Did you know that Johnny Depp has struggled with an addiction to drugs and alcohol throughout
his life?
Depp's sister even staged an intervention with the actor, hoping the Pirates of the
Caribbean star would get treatment.
To learn more about Depp's tragic real life story, keep watching.
We've learned a lot about Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's broken marriage since their
divorce began in 2016.
But the defamation case, which Depp initiated in 2019, has also provided us with plenty
of information about Depp's tragic childhood.
Born on June 9, 1963, in Owensboro, Kentucky, John Christopher Depp II was the youngest
of four children born to Betty Sue Palmer and John Christopher Depp.
Throughout his childhood, his mother's abuse proved constant, unpredictable, violent, and
cruel.
He later remarked about these formative years,
"I felt completely and utterly confused by everything that was going on around me."
On the witness stand, he explained that his childhood lacked both safety and security.
Depp said his mother excelled at physical and verbal abuse with lots of bullying and
name calling.
She proved especially good at lobbing cruel, personal attacks against her children, mocking
them for various perceived physical defects.
For example, Depp's brother wore glasses, and so his mother referred to him as "four
eyes."
As for Depp, he had a rare congenital eye defect, which translated into a lazy eye and
having to wear a patch.
So, his mother created a list of mean taunts for him, too, including "cock eye," "one eye,"
and anything else she could muster to steep him in shame.
Coupled with cruelty and unpredictable behavior, Betty Sue Palmer had a restless nature that
fueled constant family moves.
In an interview with Oprah, Johnny Depp reported moving "maybe 40 times" before the age of
15.
One of the most restless periods of his life occurred after his family left Kentucky for
Florida.
They ended up in Miramar, located in the southern part of the state near Miami.
Depp remembers it as a place where very little actually happened.
But he does recall the family living in motels after they first arrived.
This is where the bulk of the 40 moves he quoted to Oprah took place.
During this small period alone, he estimates the family shuttled between 20 to 30 different
locations, resulting in a truly transient lifestyle.
Danny White, author of Johnny Depp: The Unauthorized Biography, hypothesizes that this may be why
Depp later gravitated towards playing outsiders as an actor.
With so many relocations under his belt at such a young age, he lacked the stability
and geographic longevity to become truly integrated into a community.
Before launching his acting career on 21 Jump Street, Johnny Depp had dreams of making it
big as a rock star.
During his time in Miramar, Florida, he played with a group called the Kids, enjoying local
fame.
Eventually, they decided to take the leap and relocate to Los Angeles.
Soon, Depp struggled as an unemployed musician.
After marrying Lori Anne Allison, a makeup artist, in 1983, she introduced him to her
friend Nicolas Cage.
According to an interview with Oprah, Cage suggested Depp give acting a try.
But Depp had never thought about this line of work before.
Nevertheless, he needed to pay the rent and was on the edge of getting evicted, so he
gave it a try.
Cage arranged an audition for Depp with Director Wes Craven, and Depp got cast in 1984's A
Nightmare on Elm Street.
As Vanity Fair reports, Craven's daughter, Jessica, helped pick Depp for the role of
Glen.
"I was shocked at, at, uh, Wes Craven … for taking such a chance on this guy that was
totally green."
While speaking to Vanity Fair, Depp jokingly said of his big break,
"At the time, I was a musician.
I wasn't really acting.
It was not anything very near to my brain or my heart, which is pretty much how it remains
to this day."
In 1985, Johnny Depp and Lori Anne Allison got divorced, and two years later he faced
a different kind of break after parting ways with 21 Jump Street.
By 1990, he worked with John Waters on Cry-Baby and Tim Burton on Edward Scissorhands.
Both indie film directors permitted Depp to explore his talent in innovative ways.
Winona Ryder played Depp's love interest in Edward Scissorhands, but they'd already started
a romantic relationship in 1989 after meeting at the premier of Great Balls of Fire.
"Guess what?
I met a girl!"
Ryder played the young, naïve bride of Jerry Lee Lewis opposite Dennis Quaid.
For Depp, it was love at first sight, and before the two knew it, they moved in together.
Depp quickly followed this living arrangement with a proposal, and the two looked like the
ideal couple.
Unfortunately, this meant the media hounded the duo at every turn.
Despite his enthusiastic passion for his fiancée, which even inspired him to get the tattoo
"Winona Forever," their youthful relationship wouldn't last.
Both celebrities found themselves on the rise at the same time, which meant little time
or energy left for their relationship.
"No, I don't like the scene in Hollywood."
Depp publicly spoke about their split for the first time in June 1993, spinning it in
a positive light.
But a friend close to the actor said he remained in denial for months.
By August of 1993, Johnny Depp bought the Viper Room, an infamous Los Angeles location
with a colorful history.
Acquiring the location let Depp reignite his first love, music.
Some nights after closing, Depp would stay into the wee hours, indulging in private jam
sessions.
But the death of River Phoenix just two months later cast Johnny Depp's nightclub in a negative
light.
Speculation abounded about what had happened, and newspapers characterized the Viper Room
as "Depp's Den of Sex, Drugs, and Death."
This speculation proved especially hurtful, as Depp had been close to Phoenix and mourned
the loss of his friend deeply.
Depp fought back against the tabloid treatment of his club and the mischaracterization of
what had happened.
The media especially honed in on the idea people freely used drugs at the Viper Room,
but Depp refuted such claims.
In an interview with USA Today, he argued,
"To pinpoint one club or one street is really ridiculous.
There's a tragic loss of a very gifted, very sweet, nice young man."
In 2007, Johnny Depp faced every parent's worst nightmare.
His daughter, Lily-Rose Depp, 7, with ex-wife Vanessa Paradis contracted E. coli, leading
to kidney failure.
Depp and Paradis spent nine days camped out at a hospital in London unsure of whether
their daughter would live.
Fortunately, Lily-Rose recovered, but the experience proved transformative for the actor.
He has never forgotten how helpless he felt during the ordeal.
In an interview on the Graham Norton Show, he stated,
"When my daughter was ill ... that was the darkest period ever."
In 2008, following his daughter's recovery, Depp donated $2 million to the Great Ormond
Street Hospital.
Although Depp always made a point of visiting children's hospitals, he increased these activities
following his family's scare.
After starring in Pirates of the Caribbean, dressing up as Captain Jack Sparrow became
his regular modus operandi.
But after his marriage to Amber Heard dissolved and she accused him of domestic abuse, Disney
cut ties with the actor and his character Captain Jack Sparrow.
This development made something as innocuous as visiting a children's hospital in costume
complicated, to say the least.
After marrying in 2015, Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's marriage quickly unraveled in a whirlwind
of drug and alcohol abuse, as both parties allege.
But when it comes to which person in the marriage endured the brunt of the violence, the former
couple's stories differ.
The accusations of violence began with Heard, who filed a restraining order against Depp
after filing for divorce in 2016.
During stunning testimony in his defamation lawsuit, Johnny Depp gave his side of the
story.
He detailed the verbal, emotional, and physical abuse he allegedly endured at the hands of
his ex-wife.
From having his finger partially cut off to finding human feces in his bed, the actor
graphically described the horror of his marriage, finishing with the confession that he had
been a victim of domestic violence.
Depp stated during the trial:
"This is not life.
No one should have to go through this."
His bodyguard, Starling Jenkins, also took the witness stand to testify about a time
when Heard allegedly threw Depp's phone off the balcony during a fight.
Fortunately, Jenkins retrieved it from a homeless man on Skid Row.
Once the couple agreed to divorce, the demands from Amber Heard began, as recorded in a demand
letter entered as evidence in the defamation trial.
These demands included Heard's desire to live rent-free in the apartments the couple had
owned along with $125,000 to help with her attorney's fees.
She also asked for exclusive ownership of a black Range Rover, stipulating that Depp
make the rest of the payments on it.
In exchange for fulfilling the requirements of the letter, Heard promised to keep the
divorce proceedings and personal details of their relationship out of the spotlight.
As time progressed, however, Heard's demands increased, according to Edward White, Depp's
business manager.
During his testimony in the defamation trial, he claimed that Heard eventually asked for
$4 million.
But she didn't stop there.
Next, her demand increased to $5 million and then went up from there, spiking at $7 million
with $500,000 in fees to her attorneys.
Yet, White said the sky was the limit because Heard went on to demand all community liabilities
accumulated during the marriage.
The demands would continue until they reached $14,250,000 of consideration paid to her free
of taxation.
Amber Heard published a Washington Post op-ed in 2018 detailing domestic violence without
directly naming Johnny Depp.
But the timeline of events outlined meshed with those of their marriage.
As a result, Depp claims Disney dropped him from Pirates of the Caribbean 6, where he
stood to net $22.5 million.
Other film studios dodged the actor, too.
Mike Spindler, a forensic accountant, calculated that Depp lost $40 million in Hollywood earnings
after the op-ed.
Unfortunately, his business manager, Edward White, had already sounded the alarm that
Depp's finances were in serious disrepair.
Just prior to Heard's 30th birthday, Depp learned he'd lost $650 million earned from
movies due to alleged financial mismanagement.
This included purportedly owing 17 years of back taxes to the IRS worth a total of $100
million.
In 2019, Depp brought a defamation suit against Heard for $50 million.
But Heard countered with a $100 million lawsuit.
Her counsel argued that Depp's rejection of her abuse claims amount to defamation.
After all, Heard positioned herself as an advocate for those facing domestic violence,
writing in the op-ed:
"I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture's wrath.
That has to change."
However, Heard was arrested in 2009 for "misdemeanor domestic violence" against her then-girlfriend
Tasya van Ree, which muddies the waters of a breakup awash in financial wreckage.
During the defamation lawsuit, details emerged about Johnny Depp's struggles with drug and
alcohol addiction.
In a 2005 interview with Rolling Stone, Depp admitted,
"I spent years poisoning myself [...] I was very, very good at it."
But during his testimony at the defamation trial, Depp discussed his attempts to end
his addiction after an intervention by his sister, Christi Dembrowski, in 2014.
Dr. David Kipper took the stand on the third day of Depp's defamation lawsuit, detailing
the actor's history of drug use and attempts to get sober.
He noted that Depp has a history of abusing opiates, alcohol, cocaine, and benzodiazepines
and that Depp sought his help with detoxing.
During his testimony, Dr. Kipper described the many times that Depp attempted to stop
the detoxification process.
And he also discussed receiving text messages from the actor mentioning Heard but otherwise
incoherent.
While on the witness stand, Depp alleged that Heard made him beg for medication while he
experienced withdrawals.
He also claimed Heard undermined his efforts to get sober.
Although we may never know exactly what occurred between Heard and Depp, the presence of addiction
in their marriage made for an uncomfortable third party.
If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available.
Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact
SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
That’s 1-800-662-4357.