It’s perhaps been apparent for some time that Johnny Depp, Hollywood’s fifth-highest paid actor, has had financial difficulties. Now, thanks to e-mails released by the former managers Depp is now suing, we get to learn more details—and how it’s possible that a $20 million paycheck just can’t pay the bills.
In January, Depp sued the Management Group for more than $25 million, alleging fraud, failure to pay his taxes on time, and breach of contract, among other claims. TMG countersued later that month, alleging that it cost $2 million per month to fund Depp’s lifestyle, and in a new filing said that Depp and his confidants were fully aware of his financial situation.
“Depp’s motive is obvious,” reads the motion (which Deadline links to in full), which opposes Depp’s lawyers alleged attempt to block subpoenas for documents “critical” to the case. “He knows full well that responsive documents from his agent and lawyer are so relevant that they will devastate his case and reveal him to have publicly lied about his supposed lack of knowledge regarding his finances, including the loans that he entered into to fund his $2 million per month lifestyle.”
In one of the e-mails released with the filing, Depp’s business manager Joel Mandel told Depp’s sister Christi Dembrowski that her brother’s account was $4 million overdrawn. In another message to Depp himself, Mandel wrote asking him to limit his Christmas spending and set up a plan for repaying debts. In his response the next day, Depp suggested that an upcoming $75 million in paychecks could set thing straight. That’s $75 million for, yes, three films.
In 2011, Depp explained to Vanity Fair that he had accepted the bloated paychecks solely for the sake of his two children with Vanessa Paradis, Lily-Rose, who is now 18, and Jack, now 15. “Basically, if they’re going to pay me the stupid money right now, I’m going to take it,” he said. “I have to. I mean, it’s not for me. Do you know what I mean? At this point, it’s for my kids. It’s ridiculous, yeah, yeah. But ultimately is it for me? No. No. It’s for the kids.”
In the process of its countersuit against, Depp, TMG claims that Depp’s personal expenses included $5 million “to blast from a specially made cannon the ashes of author Hunter Thompson over Aspen, Colorado,” and $30,000 worth of wine per month, which “he had flown to him from around the world for his personal consumption.” He has also paid $7 million to Amber Heard, his ex-wife whose allegations of domestic abuse were widely reported in 2016.
Depp has endured a series of big-budget setbacks of late as well, including Dark Shadows, The Lone Ranger, Mortdecai, and Alice Through the Looking Glass (these setbacks didn’t stop Warner Bros. from giving him a small cameo in the first film of the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them franchise). The latest Pirates of the Caribbean, for which he earned $20 million plus a percentage of the film’s profits, has thus far made $651 million worldwide.
UPDATE (June 21, 2017): On Tuesday, Depp’s lawyer Adam Waldman responded to Vanity Fair by citing, in detail, allegations in the actor’s lawsuit against TMG and the Mandels. “Which of these specific fraud and malfeasance allegations are defended, excused or justified by the dozen emails presented?” Waldman asked in closing.
