Paul Bettany has claimed he hasn’t spoken to Johnny Depp since their controversial private texts were made public during the Pirates of the Caribbean actor’s court case.
An exchange between the actors was used as evidence during Depp’s libel case against The Sun in 2020. The actor sued the newspaper’s publisher in the UK after a 2018 headline labelled him a “wife beater”, in reference to his relationship with ex-wife Amber Heard. The court found the claim to be “substantially true”.
In one text, sent in 2013, Depp wrote, “Let’s burn Amber!!!” to which Bettany responded: “Having thought it through I don’t think we should burn Amber – she’s delightful company and easy on the eye, plus I’m not sure she’s a witch. We could of course try the English course of action in these predicaments – we do a drowning test. Thoughts?”
Depp responded: “Let’s drown her before we burn her!!! I will f*** her burnt corpse afterwards to make sure she’s dead.”
Addressing the subject in a new interview, Bettany called it “an interesting time” – and distanced himself from the actor.
He told The Times: “I hadn’t spoken to Johnny in years when that happened and I haven’t spoken to him since. I was being painted as this close friend of a guy I hadn’t spoken to in years and, honestly, amid all the s*** two celebrities threw at each other, that bit was the most odd.
“So I decided to say nothing because, I think, people know me. I’ve been married 23 years and, for what I do, I live an incredibly quiet life. Everybody kind of thought this is probably a nothing burger – and left it alone.”
Bettany, who can currently be seen in Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) TV series VisionQuest, first addressed the messages in an interview with The Independent in December 2021.
He stated at the time: “It was a strange moment. What was strange about it was you suddenly have one of the most scabrous newspapers in London and their lawyers pouring through your texts for the last 10 years.
“Can you imagine what it would be like, honestly, to have a bunch of lawyers go through every one of your emails and texts for 10 years? All I can tell you is that it was an unpleasant feeling.”
Bettany, who is married to actor Jennifer Connelly, has starred in three films with Depp: action romance The Tourist (2010), sci-fi thriller Transcendence (2014) and comedy caper Mortdecai (2015).
Depp remains a contentious figure in Hollywood after losing the libel action against The Sun over claims that he had assaulted Heard. In 2022, Depp sued his ex-wife for defamation, claiming that she had falsely implied he was abusive towards her in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed titled: “I spoke up against sexual violence – and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change.”
The jury ultimately ruled in favour of Depp but also found in favour of Heard’s countersuit, in which she claimed that Depp’s lawyer had defamed her by describing her abuse allegations as a “hoax”.
During this time, Depp was dropped from his role in the Fantastic Beasts franchise and has since worked on European arthouse films, including Jeanne du Barry and Minamata. He retains a fervent fanbase, and has launched his big-budget comeback with the forthcoming Christmas film Ebenezer, released on 13 November.
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