When Johnny saw Winona for the first time he was 26 and she was 18. They were every adolescent’s dream - he was a teen idol and she was little more than a teenager. They knew of one another through their movies but they met in person at the premiere of Great Balls of Fire, Winona wore white and was in the hall drinking a Coke. “It was a classic glance,” said Depp, “like the zoom lenses in West Side Story, and everything else gets foggy.” “It wasn’t a long moment – echoed Winona - but it was suspended.”
They met again several months later at Johnny’s ‘home’ at the Chateau Marmont and they talked about their mutual love of Catcher in the Rye and the soundtrack from The Mission. A week or so later their union was blessed during their first official date, by the LSD guru, Timothy Leary, who, just like in a screenplay of a dark rom-com, was the godfather of “I have never had a boyfriend and I stay at home with my mum and watch old movies” Winona and the idol of the Beat Generation “I finished trying out all the drugs there were at 14” Johnny.
Shortly after that she had a ring on her finger and he had “Winona forever” tattooed on his biceps.She said things like: “When I met Johnny, I was pure virgin. He changed that. He was my first everything. My first real kiss. My first real boyfriend. My first fiancĂ©. The first guy I had sex with. So he’ll always be in my heart. Forever. Kind of funny that word."
He responded with: ”I’d die for her. I love her so much. I don’t know what I would do without her. She’s going through a lot right now. I wish I could just kiss away the pain, make it go away, stop it, kill it! If she, you know, I don’t know what I would do. I’d kill myself. I love that girl. I love her. I love her almost more than I love myself.” Or: “Believe me, this Winona Forever tattoo is not something I took lightly…Her eyes kill me”.I WANT TO CRY
Aw..MY EYES ARE WATERING. Goodness they were so perfect.