Johnny Depp Threatens to Defy Smoking Ban  11/17/05

Johnny Depp has vowed to defy any smoking ban imposed in Britain and attacks similar enforcements in his native America.

The actor, who is thought to have a home in the south of England, has cut down on his nicotine habit, but believes smokers should be allowed to quit on their own, without being alienated.

He threatens, "I'll come over and have a smoke-a-thon. They've taken that whole pretzel and stretched it into as absurd pretzel as I've ever seen.

"Obviously it ain't good for you, and I don't condone it or recommend it, but everyone has to find their own way out of it. The idea of bludgeoning people and telling them that if they smoke they are awful is ludicrous."