Johnny Depp is opening up about the toll his legal battle with Amber Heard took on his life, saying he felt like “a crash test dummy” for the #MeToo movement.
In a new interview with The Sunday Times, the 62-year-old actor reflected on how the high-profile case affected both his career and personal relationships.
“I’ll tell you what hurts,” Depp said. “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.”
He continued, “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!” he added pointedly.
Depp famously sued Amber Heard over her 2018 Washington Post op-ed where she described surviving domestic abuse, though she didn’t mention him by name. The jury ultimately sided with Depp in the June 2022 trial, though Heard won one of her three counterclaims.
At the time, Depp released a statement saying, “Six years ago, my life, the life of my children, the lives of those closest to me, and also, the lives of the people who for many, many years have supported and believed in me were forever changed. All in the blink of an eye.”
He added, “And six years later, the jury gave me my life back. I am truly humbled… Speaking the truth was something that I owed to my children and to all those who have remained steadfast in their support of me. I feel at peace knowing I have finally accomplished that.”
In contrast, Heard said the verdict “sets back the idea that violence against women is to be taken seriously.”
