"Whatever I've gone through, I've gone through," he said. "But, ultimately, this particular arena of my life has been so absurd..."
Johnny Depp has been laying low for a while, especially since his split with ex Amber Heard got a bit messy. However, in his first interview after losing his libel suit against The Sun, who labeled him a "wife beater", the 58-year-old actor revealed that he's aware he's being shunned by the industry. Depp and Heard got divorced in 2017, and since then, it has been downhill for the actor.
He revealed that the past five years have been "surreal" for him.
He spoke about his plight during an interview with The Sunday Times to discuss his latest movie release, Minamata. In the movie, Depp plays the role of real-life photojournalist W Eugene Smith, who helped expose the harsh impact of mercury poisoning on coastal communities in Japan in the 1970s. The movie premiered in the U.K. last week but has not been given a U.S. release.
During the interview, Depp revealed that his boycott is making it hard for the story of the Japanese people who were affected to be seen and heard. In fact, Minamata's director, Andrew Levitas wrote to MGM (they bought the rights to the US release of the film), and accused them of being concerned that “the personal issues of an actor in the film could reflect negatively upon them.”
Depp then said that as the producer of the film, he'd promised to keep the movie clean, but now that's he's kept his word, the others should, too. “Some films touch people,” he adds. “And this affects those in Minamata and people who experience similar things. And for anything . . .” He pauses. “For Hollywood’s boycott of, erm, me? One man, one actor in an unpleasant and messy situation, over the last number of years?”
He compared his situation to "getting scratched by a kitten" but not before he added that it’s affecting his storytelling ability and Hollywood career nonetheless.
“But, you know, I’m moving towards where I need to go to make all that . . .” he halts, before saying, “To bring things to light.” In the interview, Depp also called his fall from grace an "absurdity of media mathematics."
"Whatever I've gone through, I've gone through," he continued. "But, ultimately, this particular arena of my life has been so absurd..."
Even though a lot of people were on Heard's side after their split in 2017 turned nasty, there were still a few loyal fans who stuck by Depp's side through it all. “They have always been my employers,” Depp says of his fans. “They are all our employers. They buy tickets, merchandise. They made all of those studios rich, but they forgot that a long time ago."
"I certainly haven’t. I’m proud of these people, because of what they are trying to say, which is the truth. The truth is they’re trying to get out since it doesn’t in more mainstream publications. It’s a long road that sometimes gets clunky. Sometimes just plain stupid. But they stayed on the ride with me and it’s for them I will fight. Always, to the end. Whatever it may be.”
Depp and Heard first met in 2009, on the sets of The Rum Diary, according to Insider. In a court filing, Heard wrote that she and Depp began dating "around the end of 2011 or the start of 2012." Then, in 2014, PEOPLE reported that the duo was engaged after Heard was spotted wearing a diamond ring. A year later, in 2015, the two got married in an intimate ceremony.
Soon, in 2016, Heard filed for divorce, claiming that Depp had abused her, usually under the influence of alcohol and drugs. In 2017, their divorce was finalized. Heard received $7 million from the divorce but she donated it to charity.
After this all, in December 2019, Heard wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post, claiming she was abused. This prompted Depp to sue his ex-wife for $50M for defamation. It just got worse, and soon, he was spending a lot of time in court, trying to prove his innocence. In the wake of the accusations against him, he was dropped from movies.
Even after all this time, there seems to be no end in sight to this messy affair. Hopefully, it will all end soon!
References:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/johnny-depp-interview-im-being-boycotted-by-hollywood-zpllqzl5k
https://www.insider.com/johnny-depp-amber-heard-relationship-timeline-2020-7
https://people.com/celebrity/johnny-depp-engaged-to-amber-heard/
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Andreas Rentz
