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Over three years after one of Hollywood's most explosive courtroom sagas reached a verdict, Johnny Depp finally looks back and speaks out about the storm that was his relationship with ex-wife Amber Heard and the bitter legal battle that followed.
In a rare, candid interview with The Sunday Times, the now 62-year-old actor peeled back the curtain on how his past shaped his approach to love, how his marriage unraveled, and why he ultimately felt compelled to fight for his name in front of the entire world.
© Getty"So, what were my initial dealings with what we call 'love?'" Depp asked rhetorically. "Clearly obtuse." The actor met Heard on the "The Rum Diary" set in 2011, married her in 2015, and was separated barely a year later — setting off a messy divorce and years of headline-making court battles.
In the interview, Depp didn't mince words about how his good intentions in relationships sometimes backfired. "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," he explained. "But no good deed goes unpunished. There are those who, when you try to love and help them, will start to give you an understanding of what that malaise was in their eyes. It manifests itself in other ways." Though he stopped short of directly naming Heard, the context is hard to miss.
© GettyThe Legal War That Followed
The pair's split in 2016 was anything but amicable. Heard filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences, and also requested a temporary restraining order, alleging domestic violence — a claim Depp fiercely denied.
A $7 million divorce settlement seemed to close the chapter. Still, in 2019, Depp sued Heard for defamation over a Washington Post op-ed in which she wrote about the backlash women face when they come forward with domestic abuse allegations. Though Depp was not named, the implications were clear, and a legal firestorm began.
© GettyAfter losing a libel suit against The Sun in the UK in 2020, a case calling him a "wife-beater," Depp doubled down in the U.S. defamation trial in 2022.
"Roll the Dice"
The Virginia courtroom showdown had all the makings of a media circus: shocking testimony, ugly accusations on both sides and a six-week, live-televised spectacle that dominated news cycles. "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," Depp told The Sunday Times. "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."
The actor, father to daughter Lily-Rose, now 26, and son Jack, 23, admitted that he wasn't nervous going into the trial. "If you don't have to memorize lines if you're just speaking the truth? Roll the dice."
© GettyImagesHe also revealed the gritty determination that kept him going. "I knew none of this was going to be easy, but I didn't care. I thought, 'I'll fight until the bitter f------ end.' And if I end up pumping gas? That's all right. I've done that before."
The Verdict — And Aftermath
When the dust finally settled in June 2022, the jury mainly ruled in Depp's favor, finding Heard liable for defamation and ordering her to pay $10.35 million in damages. Depp was also ordered to pay $2 million as part of Heard's countersuit — but both eventually agreed on a final $1 million settlement, which Depp pledged to donate to charity.
Looking back now, Depp seems more at peace with the choices he made to reclaim his name, even if it meant laying bare painful parts of his life in a global spotlight.
"It is merely a sliver of my life I have chosen to explore," he said, but it's clear that for Depp, this was a chapter he needed to confront head-on.
