Inside Johnny Depp’s new life in the UK
Sunday Times 19th Feb 2023
Article by Liam Kelly
After moving out of the late Jeff Beck’s Sussex house, the Hollywood star is going on tour and planning a bumper sale of his art
Johnny Depp is famed as the bad boy of the film world. But as he starts on the comeback trail after toxic court battles with Amber Heard, his former wife, Depp has shunned Hollywood.
Instead Depp is living in the UK, plans a bumper sale of his art and has found stability from a perhaps surprising friendship with Alice Cooper. Depp, 59, will re-enter the limelight with a sell-out tour with rock legends including Cooper, who is a devout Christian, teetotal and has been married for 46 years.
While he owns a property in Los Angeles, Depp is understood to have largely abandoned the US. He had been living in Sussex for several months, in the home of his great friend, Jeff Beck the guitarist and former member of the Yardbirds. But after Beck died last month at the age of 78, Depp moved to London and is flitting between hotels and staying with friends.
Depp also spent time at Beck’s home in Wadhurst, East Sussex, during the coronavirus lockdown, when the pair recorded an album called 18 — because that is the age they felt when they played together. Last summer the film star was spotted visiting a wildlife rescue centre in nearby Tunbridge Wells, where Beck was a patron.
A source close to Depp said: “The hubbub and craziness of LA and New York can be exhausting. As much as London and Paris are busy, thriving cities, Johnny still feels he can relax and be creative there. He has always loved Europe, and people love him there. He feels very at home there and finds the European lifestyle a bit more his speed.”
Despite a nearly 40-year career in Hollywood, Depp has long said that music was his first love. He will begin a 27-date tour across Europe this summer with his band, the Hollywood Vampires, playing gigs in Scarborough, London and Birmingham. Most of the tickets at venues such as the O2 Arena are already sold. The self-described “best bar band in the world” has Depp on guitar, with Cooper on vocals, alongside guitarists Joe Perry from Aerosmith and Tommy Henriksen, who has played with Cooper for years. The Vampires play covers of songs by the likes of the Who, David Bowie and Led Zeppelin, as well as their own material. The band released an album, Rise, in 2019, but the pandemic meant that they had to postpone a tour planned for 2020. Rehearsals are now expected to start this spring. Cooper and Depp first became friends, and played together, in 2011 when they met on the set of Dark Shadows, a gothic comedy directed by Tim Burton with Depp starring. Cooper had a cameo appearance and asked Depp, who he had heard played guitar, if he wanted to join him at the 100 Club on London’s Oxford Street. Depp was introduced on stage as “Johnny D from Kentucky” and stood with his guitar at the back of the stage with a hat pulled down.
“I didn’t sing. I still don’t sing. I never wanted to be the frontman,” Depp told The Times in 2018. “I wanted to be the guy who stands just away from the lights.” However, he makes an exception for Bowie’s Heroes, giving a rousing rendition when he takes on lead vocals.
Cooper and Depp became closer over the years. A friend of the band said that the Hollywood Vampires provides a “very stable environment for Johnny”, as Cooper, 75, and Perry, 72, have also endured the hardships of fame and come out on the other side.
Both, like Depp, have dealt with substance abuse and are now teetotal. Cooper — who was born Vincent Furnier in Detroit — is a golf lover who usually travels everywhere with his wife, Sheryl Goddard, a dancer who he met on tour and has been married to since 1976. Perry has been with his second wife, Billie Montgomery, for almost 40 years.
Depp’s friend said: “These people are his heroes. He’s like a junior partner, they are legends and they have been through bad times and addiction and are now clean and living their best life.” The friend said: “When I saw Johnny with them and we came across other legends, he was sitting there listening to old stories from them with a huge grin on his face.”
Three years ago Depp was cast as a pariah in the entertainment world. In 2020 a High Court judge in London ruled that calling Depp a “wife beater” was “substantially true” after The Sun published an opinion column about his tempestuous marriage to Heard, who appeared in Aquaman. Depp said he had gone from being Hollywood’s “Cinderella to Quasimodo”.
The tide started to turn when he successfully sued Heard, 36, for libel in America last year over a Washington Post article in which she claimed to be a victim of domestic abuse. Heard has agreed to pay Depp $1 million (£830,000), which he plans to donate that money to charity.
Heard had promised to donate her $7 million divorce settlement from Depp to the American Civil Liberties Union and the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, but said in last year’s trial in Virginia that the legal proceedings had prevented her from doing so.
After raising $800,000 from a sale of art work in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) last year, Depp pledged the full amount to four children’s hospitals, including the one his former wife had promised funds to.
The actor had been linked in the autumn with Joelle Rich, his British lawyer, but the pair are understood to have broken up.
Depp surprised many by appearing with Beck on his British tour in June while the jury in Virginia was considering its verdict. Having played at venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, Depp was seen in a Newcastle pub with Sam Fender, the British singer, as the verdict came in.
Though he remains an outcast in Hollywood, with Disney having ostracised him from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Depp’s artistic output means this year will be one of his most prolific.
He is working on a new art project after selling 780 prints in hours in July for about £3 million of figures who had inspired him, such as Keith Richards, Elizabeth Taylor and Bob Dylan. He will play Louis XV of France in La Favorite, a film about the Bourbon king’s final mistress, Jeanne du Barry. It is the first film that Depp has made since the trials started in 2020. Minamata, in which he plays W Eugene Smith, the American photographer, was released that year having been completed in 2019. Producers are in talks for La Favorite to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
What happens next is anybody’s guess but it appears Depp may not be shunned permanently by the entertainment establishment. After the Hollywood Vampires tour he is to direct a biopic of Amadeo Modigliani, the Italian artist, which has Al Pacino as executive producer.
A friend of the actor said: “He’s got his life back. For so long he didn’t have it because things were tied up in litigation so he couldn’t really do anything and he wanted to be respectful of the process.
“Now he feels he’s able to do what he loves: make music, make art, make movies.”
Sunday Times 19th Feb 2023
Article by Liam Kelly
After moving out of the late Jeff Beck’s Sussex house, the Hollywood star is going on tour and planning a bumper sale of his art
Johnny Depp is famed as the bad boy of the film world. But as he starts on the comeback trail after toxic court battles with Amber Heard, his former wife, Depp has shunned Hollywood.
Instead Depp is living in the UK, plans a bumper sale of his art and has found stability from a perhaps surprising friendship with Alice Cooper. Depp, 59, will re-enter the limelight with a sell-out tour with rock legends including Cooper, who is a devout Christian, teetotal and has been married for 46 years.
While he owns a property in Los Angeles, Depp is understood to have largely abandoned the US. He had been living in Sussex for several months, in the home of his great friend, Jeff Beck the guitarist and former member of the Yardbirds. But after Beck died last month at the age of 78, Depp moved to London and is flitting between hotels and staying with friends.
Depp also spent time at Beck’s home in Wadhurst, East Sussex, during the coronavirus lockdown, when the pair recorded an album called 18 — because that is the age they felt when they played together. Last summer the film star was spotted visiting a wildlife rescue centre in nearby Tunbridge Wells, where Beck was a patron.
A source close to Depp said: “The hubbub and craziness of LA and New York can be exhausting. As much as London and Paris are busy, thriving cities, Johnny still feels he can relax and be creative there. He has always loved Europe, and people love him there. He feels very at home there and finds the European lifestyle a bit more his speed.”
Despite a nearly 40-year career in Hollywood, Depp has long said that music was his first love. He will begin a 27-date tour across Europe this summer with his band, the Hollywood Vampires, playing gigs in Scarborough, London and Birmingham. Most of the tickets at venues such as the O2 Arena are already sold. The self-described “best bar band in the world” has Depp on guitar, with Cooper on vocals, alongside guitarists Joe Perry from Aerosmith and Tommy Henriksen, who has played with Cooper for years. The Vampires play covers of songs by the likes of the Who, David Bowie and Led Zeppelin, as well as their own material. The band released an album, Rise, in 2019, but the pandemic meant that they had to postpone a tour planned for 2020. Rehearsals are now expected to start this spring. Cooper and Depp first became friends, and played together, in 2011 when they met on the set of Dark Shadows, a gothic comedy directed by Tim Burton with Depp starring. Cooper had a cameo appearance and asked Depp, who he had heard played guitar, if he wanted to join him at the 100 Club on London’s Oxford Street. Depp was introduced on stage as “Johnny D from Kentucky” and stood with his guitar at the back of the stage with a hat pulled down.
“I didn’t sing. I still don’t sing. I never wanted to be the frontman,” Depp told The Times in 2018. “I wanted to be the guy who stands just away from the lights.” However, he makes an exception for Bowie’s Heroes, giving a rousing rendition when he takes on lead vocals.
Cooper and Depp became closer over the years. A friend of the band said that the Hollywood Vampires provides a “very stable environment for Johnny”, as Cooper, 75, and Perry, 72, have also endured the hardships of fame and come out on the other side.
Both, like Depp, have dealt with substance abuse and are now teetotal. Cooper — who was born Vincent Furnier in Detroit — is a golf lover who usually travels everywhere with his wife, Sheryl Goddard, a dancer who he met on tour and has been married to since 1976. Perry has been with his second wife, Billie Montgomery, for almost 40 years.
Depp’s friend said: “These people are his heroes. He’s like a junior partner, they are legends and they have been through bad times and addiction and are now clean and living their best life.” The friend said: “When I saw Johnny with them and we came across other legends, he was sitting there listening to old stories from them with a huge grin on his face.”
Three years ago Depp was cast as a pariah in the entertainment world. In 2020 a High Court judge in London ruled that calling Depp a “wife beater” was “substantially true” after The Sun published an opinion column about his tempestuous marriage to Heard, who appeared in Aquaman. Depp said he had gone from being Hollywood’s “Cinderella to Quasimodo”.
The tide started to turn when he successfully sued Heard, 36, for libel in America last year over a Washington Post article in which she claimed to be a victim of domestic abuse. Heard has agreed to pay Depp $1 million (£830,000), which he plans to donate that money to charity.
Heard had promised to donate her $7 million divorce settlement from Depp to the American Civil Liberties Union and the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, but said in last year’s trial in Virginia that the legal proceedings had prevented her from doing so.
After raising $800,000 from a sale of art work in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) last year, Depp pledged the full amount to four children’s hospitals, including the one his former wife had promised funds to.
The actor had been linked in the autumn with Joelle Rich, his British lawyer, but the pair are understood to have broken up.
Depp surprised many by appearing with Beck on his British tour in June while the jury in Virginia was considering its verdict. Having played at venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, Depp was seen in a Newcastle pub with Sam Fender, the British singer, as the verdict came in.
Though he remains an outcast in Hollywood, with Disney having ostracised him from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Depp’s artistic output means this year will be one of his most prolific.
He is working on a new art project after selling 780 prints in hours in July for about £3 million of figures who had inspired him, such as Keith Richards, Elizabeth Taylor and Bob Dylan. He will play Louis XV of France in La Favorite, a film about the Bourbon king’s final mistress, Jeanne du Barry. It is the first film that Depp has made since the trials started in 2020. Minamata, in which he plays W Eugene Smith, the American photographer, was released that year having been completed in 2019. Producers are in talks for La Favorite to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
What happens next is anybody’s guess but it appears Depp may not be shunned permanently by the entertainment establishment. After the Hollywood Vampires tour he is to direct a biopic of Amadeo Modigliani, the Italian artist, which has Al Pacino as executive producer.
A friend of the actor said: “He’s got his life back. For so long he didn’t have it because things were tied up in litigation so he couldn’t really do anything and he wanted to be respectful of the process.
“Now he feels he’s able to do what he loves: make music, make art, make movies.”
I wonder if he will now buy a property in the UK?
Adeleagain and Snoopy 
