Johnny Depp has opened up about his past relationship with ex-wife Amber Heard and the subsequent defamation case against her.
In a rare interview with The Sunday Times, conducted over three years after the verdict, the 62-year-old actor reflected on how his earlier relationships shaped his understanding of “love” before he developed feelings for Heard, 39.
“So, what were my initial dealings with what we call ‘love?’ ” Depp posed to the publication. “Clearly obtuse.”
He continued, “And what that means is, 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.”
“But no good deed goes unpunished, because there are those who, when you try to love and help them, will start to give you an understanding of what that malaise, that perturbance was in their eyes. It manifests itself in other ways,” Depp added.
Depp described this tumultuous period as “merely a sliver” of his life that he chose to address publicly.
Depp and Amber Heard first met in 2011 during the filming of The Rum Diary. They married in 2015 but separated just a year later, with Heard filing for divorce and obtaining a temporary restraining order amidst allegations of domestic abuse. Their divorce was finalized in 2016 with a $7 million settlement.
However, in March 2019, Depp sued his ex-wife for defamation over a 2018 op-ed she wrote for the Washington Post.
The jury ordered Heard to pay Depp $10.35 million in damages, finding her liable on all three counts of defamation related to her 2018 op-ed. Conversely, Depp was ordered to pay Heard $2 million as she won one of her counterclaims.
The pair eventually reached a settlement in December 2022, with Heard agreeing to pay Depp $1 million, which he pledged to donate to charity.
Reflecting on the legal battle with Heard, Depp told The Sunday Times, “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.”
He recalled his desire to clear his name at the time for the sake of his children—Lily-Rose, 26, and Jack, 23—whom he shares with his ex-partner, Vanessa Paradis.
He continued, “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.”
