18
18
Why is Lily-Rose Depp one of Gen Z’s favorite stars?
The fashion and film industries are fighting over her. At 26, Lily-Rose Depp has made her name for herself, beyond her parents Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis’s daughter. A new-generation icon, she was nominated for a César, she can sing and proves her talent as an actress in Nosferatu. As the film airing on Canal+ on July 19th, 2025, this is the perfect occasion to draw the portrait of a free-spirited young woman who thrives on taking risks.
By Violaine Schütz.
Published on July 18, 2025. Updated on July 21, 2025.
Lily-Rose Depp, an actress who doesn’t rely on being a nepo baby
As the goddaughter of Marilyn Manson and Emir Kusturica, and daughter of Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis, Lily-Rose Depp, 26, has everything she needs to succeed in music and film. Although she’s a talented singer – her songs featured on the soundtrack of The Idol are proof enough – the young girl is more drawn to the seventh art. Today, she is one of the most closely watched actresses in both Paris and Hollywood…
Straddling her French identity and her American reach, Lily-Rose Depp began her acting carrer in 2014. She did a cameo alongside her father in the horror-comedy Tusk. In 2016, she followed up with roles in Yoga Hosers and in Planetarium by Rebecca Zlotowski, alongside Natalie Portman. But it was her performance in The Dancer (2016), next to singer-actress Soko, that really caught the attention of film critics. She embodied the prodigious dancer Isadora Duncan, who revolutionized modern dance.
The art of risk-taking, from the trashy series The Idol to the dark Nosferatu
That intense performance brought her to the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016. In 2019, she earned a César nomination for “Most Promising Actress” for her role in A Faithful Man (2018) by Louis Garrel. The film sees Louis Garrel’s character torn between his attraction to Laetitia Casta and the daughter of Vanessa Paradis. And who could blame him?
Since then, Lily-Rose Depp has demonstrated her acting skills, notably with The King (2020) alongside Timothée Chalamet. But her true breakthrough role came with The Idol in 2023. A risky and controversial series where she plays a tortured, depressed pop star under the influence of a toxic guru (The Weeknd). In that ambitious, yet polarizing show, she sings, dances, and pushes every boundary, especially in twisted sex scenes…
More recently, she shone in the aesthetic, gothic horror movie Nosferatu, released in December 2024. In Robert Eggers’s feature (The Witch), she plays a young woman whose repressed desires are stifled by a patriarchal society that only sees her as a hysterical wife. Possessed by a vampire, the actress brilliantly navigates terrifying expression, seduction, and vulnerability.
For instance, in the film’s opening scene, when she is overtaken by the demon, who ends her loneliness, it’s impossible to tell whether her gasps are of erotic excitement, pain, or dread. As so often, Lily-Rose Depp keeps us guessing…
Lily-Rose Depp, the unconventional Chanel muse
But part of Lily-Rose Depp’s powerful aura also stems from her deep ties to the fashion world. Legendary designer Karl Lagerfeld had once fallen for her mother’s ingénue charm back in 1991, turning her into a bird of paradise for the cult Coco perfume advert directed by Jean-Paul Goude.
With her wide dark, doe eyes, childlike blonde hair, doll-like cheekbones, and sulky pout, Lily-Rose Depp has something of a baby bird fallen from the nest. She is the spitting image of her lolita mother in the 1980s and 1990s.
It’s no surprise then that the house of Chanel has made her one of its muses (fashion, beauty, and fragrance) since 2015. Before her, icons like Marilyn Monroe, Catherine Deneuve, and Carole Bouquet proudly embodied the legacy of Coco Chanel’s free and modern woman. Today, the young actress reflects the beauty of her era – a delicate alien with full lips, thick brows, and slender silhouette, elevated by daring, often sexy, and bold looks. Lily-Rose Depp doesn’t shy away from gothic princess dresses or micro outfits. It’s no wonder so many girls want to have her sequin mini dresses, glamorous gold jewellery, and crop tops.
A young woman (almost) like any other
Even though fame has been familiar to her long before she chose her path in fashion and acting, it’s not a way of living she fully embraces. Behind the glossy campaigns and constant media attention, Lily-Rose Depp doesn’t particularly enjoy being so closely watched. She is trying to remain a regular young woman.
For a time, she shared glimpses of her private life on her blog Kalilyfornia, posted teen photos in crop tops on her Instagram page lily.depp, and once twerked on a TV set. As a teenager, she admired the Jenner sisters’ style, went to concerts with friends, and dressed up for Halloween.
She also shared the same struggles as many girls her age. In 2016, she revealed in the press that she had suffered from anorexia when she was younger and had a hard time recovering. And she’s far from the image of the selfish nepo baby. She even posed with her mother for a good cause – to support Planned Parenthood in the U.S.
An Instagram star “in spite of herself”
Lily-Rose Depp has a complicated relationship with Instagram. The main social media used by her generation is allowing her to share glimpses of what she loved in life with the world. Yet, she admits to being wary of it. This love-hate dynamic came to a close when her account was hacked and ultimately deleted in 2015. Today, 8.3 million followers track her posts, which are far more curated than they used to be before her media breakthrough.
Between photos from Chanel runway shows and film premieres, she still makes room for a touch of authenticity, posting snapshots of her friends, partner (rapper 070 Shake) and family. One of her most commented posts? A 2015 caption in which she shared being sexually “fluid” to support an LGBT photo project, years before her lesbian coming out in 2023.
At the time, her father Johnny Depp told the press: “She’s not afraid to say anything to me. We’re super-tight and I’m very proud of our relationship. She’s a sharp kid and one of the smartest human beings I have ever met. She’s far surpassed myself there!”
Nosferatu (2024) by Robert Eggers, out now.
