Johnny Depp Says Giving Daughter Weed At 13 Was Responsible Parenting - International Highlife

Johnny Depp Says Giving Daughter Weed At 13 Was Responsible Parenting

In almost every group of friends, there was that one kid whose parents were much cooler than yours — the ones who had no rules, no curfews, a fully stocked liquor cabinet that was never locked, and maybe even their own stash of old people weed that you could pinch buds from. And if you don’t know who that kid was in your group of friends, then chances are it was probably you. 

Usually, though, that parent isn’t Johnny Depp. If you’ve always dreamt of Jack Sparrow being your dad, here’s another reason why what would have been awesome.


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Johnny Depp supplied weed to his then-13-year-old daughter when she wanted to try it for the first time and told a British court he believes he was being a “responsible parent.” 

During his libel suit against the Sun on Tuesday, Depp denied a claim that he was “encouraging” his now-21-year-old daughter Lily-Rose Depp’s use of marijuana, and said that he instead was “involved in” her decision to smoke cannabis, in order to protect her. 

The Evening Standard reported that Depp told the court that “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 in court in the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

“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’.”

According to Depp, he was afraid that the weed could be laced with other drugs and asked Lilly-Rose to come to him instead, and he would give her some of his own stash. “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 honor of coming to me when you are ready, and you really feel you are ready.”

Lily Rose Depp
(Sam Aronov/123rf)

“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,” he told his daughter.

“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.’”

“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 said, according to the Evening Standard

Responsible parenting?

He also told the barrister (that’s British for “lawyer”) that “If this is wrong in your eyes, I appreciate what you think but I was raising a daughter, and I was being a responsible parent so far as I’m concerned.”

There’s something refreshing about this moment of honesty and clarity from Depp. He didn’t try to deny what he did and presented a compelling argument from the standpoint of a caring parent. Depp also showed a celebrity example of a very common school of parenting that many pot smokers – and children of pot smokers – have experienced firsthand. 

It’s the one that says “I know my kid is going to be smoking weed anyway, I know they’ll be out drinking and raising hell, I might as well let them do it at home, where at least I know they’re safe and won’t get arrested, ripped off, drugged, or worse.”

There is a very clear logic to this approach, and while many would see it as a dereliction of discipline, an abdication of your responsibilities as a parent, it’s also a clear recognition of the fact that you know your child will be engaging in all types of dangerous activities with drugs and alcohol years before their brains are fully developed, and if you can’t stop it, maybe you can at least contain it in a safe place. 

But as anyone who has had a teenage child (or was a teenager themself) can tell you, when you give an inch, they’ll often take your whole arm and try to smoke it. And often, when parents say “if you’re going to do drugs then I hope you do it at home where you’re safe,” it creates a situation where their house becomes the party house, the one everybody goes to when they skip school, break curfew, or need a place to sleep it off when they’re too drunk.

Like the needle park in Zurich or other non-enforcement zones, it can create a sort of free for all where good intentions collide with the unbridled appetites and poor judgment of teenagers. 

But like Depp, those parents have their hearts in the right place. 

Captain Jack Sparrow’s marijuana parenting moment also brings another reality to mind, one that often falls on deaf ears when it comes to law enforcement, teachers, child-protective services, and celebrity ex-wives: Most of us parents are making this up as we go along.

We are terrified and don’t know what we’re doing, and are just trying against all odds to keep our kids safe for as long as we have any say in the matter. 

Now, if anyone knows further details about Johnny Depp’s weed, please shoot us an email.

20 responses to “Johnny Depp Says Giving Daughter Weed At 13 Was Responsible Parenting”

  1. Kellie Burke says:

    I agree with Johnny Depp what he has to say I feel the same way with my kids call Mom and I told them the same thing except they was Johnny Depp I told his thirteen-year-old daughter

  2. Robert says:

    I wanna know if it’s good lmao also he did the right thing

  3. My husband and I were also like that with our 3 kids. I think it’s the safest way if they are going to do it . Do it at home. So I totally agree with Johnny Depp.

  4. Poppy says:

    My daughter is 12 will be 13 in December. I have no idea wtf I’m doing and I am certified and child and family welfare so there you go. Kids are getting caught having sex in the middle school bathroom… if we can’t even trust that our kids can get through the school day without experimenting and acting out, how can we expect that kind of restraint after-school with no supervision. Are we supposed to ground them till graduation?

  5. Cynthia Carvajal says:

    I see no problem at all with how he dealt with his daughter and marijuana consumption. He made sure it was a nice healthy experience. I agree most kids will try it. I am on Mr Depp’s side all the way!

  6. Natasha says:

    Good Job Johnny. That’s common sense parenting. My mom did this exact thing for me at about 14. Jsyk I still enjoy marijuana and I never “gateway’d” into heroin, crack or meth. I don’t drink alcohol. I’ve tried mushrooms quite a few times. I’m cool with just my weed. Lol. I’m 40 now.

  7. Michelle says:

    I would have done the same thing oh wait I did….. My girls needed to know that not everyone can be trusted so understand how this works before someone else gives you something laced and now you are addicted to something you have no idea about.

  8. Pauline says:

    He was very honest

  9. Dennis Malcom says:

    I stand with Johnny on this one. Many times I wished I could share it with my parents. Just to show them that it’s not dangerous!

  10. Millie says:

    I agree 👍💯

  11. Linda Rupert says:

    DO U HAVE ANY FREEBIES I COULD TRY CAUSE I DONT WANNA BUY BEFORE I TRY. THAT WOULD BE NICE

  12. Rose says:

    Thing is I agree with him 100 % tho

  13. Karen says:

    I have to say I totally agree and said the same to all 3 of my children. If you want to try it you do it here at home in a safe environment with what will be just weed. Not a joint laced with god knows what. They all tried it at some point. None of them smoke now. I don’t regret my decision. Kids want to experiment, I know I did and I got into.some dodgy situations. I did not want my kids to have to. If that makes me a bad parent then people are narrow minded and blind.

  14. RM says:

    My parents did the same thing with me as a kid. And while they really could have cleaned themselves up quite a bit, I do have to admit that while at my house, I was safe; it was indeed when I left the house, and did such things, was when I encountered danger and trauma

  15. Jeff says:

    Nowhere did it say he actually gave her weed, you fucking liars.

  16. Johnny Cached says:

    Yo what strains does Johnny smoke yo!?! Asking for a friend!

  17. Chrystal says:

    Good article 💯👏

  18. Laurel says:

    I would say if anyone knows what drugs can do, it’s Johnny Depp. I believe this conversation was him trying to protect his daughter. He wanted her to know how dangerous teenage peer parties are.

    I think he was being a responsible parent and did it harm her? I’ve read nothing to indicate she has followed Johnny, and became an addict.

  19. Cristal Banagan says:

    Good job standing up for your beliefs and your rights. I wonder if it were someone like Kanye West if they would be so understanding. Hmmm

  20. SHANNON VAN STOKEN says:

    This was my parenting style with my 2 daughters…One still smokes weed and one doesn’t but both have good jobs…they are in their mid-20’s now

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