‘Years Get Away From Us’

In a recent interview with The Times of London, the 62-year-old made rare comments about raising his children, Lily-Rose and Jack, noting how “years get away from us.”

His daughter — who has made a name for herself as an actress — is now 26 years old, while his son Jack is 23 and has maintained his privacy.

“Oh man, my kids growing up in the south of France in their youth? I was Papa. I cannot tell you how much I loved being Papa,” Depp said.

He shares his children with ex Vanessa Paradis, who has an estate in France. The family then moved to Los Angeles where Depp became just “Dad.”

“Then, suddenly, Papa was out the window. I was Dad,” he explained of what happened after the move. “But Papa was awesome and I’m getting old enough for Papa to possibly come back. Some motherf–ker’s going to have to call me Papa!”

It’s rare to hear Depp open up about his children. He even revealed that a painting hanging behind him for the interview was a portrait he’d created of his daughter, whom he and Paradis welcomed together in 1999.

“I never finished it,” Depp said. “She was 10 then.”

The Pirates of the Caribbean star admitted he is suffering from “empty-nest syndrome” and told the reporter that he is in “envy” because they still had small kids at home.

The actor recalled his family’s time in the “south of France” where he and Paradis raised their children, describing it as “the only place that ever felt like home.”

Depp and Paradis, who split in 2012 after 14 years together, chose to raise their children out of the spotlight in an estate near St. Tropez that he bought in 2001. Home for Depp now is between London and the Bahamas.

Paradis previously revealed that she was the one who picked France as the family’s home base.

The couple’s two children were raised bilingual and speak both French and English.