Johnny Depp says having children gave him "clarity"

The 48-year-old actor`s outlook on life completely changed after his daughter Lily-Rose, now 12, was born and the appetite he previously had for late nights evaporated.

Johnny - who also has a nine-year-old son Jack with his long-term partner Vanessa Paradis - said: "It was having children that woke me up. To fall in love, to that degree, to fall in love with ? these little angels. Who didn`t ask to arrive, but who arrived anyway. That was just huge for me. It was like the uplifting of a veil. There was something that it gave me, for the very first time in my life. Clarity."

The Hollywood star developed a hard partying reputation in the 90s when he was engaged to actress Winona Ryder and then in a four-year relationship with supermodel Kate Moss and was friends with Liam and Noel Gallagher from Oasis.

Johnny - who has been with French singer-and-actress Vanessa since 1998 - admits when he was younger he "put things" into his body that you wouldn`t put into a car.

In an interview with the UK edition of GQ magazine, he added: "At a certain point in our youth we would put things into our bodies that were unfit to be put into a f***ing automobile. You know what I mean? You wouldn`t put that stuff in a bad car. Anyhow, at a certain point you`ve git to take apart the f***ing motor. Like you open the hood of a car and check over all the parts; all the bits and bobs that make it go. Eventually you have to examine yourself in that way."

sections: Celebrities