Johnny Depp had a defiant message for Hollywood after his ex-wife slung allegations at the movie star that threatened to derail his career.
Depp notoriously won his defamation suit against Amber Heard in 2022, after the actress labeled herself a domestic abuse victim in a Washington Post opinion article.
The legal battle threatened to completely ruin Depp’s storied Hollywood career. After the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star lost a libel case in the United Kingdom, he was dropped from the Harry Potter spin-off “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.”
Depp was replaced after filming one scene.
“It literally stopped in a millisecond, like, while I was doing the movie,” Depp told The Telegraph. “They said we’d like you to resign. But what was really in my head was they wanted me to retire.”
He responded: “F— you. There’s far too many of me to kill. If you think you can hurt me more than I’ve already been hurt, you’re gravely mistaken.”
Depp explained why he chose to fight back against Heard’s allegations in what turned out to be one of the most-watched celebrity trials.
“I fought it because, had I not, then I wouldn’t have been me,” he told the outlet. “Of course, everyone tells you, ‘Don’t do it. You’re crazy.’”
The “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” star noted the “lie” Heard had told was beginning to be the “deciding factor” on whether he had the ability to make movies in Hollywood.
“F— you,” Depp added.
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Depp first found fame in Hollywood after landing a role on “21 Jump Street” in the 1980s. The experience made him a contender to be the next teen idol, although Depp had no interest in becoming a TV actor.
From the start of his career, Depp didn’t care to be something he wasn’t.
“I didn’t like the labels,” the actor told The Telegraph. “What they were desperate to do was just make me a poster boy: ‘He’s the new James Dean.’ No, I’m not.”
Depp recalled openly revealing his extensive drug use during an interview in the 1990s. At the time, he was asked why viewers should pay attention to a young actor pretending to be an undercover cop.
“And I said, ‘Well, that’s easy. ’Cause I started taking drugs when I was about 11.’ And then I went through the whole thing,” Depp told the outlet. “And she asked me, have you tried marijuana? I went uh-huh. Cocaine? Uh-huh. Heroin? Uh-huh. I mean you name it because that’s how I grew up. By the time I was 15, 16, I had a pretty decent chance at a doctorate in pharmacology and alcohol mixing and drinking.”
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While Depp has seemingly recovered from the civil trial involving his ex-wife, he has pointed out that he was the “crash test dummy” for the MeToo Movement. Heard filed for divorce in 2016 and days later filed for a domestic restraining order against Depp.
“I’ll tell you what hurts,” Depp told The Times about the aftermath of the allegations surfacing. “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.”
“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. 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!”
Depp explained that Heard’s “fiction” wasn’t going to go away unless he fought back with “the truth.”
“Everyone was saying, ‘It’ll go away!’ But I can’t trust that. What will go away? The fiction pawned around the f—ing globe? No it won’t,” he said. “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 memorize lines, if you’re just speaking the truth? Roll the dice.”
