To some,
Johnny Depp’s
headline-making defamation trial with ex-wife
Amber Heard
was a stain on his gleaming Hollywood career. But despite the
legal drama
, Depp wouldn’t change a thing.
The Oscar-nominated actor
reflected on the 2022 court battle
in an interview with
The Sunday Times
published June 21. “Look, none of this was going (to) be easy, but I didn’t care,” he told the British outlet. “I thought, ‘I’ll fight until the bitter (expletive) end.’ And if I end up pumping gas? That’s all right. I’ve done that before.”
Depp
sued Heard
in 2019, claiming she defamed him in a 2018
Washington Post op-ed
in which she said she was a victim of domestic abuse without specifically naming him. Heard was
granted a temporary restraining order
against the actor in May 2016, just days
after filing for divorce
, alleging Depp physically abused her various times during their 15-month marriage.
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As for their trial, a Virginia jury in 2022
awarded Depp more than $10 million
in damages following six weeks of widely watched testimony, during which both parties and witnesses testified about alleged abuse throughout the couple’s tumultuous relationship.
“Look, it had gone far enough,” Depp, 62, 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. So the night before the trial in Virginia I didn’t feel nervous. If you don’t have to memorize lines, if you’re just speaking the truth? Roll the dice.”
Heard won $2 million in damages from her countersuit over Depp’s lawyer calling her claims a hoax. In December 2022, the former couple
agreed to a settlement
in the defamation case, with Heard paying Depp $1 million that he pledged to charity.
The
“Pirates of the Caribbean”
alum also reflected on the professional fallout from the trial, including testimony from his former agent Tracey Jacobs. According to
The Hollywood Reporter
and
Variety
, Jacobs testified that Depp’s industry status was being increasingly undermined by his “unprofessional” on-set behavior, which allegedly included frequent tardiness.
“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,” Depp said. “And, look, I understand people who could not stand up (for me) because the most frightening thing to them was making the right choice. I was pre-MeToo. I was like a crash test dummy for MeToo. It was before Harvey Weinstein.”
The legal troubles of disgraced movie mogul
Harvey Weinstein
, who was
indicted in May 2018 on charges of five sex crimes
, are widely regarded as the tipping point for the #MeToo movement’s impact on Hollywood. Weinstein was
convicted on June 11 of a first-degree criminal sexual act
in the retrial of his 2020 conviction on sexual assault and rape charges.
Following the conclusion of his trial with Heard, Depp resumed his entertainment career with a starring role in 2023’s “Jeanne du Barry” and directed the 2024 period drama
“Modi: Three Days on the Wing of Madness.”
“Honestly? I didn’t go anywhere,” said Depp of his showbiz reemergence. “If I actually had the chance to split, I would never come back.”
Contributing: KiMi Robinson, Andrea Mandell and Maria Puente, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:
Johnny Depp doesn’t regret Amber Heard trial: ‘It had gone far enough’
