Johnny Depp reflected on the aftermath and fallout of his lengthy legal battle with his ex-wife Amber Heard.
“I’ll tell you what hurts. There are people, and I’m thinking of three, who did me dirty,” Depp, 62, alleged in a Times of London profile published on Saturday, June 21, without mentioning anyone by name. “Those people were at my kids’ parties. Throwing them in the air. And, look, I understand people who could not stand up [for me], because the most frightening thing to them was making the right choice.”
He added, “I was pre-MeToo. I was like a crash test dummy for MeToo, … 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!’”
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Depp — who shares daughter Lily-Rose, 26, and son Jack, 23, with ex Vanessa Paradis — and Heard, now 39, were married for two years before separating in 2017. The Aquaman actress subsequently filed for divorce and obtained a temporary restraining order after accusing Depp of domestic violence.
Breaking Down Johnny Depp’s Life 2 Years After Amber Heard Trial
Depp, who denied Heard’s allegations, later sued the U.K. newspaper The Sun after they referred to him as a “wife beater” in a 2018 article. He lost the case two years later amid a separate trial in the U.S. where Depp claimed that Heard’s Washington Post op-ed about her history of abuse — which did not mention him by name — negatively impacted his career. A jury ruled in Depp’s favor in June 2022, and the Pirates of the Caribbean actor was awarded $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. Heard, meanwhile, was awarded $2 million in compensatory damages for her counterclaim.
While reflecting on the case in his The Times profile, Depp still maintains his innocence.
“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,” Depp recalled to the British outlet of the accusations. “What will go away? The fiction pawned around the f***ing 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.”
He added, “The night before the trial in Virginia, I didn’t feel nervous. If you don’t have to memorize lines, if you’re just speaking the truth? Roll the dice. Look, none of this was going to be easy, but I didn’t care. I thought, ‘I’ll fight until the bitter f***ing end. And if I end up pumping gas? That’s all right. I’ve done that before.’”
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support.
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