According to rumors, Johnny Depp beats his wives. The UK courts reached this conclusion. Even typing that statement shocks me in a way that it shouldn’t by this point. To begin with, she filed for a temporary restraining order against him after their divorce, alleging domestic abuse, and more than four years ago, the claim that he had physically abused his ex-wife Amber Heard came to light. Given how many other extremely well-known men have been accused of assaulting women, it also shouldn’t come as a surprise. Sean Connery routinely justified punching women and was accused of beating his first wife. His passing this past weekend triggered debates online about how much of the press should highlight a man’s professional accomplishments.
In contrast to Connery, Depp is a totally different character. The latter stood for strong sexuality and alpha masculinity. Although it was never stated openly, Connery’s justifications for hitting women fit in somewhat with his image, so his audience was never going to have an issue with that aspect of him. Depp, on the other hand, stood for something else. Because he took legal action against the Sun after it called him “a wife-beater,” something Connery would never have done, this feels to some fans (like me) like the passing of yet another boyhood idol.
However, this ending may not be as shocking as that of Kurt Cobain and River Phoenix. Following the judge’s decision on Monday morning, Depp’s infamously ferocious internet fans (a different sort of fan) made sure to get the expected hashtags trending, all of which proclaimed Depp’s innocence. Considering that these online Depp enthusiasts are probably in their 30s and 40s, I frequently worry about them. Such middle-aged internet stalking is unique, but the fact that Depp is the one who inspires it tells a lot about him, both in terms of what he stood for to my generation and how far he has fallen.
Johnny could file an appeal. “It would be absurd for Mr. Depp not to appeal this ruling,” a lawyer for the London legal firm Schillings, which represented Depp, said of the finding.
The court case revealed a relationship that had grown horrifyingly poisonous, but by this point, the majority of the public had already seen the photographs of Heard’s damaged face. Heard was caught on tape angrily insulting Depp, confessing to “clocking” him, and hurling pots and pans at him. The tapes were played in court. But none of it changed the fact that the judge, Mr. Justice Nicol, determined that the bulk of Heard’s claims that Depp had beaten her were proven to the civil standard, and as a result, the Sun was allowed to refer to him as a “wife-beater.”
The judge’s decision alone hasn’t destroyed Depp’s reputation, though. His life has been excessively extravagant for a time; when questioned in 2018 if it was true that he spent $30,000 a month on wine, as his managers claimed, he said that this was “insulting… since it was significantly more.” Therefore, the trial’s testimony about expensive planes, cocaine used for breakfast, and disagreements over whether Heard or her yorkshire terrier had urinated in Depp’s bed were titillating but not particularly noteworthy. For those who had followed Depp since the beginning of his career, witnessing how low he had descended—throwing phones at his wife’s head and passing out—was more damaging to his career.
In addition to everything else, Depp has always had a courtly, traditional conversational style and was remarkably articulate for an A-list celebrity. He was now insulting people like a six-year-old, which was part of what made him appealing. In the midst of all the alcohol and drugs, Depp appeared to go insane. I was outraged and saddened at the same time as I looked at the pictures of him appearing in court to debate whether there was human or terrier feces in his bed while sporting a permanent pirate scarf and blue-tinted sunglasses. It was not planned to go in this manner. The decision seemed obvious to those watching, but Depp’s trajectory was less so.