Hollywood actor Johnny Depp has credited his partner Vanessa Paradis with saving him from his troubled youth.

The Pirates of the Caribbean star spent much of his teens experimenting with drugs and admits his destructive behaviour continued into adulthood.

But Depp is convinced that meeting his longterm girlfriend in 1998 was a turning point in his life - crediting Paradis with giving him a settled home life and emotional stability.

He says, "The encounter with Vanessa radically transformed me. It was liking waking up from a nightmare and then it’s a sunny morning.

"The birth of our children was a wonder of life for me. If anything, that is the proof that there has to be a God or some other beings of wonderful almightiness."

The couple has two children together - Lily-Rose, eight, and John, six.