Lily-Rose Depp Reveals She Was “Traumatized” by Edward Scissorhands as a Child: “A Difficult Childhood Memory”

Lily-Rose Depp is opening about the trauma she felt when her father, actor-musician Johnny Depp, starred as Edward Scissorhands in the 1990 film of the same name. 

With his ghostly appearance, wild hair and scissors for hands, Edward has the capacity to frighten most children, but the younger Depp’s fears stemmed from a different reason entirely. The Nosferatu actress shared in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar U.K. published on Thursday that it was the town people’s treatment of Edward in the film that impacted her most. 

“I was traumatized by it. Not because I thought he was scary, but because everyone was being so mean to him and I got really upset,” Depp said, adding that her parents, Johnny Depp and French actress-singer Vanessa Paradis, allowed her to watch the Tim Burton-directed film when she was 3 years old.

In the film, Johnny Depp’s Edward is an artificial humanoid who lives with a family in the suburbs. Although he is gentle and kind, Edward’s appearance frightens his neighbors — so much so that they chase him out of town. Lily-Rose Depp explained that the ending left her feeling so frightened that she never watched Edward Scissorhands again. 

“I remember being petrified by that, which is weird, because I don’t have many memories from when I was that young,” the actress shared. “It’s a difficult childhood memory.”

The actress went on to compare Edward to Nosferatu, the iconic vampire played by Bill Skarsgard in her latest film. Directed by Robert Eggers, Nosferatu is a remake of the 1922 silent movie of the same name. The actress stars as Ellen Hutter, a newlywed with whom Nosferatu becomes obsessed, in the gothic fantasy film.

“Edward’s the good guy and Nosferatu’s kind of the bad guy, but there’s a part of me that feels a little bit of empathy for Nosferatu,” she said. “I mean, am I sick for feeling that way?”

Depp added that, as an actor, she is drawn to complex, deeper characters like Edward Scissorhands and Nosferatu. 

“I’m interested in the darker underbelly of things,” she explained. “As an actor, you hope that your role will be as meaty as can be, so you have as much to dive into as possible.”

Nosferatu is available to watch in theaters.