Johnny Depp has made headlines in recent years, though a significant portion of that news was in relation to personal matters as opposed to professional ones. The 62-year-old actor was involved in a few high-profile legal matters involving his ex-wife, Amber Heard. At this point, those situations appear to be behind Depp, who’s been having a Hollywood resurgence as of late. Now, Depp is opening up about the fact that so many details regarding his personal life were made public amid his legal skirmish with Heard.
In 2018, after The Sun referred to Johnny Depp as a “wife beater” in an article, the star filed suit against the outlet’s publisher – News Group Newspapers – for libel. Ultimately, Depp lost his case in 2020, with the court ruling that many of the reported acts of violence that he purportedly committed were proven true. Depp later sued Amber Heard for defamation in 2019 over an op-ed she wrote the year before in The Washington Post about sexual violence. Heard also countersued Depp for alleged instances of defamation.
Amid this particular Heard/Depp legal battle, the two former spouses leveled various allegations against each other. As noted in The Times’ profile of Depp, statements were also submitted from his former girlfriends and photos of a severed finger, wine and more were included as evidence. Reflecting on all of that while speaking to the aforementioned news outlet, Depp shared his belief that it was necessary in order to present “the truth” of the situation:
Look, it had gone far enough. I knew I’d have to semi-eviscerate myself. Everyone was saying, ‘It’ll go away!’ But I can’t trust that. What will go away? The fiction pawned around the fucking globe? No it won’t. If I don’t try to represent the truth it will be like I’ve actually committed the acts I am accused of. And my kids will have to live with it. Their kids. Kids that I’ve met in hospitals. So the night before the trial in Virginia I didn’t feel nervous. If you don’t have to memorise lines, if you’re just speaking the truth? Roll the dice.
The Oscar nominee went on to say that he understood that the legal battle would be difficult for him. However, he says he was willing to “fight” as necessary to make his case:
Look, none of this was going be easy, but I didn’t care. I thought, ‘I’ll fight until the bitter fucking end.’ And if I end up pumping gas? That’s all right. I’ve done that before.
The case of Depp v. Heard was conducted in Fairfax County, Virginia in 2022, running from mid April to early June of that year. (Said trial was also available for viewers to watch on TV.) Depp enlisted the services of several attorneys while attempting to make his case, including Camille Vasquez, who frequently fielded questions about her client and her team’s legal strategy. Ultimately, the verdict went in favor of Depp, who was awarded $15 million in compensatory and punitive damages combined (with the latter later being reduced due to a VA law.) Heard, who was found guilty of three counts of defamation, also received $2 million in compensatory damages.
Since the trial, Johnny Depp has gradually been making career moves. He’s since starred in Jeanne du Barry, a historical drama that was released in 2023, and Depp also teamed up with Al Pacino by directing and producing a biopic, Modì, Three Days on the Wing of Madness. Right now, Depp is looking towards the release of his first Day Drinker, which marks his first film with a major Hollywood studio since 2018’s Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.
Overall, in the aftermath of his legal woes with Amber Heard (who’s now living in Spain), Johnny Depp is reportedly focused on his work. Depp, however, prefers that the public doesn’t call this a “comeback,” as he says that he “didn’t go anywhere.”
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