It’s been close to two years since Johnny Depp finalized his divorce from Amber Heard, and he’s still working hard to clear his name. In a candid first-ever interview about their high-profile split, the legendary actor opened up about the allegations of abuse that surfaced during their divorce. At 55 years old, Johnny shockingly revealed that he’d even considered walking away from acting altogether to focus on restoring his reputation.
“What really stung was being portrayed as something I’m so far removed from,” Johnny told GQ in an interview published on October 3, 2018. “The idea of hurting someone you love? Acting like some kind of bully? It doesn’t sound like me, and it never could. So, I stayed quiet at first, knowing it would stick to me and get weirder. But I wasn’t going to engage in a mud-slinging contest. My lawyers would handle the rest.”
Depp went on to elaborate on the emotional toll the allegations had on him and his loved ones. “I care deeply about what my family and kids think,” he said, referring to his two children, daughter Lily-Rose Depp, 19, and son Jack Depp, 16, from his relationship with Vanessa Paradis. “It felt like the beginning of my funeral. They were trying to take away not just my earnings but future opportunities meant for my kids. How does anyone come out with such baseless accusations? Imagine my son, only 14, going to school and hearing people say, ‘Your dad beats women.’ That’s not something any kid should have to endure.”
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Behind the Scenes: The Legal Battle
When Amber first made the allegations of abuse, Johnny’s legal team argued she was attempting to secure a financial settlement prematurely by leveraging these claims. At the time, the couple reportedly didn’t have a prenuptial agreement, which made the situation even more contentious. When the divorce was finally settled in early 2017, Johnny was ordered to pay Amber $7 million, which she later donated to charity.
“And worse, they were trying to take away future earnings meant for my kids,” Johnny continued. “I do this for my kids, man. How could anyone come out with something so false? It wasn’t easy for my 14-year-old boy to go to school with people saying, ‘Your dad beats women.’ Why did he and my daughter have to go through that?”
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Rebuilding Reputation: Johnny’s Journey
Johnny admitted that the ordeal left him feeling like a different person altogether. “We probably shouldn’t be talking about this, but I’m worried,” he confessed. “I worry about the people who believed those claims and about Amber herself. It’s just not right. I will never stop fighting for the truth. This kind of episode takes time to heal. It’s like mourning someone you thought you knew but turned out to be someone else entirely.”
Since the divorce, Johnny has been focused on rebuilding his reputation. “I’ve always known I wasn’t going to be the poster child for perfection,” he shared. “But suddenly, this version of me—the one they created—turned me into some kind of monster. I could feel people looking at me differently because of those accusations. Then came the wild rumors: ‘He’s insane, he needs a sanity test.’ Ludicrous stuff. But the only thing I could do was hold on to what I knew to be true. The truth will come out, and I’ll be standing on the right side of it all.”
