(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Johnny Depp has revealed he breathed fire when he was a teenager.

The actor was known as a Hollywood hellraiser in his younger years, before he settled down with current partner Vanessa Paradis.

In his new movie The Rum Diary, Johnny's character spits alcohol onto a match creating a raging blow torch. The hunk admits he had his own personal experience to draw on when filming the scene.

"I did spew a little fire when I was a youth," he said during a press conference for the film on Wednesday. "I very dumbly chugged a little bit of gasoline and blew it into a torch and my head was on fire. That's true."

A younger Johnny thought it would be fun to try the risky stunt, but soon ended up regretting his actions. When the fire-breathing act went wrong and his head caught on fire he became terrified he would die.

Luckily, one of his friends reacted quickly and put the flames out.

"It's a weird thing when your head is on fire," he explained. "You tend to panic first. And then when panic sets in and you cannot get your face out, you run. Which is the worst thing you can do. A friend of mine, a guy named Bones, came over and put my face out. He saved my life."

In The Rum Diary Johnny plays an American journalist who takes a freelance job on a local paper in Puerto Rico during the 50s.

The drama based on a novel by Hunter S. Thompson is released worldwide from later this month. (C) Cover Media