Actor Johnny Depp has opened up about his relationship with Amber Heard and the public courtroom drama that followed. Depp and Heard met in 2011, got married in 2015, and divorced within a year. But the situation turned ugly, with the world watching as the two went head-to-head in a defamation trial after the Aquaman star accused Depp of abuse. Now, Heard has moved to Spain with her daughter, while Depp is gearing up for his next film, Day Drinker. He is reportedly dating Russian model and beautician Yulia Vlasova.
Johnny Depp makes a rare comment about Amber Heard
“So, what were my initial dealings with what we call love?” Johnny Depp repeated the question, trying to answer and said in interview with The Sunday Times, “Clearly obtuse.” He continued, “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 warned that helping someone can backfire.
“But no good deed goes unpunished,” Depp said, adding that once you start helping someone, you slowly begin to understand the kind of discomfort and “perturbance” they were hiding in their eyes. “It manifests itself in other ways,” he added, before noting, “And the interesting thing is that it is merely a sliver of my life I have chosen to explore.”
But beyond his failed marriage, Johnny Depp expressed disappointment with the people around him: “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… fake motherf—— who lie to you… yet keep the money.” He said he was betrayed by “three” individuals—all of whom, he added, “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. I was pre-#MeToo. I was like a crash test dummy for #MeToo. It was before Harvey Weinstein.”
While speaking to the publication, Depp also explained why he stopped staying silent about his legal battle. “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 f—— globe? No, it won’t.” The actor added that if he didn’t try to speak the truth now, the world would believe he was actually guilty of what he was accused of—and his kids would be the ones dealing with the fallout. He was referring to Lily-Rose, 26, and son Jack, 23, whom he shares with ex Vanessa Paradis. Depp said he knew “none of this was going be easy, but I didn’t care. I thought, ‘I’ll fight until the bitter f—— end.’ And if I end up pumping gas? That’s all right. I’ve done that before.”
Also read: Johnny Depp’s ex-wife Amber Heard welcomes twins, opens up about her ‘fertility challenges’: ‘I am eternally grateful’
Story continues below this ad
In 2018, after their divorce was finalised, citing irreconcilable differences, Amber Heard wrote an op-ed about domestic abuse, without naming anyone. Months later, Johnny Depp sued her for defamation. After a heated trial in 2020, Depp lost his case against the British tabloid that called him a “wife-beater.” The court said the claims were “substantially true,” and Heard later testified in support. Depp tried to overturn the decision, but it was overruled. In 2022, a different jury awarded him $10.35 million but also ordered him to pay $2 million in damages from Heard’s countersuit. They later settled for $1 million, which Johnny is now donating to charity.
