In HBO’s new show The Idol, Lily-Rose Depp plays Jocelyn, a pop star who has been driven to fame by an overbearing momager.
However, despite having two famous parents, Johnny Depp and singer Vanessa Paradis, the actress explains her upbringing wasn’t directing her toward the spotlight.
“The backstory that we thought about a lot for Jocelyn is that she’s somebody who’s been working basically since she could talk,” Lily-Rose tells Entertainment Weekly. “She was a child actress, she had a mother who was really pushy in that way and really kind of bred her to be this trained performer, and that was her upbringing.”
Conversely, Depp explains, “That was certainly not mine. My parents definitely did their best to give my brother [Jack, 21] and I the most ‘normal’ childhood that we could have.”
The 24-year-old adds, “Obviously, still not totally normal, but a sense of normalcy at least, and a sense of childhood and freedom and play and everything. So our childhoods are quite different.”
That said, Lily-Rose explains, “Of course, experiencing this industry from a young age, there’s obviously pieces of that that help me understand maybe Jocelyn’s perspective a little bit better, but still, definitely coming from different places.”
The Idol airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO; new episodes later stream on Max.
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