‘I laughed because I don’t know that person’: Jenna Ortega reveals which Hollywood controversy magnet she definitely isn’t dating

Jenna Ortega has responded to a false rumor that left her in stitches, involving her supposedly dating a certain controversial Pirate of the Caribbean. 

For context, speculation began swirling last year when celebrity gossip page Deu Moix shared an anonymous tip claiming that Ortega and fellow actor Johnny Depp were spotted out on a date. 

While the tip was unsubstantiated, the rumor gained traction — perhaps because of fans’ wishful thinking given that the pair are both Tim Burton muses — and began circulating on gossip sites. The Wednesday star reportedly quashed the rumors in a since-deleted Instagram post, while representatives for Depp released a statement confirming he had “no personal or professional relationship with Ms. Ortega whatsoever.”

However, the rumors were given new life this week, when Buzzfeed asked Ortega about the craziest rumor she’d heard about herself. “Probably that I was in a serious relationship with Johnny Depp and I wanted everybody to leave us alone,” the actress replied. She went on to reveal that she “never spoke on that” and “never said anything like that”, before lamenting the fact that “articles really do just make up their own quotes.”

“I thought that was pretty hilarious,” Ortega added. Apparently, the rumor mill was churning ferociously enough that it reached the ears of Saltburn actor Richard E. Grant, who co-stars in Ortega’s upcoming black comedy film, Death of a Unicorn. “I was on set with [Grant] and he came up to me and he just said ‘Oh so you and Johnny,’ and I laughed because — I don’t know that person.”

Fans have promptly lauded Ortega’s “I don’t know that person” soundbite, not least because it has the very same energy as Mariah Carey pretending to be unaware of who Jennifer Lopez was in 2003. “She ate him up so bad,” one user wrote on X, with another asking Oretga to “end that man again for me.” 

Ortega is probably wise to distance herself from Depp, as the actor’s reputation remains somewhat damaged following his defamation trial with ex-wife Amber Heard. Despite the messiness of that case, Depp is reportedly atop the casting call for a return to the upcoming sixth installment of Pirates of the Caribbean, at least according to the film’s producer Jerry Bruckheimer. 

For her part, Ortega is starring in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the sequel of the Burton original premiering next month. Burton has previously worked with Ortega on Wednesday, and with Depp on films like Edward Scissorhands and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the latter of which I will never forgive for being so needlessly creepy.