In their April 8th edition, the German newspaper Die Welt featured a charming article entitled “Priceless Guest” about Johnny Depp’s appearance with Vanessa Paradis at the Montblanc 100th anniversary gala on Wednesday. Their reporter actually got a brief interview with Johnny, and asked why Johnny had come to the event. “Because pens fascinate me,” Johnny replied. Is that because of his famous telemarketing job, when he sold pens over the phone before he became an actor? “Oh no. My passion comes from writing. And/or from reading. I admire writers such as Ernest Hemingway, Jules Verne and many others. In order to document that, I started to collect special inkpens. The first one I bought, was the [MontBlanc] ‘Fitzgerald.'”

Johnny denied being “a real collector,” however, because he actually uses his pens. “They need to be used,” he explained. “A pen finds you and not the other way around. While writing you notice whether you understand each other.” According to Die Welt, Johnny grinned as he added, “At first Vanessa was irritated a little: ‘Why do you love pens that much?’ But a love letter is simply more beautiful, when it was written with a special pen.” Asked if he writes love letters, Johnny replied, “Yes, often.”

You can read the full Die Welt article on the Zone’s News & Views forum, in the thread called “Johnny and Vanessa in German newspaper.” Thanks very much to Charly for posting the news, and a huge Zone bouquet of lilies and roses to AnaMaria, who translated the Die Welt article into English for those of us not fortunate enough to read German. A big Zone thank you also to bonnie for the beautiful picture of Johnny and Vanessa which accompanied the article; members can find those photos on the Recent Pics board. To see a larger version of our thumbnail pic, click HERE.