As I've mentioned before, where there is smoke, there's usually fire when it comes to reporting things in the media.  While everything they report may not be true, there are usually some bits of truth in there that they start building on to make the story more elaborate and sensational.  In my estimation, People magazine normally doesn't print a cover story unless they are certain that there's some truth to the story that they can back up with sources.  Of course, they aren't going to name their sources in the magazine.  If a friend or associate or employee of Johnny's or Vanessa's has given any information, of course, they wouldn't want to be named in a magazine.  All media outlets have sources whom they pay for information such as restaurant staff, hair stylists, store employees, hospital employees, gym employees, spa employees, rehab employees, personal assistants, maids, cooks, nannies, landscapers, pool boys, etc. so that when a celebrity visits their establishment or the person works in the celebrity's home, the snitch either alerts the paparazzi and gets paid, or gives information to a media outlet and gets paid.  These snitches aren't going to be named as the "sources" in a magazine or online article because it would blow their cover and they could no longer provide information to the magazine or media outlet. 

In my opinion, it's foolish and idealistic for anyone to put Johnny and Vanessa's relationship on a pedestal as if they're a perfect couple.  There is no such thing as a perfect couple.  All couples have arguments, fights, break-ups, reconciliations, disagreements, problems, time outs, good times, bad times, etc. 

The fact that Vanessa said during one interview that the rumors are false means nothing to me at this point.  She didn't say that until she had first hesitated when asked the first time, then had given an answer that was vague, and then finally said "false" after she was pressed by the interviewer to answer the question "true" or "false."  That doesn't sound to me like there's a lot of confidence in that answer.  Why has she stopped wearing her diamond ring in the past month?  Johnny is still hiding and avoiding the media.  The two of them haven't been photographed together since November, and they didn't look particularly like a happy couple in those photos where they were walking with Jack.  In my opinion, they looked distant from each other.

Katy Perry and Russell Brand denied problems right up until the time he filed for divorce.  So did Demi Moore and Ashton Cooper.  So have many Hollywood couples in the past.  None of us would have ever guessed that Heidi Klum and Seal could have possibly been even remotely thinking of divorce until it was reported by TMZ.  None of us would have guessed that Kate Winslet and her director husband would have divorced after her constant chatter about how happy they were as a family.  No one guessed that Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony were on the verge of divorce until it was announced that they were filing.  These people are performers and actors.  Their PR firms are masters at spinning a story so that the public sees a certain image of the celebrity that they want us to see.  Actors can make us believe anything that they want us to believe.  That's what they get paid millions to do in movies, and they're equally as adept at it in their public lives. 

We would all like to think that Johnny and Vanessa and their children are the perfect family and will never part, but that is an idealistic viewpoint rather than a realistic viewpoint.  We can hope that they'll be happy and stay together, but there are no guarantees.  They're no more immune to relationship problems than anyone else is.  As a matter of fact, Hollywood couples have even more to deal with than the average couple because of their jobs, the traveling, the time apart, the enticements of working with attractive co-stars, the enticements of the members of the opposite sex constantly throwing themselves at them, the enticements of drugs and alcohol, the exhaustion, the fame, the money, the pressure to give so much of themselves to the public, maintaining their public image, the nomad lifestyle, the paparazzi and the media, the stalkers, security threats, and the people who only want to be around them in order to use them.  All of this on top of the normal issues that all couples deal with - how to handle their money, how to get along with relatives, how to get along with each other, how to raise their children, where are they going to live, how to get along with each other's friends, health issues, intimacy issues, boredom in a relationship, growing apart, differences in values or politics or religion, etc. 

I've been a Depp fan since long before Vanessa came into the picture, and I'll be a Depp fan whether or not she remains his partner.  My concern is that Johnny is happy and healthy and thriving, and that the children are as well.  If he and Vanessa remain together and are happy together, that's great.  But if they're unhappy together and living separate lives, but acting out a farce in order to keep up a public image as a happy family, then that's really a sad situation that I wouldn't want to see Johnny living in.   

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