Johnny Depp has revealed that he is proud of the ambiguity of his Pirates of the Caribbean character's sexual orientation, since it adds a touch of realism.

Depp, who plays the slightly camp Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean films, assumed this position after reading Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition by Barry R Burg.

He now feels that the ambiguity is fitting as he suspects that the living situations of real pirates may have encouraged them to experiment.

"I like the idea of [Jack] being ambiguous because women were thought to be bad luck on ships and these pirates would go out for years at a time," Contactmusic quotes him as saying. "So, you know, there is a possibility that one thing might leads to another. You're lonely. You have an extra ration of rum..."

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest hits screens on July 6.