On May 23, 2016, Hollywood shook under the blows of one of the biggest scandals of the last few decades: the actress Amber Heard announced to the world that he wanted to divorce from Johnny Depp due to the constant physical abuse she continued to suffer, especially when her husband was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The two actors had met on the set of the film The Rum Diary and the proverbial spark seemed to explode between them: Johnny Depp left his ten-year partner Vanessa Paradise, mother of his two children, and plunged headlong into this new relationship that culminated in a wedding on a private island in 2015.
The end of a career
No one, in the glittering factory of Hollywood, could have ever predicted that the union between two actors of the seventh art would turn into a real theater of horror, which would end up ruining both their careers. In full era me too, therefore, Amber Heard divorced her husband and over the next few months the front pages of the tabloids were filled with images of the actress from Aquaman with bruises under her eye, in which she announced that she had been beaten and beaten by what had become her ex-husband. During the first phase of the allegations, Johnny Depp, who had just lost his mother, decided not to respond and ignored the rumors circulating about him. He took refuge in his European tour with his band The Hollywood Vampires, perhaps in the hope that the dust raised by Amber Heard would not reach him and be over in a short time. He was wrong.
Over the next four years Johnny Depp was forced to fight to try to keep his reputation together. For part of public opinion, in fact, the actor had already been found guilty, a monster always drunk and always ready to physically harm his partner. Furthermore, Amber Heard’s statements also had a very serious impact on Johnny Depp’s career. Disney was quick to distance themselves from Johnny Depp, “cutting him out” of the saga Pirates of the Caribbeanstripping him of Jack Sparrow’s clothes, under the astonished gaze of fans of the franchise who recognized that it could not exist Pirates of the Caribbean without the Captain Jack Sparrow. In those same years, on social media, petitions began to chase each other to remove the actor from the role of Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Crimes of Grindelwad and only JK Rowling’s heartfelt defense kept the actor from losing that job. Role that he still lost on November 6, 2020, when with a post on Instagram the actor said he had accepted Warner Bros.’s request to resign and no longer appear as Grindelwald in the chapter Fantastic beasts and where to find them: Dumbledore’s secrets.
The request for resignation came after the actor had lost the lawsuit brought against the publisher of the London The Sun, newspaper that had been guilty of defining it “a wife beater.” According to the judge there was enough evidence of domestic violence in the marriage between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard to justify the piece of the The Sun. Found “guilty” after a judicial sentence, Johnny Depp has seen his back turned by all. Neither production seemed interested in employing an artist who could draw the ire of the public. Johnny Depp, who throughout his long career had been considered a pure talent, the heir of Marlon Brando and one of the most chameleonic interpreters of the seventh art, had become an outcast with whom no one wanted to deal, also due to a temper which, under the influence of alcohol, was difficult to manage. However, by the time the London ruling was enacted, the Heard-Depp divorce narrative had changed dramatically. If in 2016 almost everyone agreed in representing Johnny Depp as a perpetrator, in 2020 many details had emerged, showing the narcissistic and violent character of Heard herself, who in some audio recordings had admitted that she was the one who beat Johnny Depp, not vice versa. For Johnny Depp it was time to go on the counterattack.
Johnny Depp’s victory against Amber Heard
Going on the counterattack means, for Johnny Depp, facing a trial in Virginia. In fact, the actor had already denounced his ex-wife for defamation. In May of 2022, the two clash in the room, in a trial that is broadcast globally and becomes a major topic of conversation. During the weeks of legal debate, all the details of a highly toxic and abusive marriage are exposed to public ridicule. Violence is verbal, psychological and manipulative. The portrait emerges of a man increasingly relegated to a corner, to suffer the blows of a woman who is perceived as manipulative on the witness stand. On social media, videos are spreading that show all the inaccuracies of Amber Heard. Quite blatant was the case of the make-up line which intervened to say that the palette that Amber Heard allegedly used to hide the bruises during the beatings was not even on the market at the date of the events.
During the trial, where he also testified Kate Moss, called into question by Amber Heard, Amber Heard’s credibility continued to wane. Her sudden changes of expression when she knew she was being filmed by a camera were analysed, as well as her inability to cry as she told her version of her story. All of her claims have been refuted by the facts, to the point of even being called to the witness stand by a journalist from tmz extension who claimed to have received material from Amber Heard herself, to disseminate it in the press. After weeks of trial, therefore, she surprised no one to hear a verdict in favor of Johnny Depp. A victory that cleared the actor’s name, to the point of freeing him from a sort of suspension from the world of Hollywood. Between 2016 and 2022, many of the actor’s films – also due, of course, to the pandemic – underwent a treatment that seemed to be “out of sight, out of mind.” Although in 2019 the actor was a guest at the Venice Film Festival with Waiting For Barbarians, many other films have been released quietly or on streaming platforms. But now, with a victory in a defamation lawsuit, that may be about to change.
Johnny Depp at the Cannes Film Festival
It is in fact these days the news that Johnny Depp will follow the red carpet of the Croisette al Cannes Film Festival on opening night, with the film Jeanne Du Barry. Written, directed and performed by Maiwenne, Jeanne du Barry is set in 18th century France and focuses on the lady who gives the film its title and who went down in history for being the favorite of King Louis XV (played by Depp). For the actor, this is a great opportunity to demonstrate how much he still has to give to the world of the seventh art. Naturally it is a niche film, purely European, which could hardly appeal to the Hollywood giants who only until recently would have made false cards to have Johnny Depp in the cast. And yet, the stage of the Cannes Film Festival has great international prestige. It is a real business card that for Johnny Depp could mean a real one rebirth and a return to his rightful place in the film industry.