Christina Ricci recalls how Johnny Depp explained homosexuality to her when she was 9

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By Carina Murphy

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Christina Ricci has opened up about her past with Johnny Depp.

The two stars have appeared in several movies together - though their first meeting took place when Ricci was just nine years old.

In an interview with Andy Cohen for his SiriusXM show, the Addams Family star explained how she first met Depp while filming the 1990 film Mermaids alongside him and his then-girlfriend Winona Ryder.

She had a particularly fond memory of how the Edward Scissorhands star - then in his late 20s - gave her a memorable life lesson by teaching her what homosexuality is.

"There was something going on on set and someone was not being nice to someone else. And they were like, 'Oh, well, he might be homophobic,'" Ricci recalled to Cohen, adding: "I was like, 'Well, I don't understand what that is.'"

Luckily, her older co-stars were on hand to provide an explanation. The Yellowjackets star described how she went first to Stranger Things actor Ryder for help, and that she in turn enlisted Depp to do the talking.

"I was in Winona's trailer and she was like, 'I don't know how [to explain].' So she put me on the phone with Johnny, and Johnny explained it to me," the actor, now 42, remembered.

She went on to say that Depp explained things openly and honestly to her, putting it in "the simplest terms."

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Ricci and Depp in Sleepy Hollow. Credit: United Archives GmbH / Alamy

"He was like, 'It's when a man wants to have sex with a man and when a woman wants to have sex with a woman.' And I was like, 'Ah, okay,' " she said.

Ricci and Depp's frank conversation about the facts of life turned out to be the basis of a life-long friendship both on and off-screen.

The two went on to star in several movies together, including ear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), Sleepy Hollow (1999) and The Man Who Cried (2000).

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Credit: REUTERS / Alamy

In a 2000 interview with ABC News, Ricci described how she and the Pirates of the Caribbean actor were like siblings. "I've known Johnny so long, he's protective of me as an older brother," she said.

Featured Image Credit: UPI / Alamy