Johnny Depp Likens His Legal Battle With Ex Amber Heard To A ‘Soap Opera’

In an appearance at the San Sebastián International Film Festival, Johnny Depp, who was there for his film, Modi – Three Days on the Wing of Madness, likened his life to a “soap opera” following his 2022 legal battle with his ex, Amber Heard.

Depp’s movie follows the Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani (known by friends as “Modi”) for a frantic 72 hours in the corrupt World War II streets of Paris in 1916. In hiding from the police, Modi confronts the plausibility of his career and life in desperate times. 

Depp related his own life to the character’s. “Each [character] has their story because I’m sure we can say that I’ve been through a number of things here and there,” he said. “But you know, I’m all right. And I think we’ve all been through a number of things, ultimately. Maybe yours didn’t turn into a soap opera. I mean, televised, in fact.”

He added, “We all experience and go through what we go through. And those things that we are able to live and remember and use, these are your stripes. You never forget them.”

Depp and Heard were married from 2015 to 2016. In 2018, Heard wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post in which she described having survived domestic abuse. Although Depp was not mentioned in the op-ed, his lawyers argued that the piece made explicit references to domestic abuse allegations Heard had made against Depp during their divorce proceedings. 

In 2022, Depp sued Heard for $50 million in damages for defamation in a six-week-long highly televised case. Depp won and was awarded $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages, but the incident took a toll on his career. 

Heard had filed an appeal but withdrew it in late 2022 and settled. In a statement at the time, she clarified, “I finally have an opportunity to emancipate myself from something I attempted to leave over six years ago and on terms I can agree to…I have made no admission. This is not an act of concession. There are no restrictions or gags with respect to my voice moving forward.”