't seen the need for marriage.
'I never found myself needing that piece of paper. Marriage is really from soul to soul, heart to heart.
'You don't need somebody to say: "OK, you're married".
'She and I have been together for nearly 14 years, and, well, I can hardly believe it.
'It only seems like yesterday that we met.'
Of his own parents' broken marriage, he said: 'I recall hearing my parents argue and thinking: "Come on, this is torture. Just split!"
'They stuck it out until I was 15, but I'd seen it coming for years. When they finally did divorce, I thought: "OK, this is the right thing".'
The family divides its time between their home in Meudon in the Paris suburbs, Los Angeles, Le Plan-de-la-Tour in the south of France and an island in the Bahamas.
Source:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2083393/Are-Johnny-Depp-Vanessa-Paradis-heading-split-14-years-together.html
