Johnny Depp Once Recalled Moving in with Jeff Beck, Touring Together: ‘I Can Actually Be Me’ with Him

Jeff Beck “very simply and kindly” let Johnny Depp live with him for a period of time before Beck’s death at age 78.

In an October SiriusXM Town Hall special hosted by Stevie Van Zandt, Depp, 59, spoke about living with Beck and his wife Sandra before he and the former Yardbirds guitarist began touring their album 18.

“For me, Jeff very simply and kindly, Jeff and his wife Sandra just took me into their house, and I lived with them for months and months and months,” Depp said at the time.

The actor and musician went on to say he felt he could “actually be me” once he and Beck started touring their new music together last summer.

“And then we went on the first tour together,” Depp said in the interview. “So for me having had to deal with other things at the same time, once those things, you know, are down the road and you drop into the tour, it’s like you’re home. You are home and you feel at home. Like, where I can actually be me.”

For more on Jeff Beck, listen below to our daily podcast PEOPLE Every Day.

A source told PEOPLE Wednesday that Depp “is totally devastated” after the English guitarist died Tuesday, noting that Depp “was by Jeff’s bedside” along with “some other rock stars” before Beck’s death.

Noam Galai/Getty

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

“They had a really tight friendship, they were extremely close, and he got even closer over this past summer when they were touring together,” the source said. “The sickness came on really quickly and it all deteriorated rapidly in the last couple weeks.”

“Johnny is still processing this news. He’s devastated,” the source added.

Last year, Depp and Beck released their album, titled 18, on July 15. “It’s an extraordinary honor to play and write music with Jeff, one of the true greats and someone I am now privileged enough to call my brother,” Depp said in a release at the time.

“I haven’t had another creative partner like him for ages,” Beck said of Depp at the time. “He was a major force on this record. I just hope people will take him seriously as a musician because it’s a hard thing for some people to accept that Johnny Depp can sing rock and roll.”

Venla Shalin/Redferns

The duo also performed several shows together in 2022, including a performance at Monaco’s Opéra de Monte-Carlo, during which Depp played the Link Wray & His Ray Men classic “Rumble,” provided vocals on the Dennis Wilson track “Time,” as well as the Killing Joke tune “Death And Resurrection Show” and performed his own original track “This Is a Song for Miss Hedy Lamarr.”