Johnny Depp has said there were “three people” in particular who did him “dirty” during his highly publicised trial with ex-wife Amber Heard.
The actor addressed his separation and divorce from Heard, during which he lost a libel action against The Sun over claims that he had assaulted Heard, and broadly won a defamation action against Heard in relation to claims by Heard that he had physically and sexually assaulted her.
In a new interview with The Sunday Times, Depp, 62, spoke about how some of his Hollywood peers “did me dirty” during that time, with the journalist noting that the star’s “ire for them is bubbling, passionate”.
“As weird as I am, certain things can be trusted,” said the Pirates of the Caribbean star. “And my loyalty is the last thing anybody could question. I was with one agent for 30 years, but she spoke in court about how difficult I was.
“That’s death by confetti, these fake motherf***ers who lie to you, celebrate you, say all sorts of horror behind your back, yet keep the money – that confetti machine going – because what do they want? Dough.”
In the deposition in the Heard trial, his former agent Tracey Jacobs, with whom Depp worked from 1988 to 2016, claimed some studios had become “reluctant to use” Depp because of his tardiness on set. The actor denied this.
He continued to single out “three people” in particular, stating: “I’ll tell you what hurts. There are people, and I’m thinking of three, who did me dirty. Those people were at my kids’ parties. Throwing them in the air.”
The Edward Scissorhands star did not name anyone specifically. The court case became a point of contention in Hollywood, with several celebrities taking sides. You can find a list of stars who supported Depp here, and those who supported Heard here.
Depp went on to refer to himself as the “crash test dummy for MeToo”, in reference to the social movement that gained traction in 2017 with the aim of raising awareness about sexual harassment and assault, particularly in the workplace.
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“And, look, I understand people who could not stand up [for me], because the most frightening thing to them was making the right choice. I was pre-MeToo. I was like a crash test dummy for MeToo. It was before Harvey Weinstein,” he said.
“And I sponged it, took it all in. And so, I wanted from the hundreds of people I’ve met in that industry to see who was playing it safe. Better go woke!”
Heard’s accusations came a year before Weinstein was arrested and charged with rape in 2018. The disgraced producer was found guilty of two of five felony counts in 2020 and sentenced to 23 years in prison.
Throughout the trial, Depp’s fans had been significantly louder than Heard’s, with over 4.5 million people signing a petition to remove the actor from Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, which had been in production at the time.
Heard testified that she and her baby had been receiving death threats from Depp fans, telling jurors: “People want to kill me, and they tell me so every day. People want to put my baby in the microwave, and they tell me that. I receive hundreds of death threats regularly, if not daily.”
At the time, Heard’s daughter, Oonagh Paige Heard, was one year old.
Asked whether Depp found it hard to “witness” the abuse that his ex-wife – “somebody that he had been in love with” – was being subjected to, the actor appeared to evade the question, responding: “Well, that is the thing. ‘That I had been in love with.’ That’s where we could start, to look at the roots of ‘in love with.’”
The journalist notes that at this point in the interview, the actor makes an “unexpected jump back to his childhood”.
“Because with regards to how I was raised, I wouldn’t say it was a house without love, but it was an intense love and I would not say that myself, or my siblings, or my pop and mom, experienced any great love or bliss,” Depp said.
He went on to suggest he was a “sucker” for falling in love with Heard.
“What were my initial dealings with what we call ‘love’? Clearly obtuse. And what that means is, if you’re a sucker like I am, sometimes you look in a person’s eye and see some sadness, some lonely thing and you feel you can help that person,” he said. “But no good deed goes unpunished […]”
In 2020, Depp lost his libel case against The Sun’s publisher, News Group Newspapers (NGN), and its executive editor, Dan Wootton, over an article that referred to him as a “wife-beater”. Mr Justice Nicol dismissed the claim, finding NGN had proven what was in the article to be “substantially true”.
In 2019, Depp sued Heard for $50m (£40.1m) for allegedly implying he abused her in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed. Although she didn’t name him, he claims her allegations impacted his ability to work. Heard had filed a countersuit accusing Depp of allegedly orchestrating a “smear campaign” against her and describing his own lawsuit as a continuation of “abuse and harassment”.
In June 2022, the jury shared their verdicts, finding that Heard had defamed Depp on all three counts. She was ordered to award him $10m in compensatory damages and $5m in punitive damages. Heard was found to have a partial win in her case and was awarded $2m in compensatory damages, but no punitive damages.
Depp gave the interview in promotion of Modi: Three Days on the Wing of Madness, which he directed.
The film is about the Italian painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani and follows his starring roles in the films Minamata and Jeanne du Barry. He will next star in Day Drinker opposite Penelope Cruz.
