Johnny Depp says he's a 'sucker' for falling for Amber Heard

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Three years after he emerged victorious against his ex-wife Amber Heard in their headline-making defamation trial, Johnny Depp says he has no regrets.

In a sprawling new interview with journalist Jonathan Dean in the Sunday Times, the Pirates of the Caribbean star, 62, opened up on his decision to pursue legal action against his former wife after she wrote a 2018 Washington Post op-ed following their split in which she called herself as a survivor of domestic abuse.

“Look, none of this was going (to) be easy, but I didn’t care,” he told the British outlet, according to USA Today. “I thought, ‘I’ll fight until the bitter f***ing end.’ And if I end up pumping gas? That’s alright. I’ve done that before.”

Depp and Heard met in 2009 when they were filming The Rum Diary together.

During their defamation trial, Depp spoke about the instant connection he felt towards Heard during a scene in which their characters shared a kiss in a shower.

“That moment, was, it was, it felt like something, it felt like something I should not be feeling,” Depp said, according to CNN. “I think there was something in the kiss in the shower that was real.”

After Depp split from his longtime partner Vanessa Paradis (who is the mother of his two children, Lily-Rose and John Christopher) in 2012, he began dating Heard. The two were married in 2015, but parted ways the following year after 15 months of marriage.

The Aquaman actress filed a domestic violence restraining order petition against Depp in May 2016, but the claim was dropped after he agreed to settle their divorce to the tune of $7 million later that summer.

“Our relationship was intensely passionate and at times volatile, but always bound by love,” the pair said in a joint statement after their breakup was made official. “There was never an intent of physical or emotional harm.”

Their tumultuous relationship was back in the headlines after Depp launched a libel lawsuit against the U.K. Sun after the British tabloid referred to him a “wife-beater.” Depp lost that case, but continued his legal battle against Heard in Virginia in a defamation trial that made headlines around the world in 2022.

“Everyone was saying, ‘It’ll go away!’ … (But) it had gone far enough,” Depp told the Sunday Times of her claims, which ended his Hollywood career at the time. “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.”

During the six-week trial in the spring of 2022, jurors and people watching at home online got a peek into the couple’s extravagant and sordid relationship.

At one point, Depp alleged that Heard or one of her pals “dropped a grumpy” in their bed after an argument erupted over his tardiness for her 30th birthday party.

During her testimony, Heard claimed that Depp attacked her multiple times including on their honeymoon.

Jurors eventually sided with Depp, finding Heard guilty of defamation and awarding the Finding Neverland star $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. Heard’s countersuit against Depp was also partially successful, as he was found guilty on one count of defamation through his former lawyer Adam Waldman.

After both parties appealed the verdicts, the pair agreed to a settlement in December 2022, with Depp’s camp saying that the deal included a $1-million payment from her to him which was donated to charity.

Depp also reflected in his chat with the Times about being betrayed by former friends as he referred to himself as “a crash test dummy” for the #MeToo movement.

“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 three-time Oscar nominee also opened up on how his views on “love” led to his relationship with Heard spiralling out of control.

“What were my initial dealings with what we call ‘love?’ ” Depp posed to the Times. “Clearly obtuse.”

“And what that means is, 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 said, according to PEOPLE. 

Elsewhere in his interview with the Times, Depp lamented the rise of reality TV (“some fucking guy from f***ing Podunk, Iowa, can get his own show”) and gave insight into his life as a recluse (“I don’t get out much. I’m stuck with my thoughts; just thinking, writing or watching weird shit on YouTube. It can’t be healthy.”).

With his reputation cleared, Depp has headed back to work, signing on to play King Louis XV opposite co-star and director Maiwenn in Jeanne Du Barry and directing Modi – Three Days on the Wing of Madness, with Riccardo Scamarcio in the lead and Al Pacino co-starring.

He’s also in the midst of shooting Marc Webb’s thriller Day Drinker with Penelope Cruz.

But should you see him out and about on the streets of London, where he spends most of his time, don’t refer to his reemergence as a comeback.

“My comeback? Honestly? I didn’t go anywhere,” he said. “If I had the chance to split I would never come back.”

mdaniell@postmedia.com