The holiday season isn’t even upon us yet, but Amber Heard says she’s already been given the best present of all: being stepmom to husband Johnny Depp’s two children — Lily-Rose, 16, and Jack, 13.

“[It’s] an honor and the greatest, most surprising gift I have ever received in my life,” she says in the December issue of Marie Claire. “I feel new flavors that I didn’t know existed. New colors that I didn’t know existed have been added to my life. I’m so happy.”

Depp shares Lily-Rose and Jack with singer Vanessa Paradis, with whom he had a 14-year relationship before calling it quits in 2012.

Heard, 29, and Depp, 52, tied the knot in several hush-hush ceremonies this past February, including one at Depp’s Hollywood home, and another on a white sandy beach in the Bahamas.

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The pair, who began dating in 2012 after meeting on the set of The Rum Diary, have largely kept a tight lid on their relationship. 

But something Heard is not hesitant to talk about is how she’s managed to stay grounded and maintain her independence despite being one-half of such a high-profile couple.

“You respect what it takes to earn [money], and it also gives you a certain resilience, because it minimizes this false notion that that’s what matters,” she says. “I know that to not be true, and I know I’m fine without it. That’s why maybe I’m so independent. I never expect anyone to give me anything — the notion of someone supporting me would be absurd to me.”

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