Pirates of the Caribbean star Johnny Depp has been locked in a perpetual legal battle with his ex-wife Amber Heard (Aquaman) ever since their 2017 divorce where both sides claimed abuse from the other. Though most of the evidence revealed thus far has indicated that Heard was the primary abuser in the couple’s tumultuous marriage, it hasn’t stopped her from fighting vigilantly to bury Depp’s career. And as things ramp up, reports now say that Heard hired private investigator Paul Barresi to dig up dirt on Depp.
Barresi went to pretty extensive lengths to uncover information on Depp, too, tracing back his business dealings to when he co-owned popular a nightclub called The Viper Room in the 1990s. Yet after speaking to over 100 people that worked with the actor over the past 30 or so years, he found that not even one of them had anything bad to say. In fact, in perhaps the most amusing part of the legal standoff yet, Barresi claims that everyone he spoke to had wonderful things to say about Depp, while many of them had overwhelmingly negative things to say about Heard.
His statement to DailyMail reads:
Amber’s lawyers contacted me and said you’re the right man for this job, that’s how they brought me in. She was emotionally spent and battered and tormented – it was a volatile relationship.
I went to the US, France, Italy, Britain, everywhere that Johnny Depp roamed, everywhere he walked, I couldn’t find one instance, or at least an admitted one, where he was physically abusive to a woman, smacked or beaten around, he’s like an angel. Not one who said a deprecating thing.
I interviewed dozens of people, who knew him going as far back as three decades ago, and nobody had one bad thing to say about him. In fact, they couldn’t say enough about his ever flowing outpouring of generosity and tender heart.
A spokesperson for Heard has denied that Barresi has had any dealings with her or her legal team since being let go sometime last year and claims that his account is inaccurate.
However, this hasn’t stopped Barresi from sharing some of the testimonies he claims to have received during his investigation:
Jane Galli, head of the make up department on City Of Lies had nothing but praise for Depp. She had worked with him in the past on Public Enemy and Pirates. She said: ‘He’s a real sweetie.’
City of Lies director Brad Furman told me Johnny was a true professional and wonderful human being in every sense of the word and assistant director Paul Silver told me although Johnny was not always on time, held up the shoot sometimes, he was a professional and always delivered.
I asked Silver whether Depp ever lost his cool, Silver said: ‘All artists have a temper.’
Depp recently gained a substantial win in his $50 million defamation lawsuit against Heard when Fairfax, VA County Chief Judge Bruce White denied her request for a dismissal. The loss for Heard adds to the allegations piling against her in recent months, though it’s had no effect on Warner Bros. casting her in Aquaman 2 or L’Oreal keeping her on as their spokesperson.
Of course, no one knows how Johnny Depp and Amber Heard‘s legal battle will wrap up, but it’s certain to continue being a wild ride. Stay tuned here for more.
