Johnny Depp and his partner Vanessa Paradis appear to be on the brink of announcing their separation, after a People magazine report suggested they are living apart and hadn't attended an event together for over a year.
The couple have two children together but never married, and a source told the U.S. publication they are "largely living separate lives", adding, "they are all but officially finished". The news could explain a couple of Depp's more lavish acquisitions over the past year, starting with the 13-bedroom mansion he bought in the Norfolk village of Burnham Market in the UK. According to the Sun newspaper, the Pirates of the Caribbean star snapped up the property in January 2011, with a source saying, "Johnny has been after an English country pad for years. He's looked at a number of places but fell in love with the mansion. It's got huge grounds which will offer his family plenty of privacy". However, perhaps more telling is Johnny's purchase of a $1.5 million loft conversion in Los Angeles last March, despite the family having an $8 million mansion just a couple of miles away in West Hollywood. An insider close to the deal told Now Magazine, "He got the builders in and made it clear he intended to live there, which seemed odd as they have an 8-bedroom house nearby". Depp's spokesman has declined to comment on the loft-conversion.
Meanwhile, his partner Vanessa was spotted shopping alone in Paris this week. The French singer was snapped at a music and book store near the Arc de Triomphe, where she purchased a Dvd box-set that include The Seven Year Itch.