Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis announce their split after 14 years together

Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis have officially announced their split after nearly 14 years together.

Johnny Depp’s publicist announced this afternoon that the couple had “amicably separated” and added: “Please respect their privacy and, more importantly, the privacy of their children.”

Vanessa Paradis and Johnny Depp, who have two children, Lily-Rose, 13, and nine-year-old Jack, haven’t been seen at a public event together since 2010 but recently denied the split rumors which have been circulating since January.

Their relationship has said to have been in trouble for several months and recent rumors linked Johnny Depp to his bisexual co-star Amber Heard.

But news of the split comes just a month after it was claimed the couple were “working on” getting their relationship back on track.

A source said recently: “For the first time in a long time, he is talking about her. They both want to make it work.”

Johnny Depp recently blasted untrue speculation about his relationship being over and said: “The rumors are not true. They are absolutely not true.

“No matter what I say about this, people believe the opposite. I can’t say enough about it not being over.”

But recently, rumors have circulated about Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, the bisexual actress he starred with in The Rum Diaries.

A number of publications carried pictures and reports that Johnny Depp and Amber Heard enjoyed a trip together to Las Vegas on a private plane as he was in town promoting Dark Shadows.

But Vanessa Paradis was nowhere to be seen and didn’t accompany him on any of his promotional duties for the film.

Last month they continued to deny that their relationship was on the rocks, but Vanessa Paradis was snapped walking round Los Angeles looking rather glum and hiding under a big hat.

Last week she scowled at photographers as she flew out of Los Angeles under another huge hat as she jetted to France for the Cabourg Film Festival.

And ever the professional, three days later she flashed her sexy gap-toothed smile as she joined her co-stars for the photocall for her new movie Je Me Suis Fait Tout Petit (I Was Made Very Small).

And throughout the day she did not shy away from meeting people and was happy to sign items for fans, even though the announcement of her split from Johnny Depp was imminent.

Johnny Depp, 48, and Vanessa Paradis, 39, got together in 1998 when they met in the Costes Hotel in Paris while he was filming the Roman Polanski film The Ninth Gate.

He had had a high-profile engagement to Winona Ryder and a long-term relationship with Kate Moss and she had just come out of a relationship with French-Slovenian actor Stanislas Merhar, having been reportedly previously engaged to singer Lenny Kravitz.

A year after they got together, Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis’s first child, daughter Lily-Rose Melody was born followed by their son John “Jack” Christopher in 2002.

Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis never married but he recently stated that having children cemented roots for him and added that they gave him “real foundation, a real strong place to stand in life, in work, in everything”.