Johnny Depp 'abandoned' by mother as teen
Sep 17, 2021
Washington [US], September 17 : American actor and filmmaker Paul Barresi in his research for the new Discovery plus series 'Johnny Depp vs Amber Heard' has uncovered new court documents that show Johnny was abandoned by his mother as a teen.
Amid Johnny's legal battle with ex-wife Amber, new reports have been unearthed by Paul for his series that claims the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' actor was abandoned by his "mean" mother when he was a teen.
According to Page Six, in 1981 court papers, which until now had been buried in court archives, between Betty Sue Depp and the actor's father John Depp-- who divorced in 1978 when he was 15 -- it is claimed her son was "emancipated and self-supporting".
But as per the actor's earlier interviews, Johnny began consuming drugs at 11, dropped out of high school-aged 16 to become a musician and in 1980 began playing guitar in a band called The Kids, moving to Los Angeles and spending months living in a car. His first acting role came in 1984's 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' after meeting Nicolas Cage.
However, the divorce document, signed in 1981, obtained by Page Six states, "The wife hereby acknowledges that the parties' minor child ... John C. Depp II is fully emancipated and self-supporting."
Paul, who has uncovered the documents, said, "He said since age 11, he has taken all manner of substances, including marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy, LSD, prescription painkillers, opiates and magic mushrooms. His drug use, he said, was a way to escape family problems."
"He struggled to find gigs in a garage band and peddled ink pens working part-time as a telemarketer. Needless to say, at age 17, Johnny was hardly financially self-sufficient, and far from being emancipated. As far as I am concerned, his mother disowned him at a time when he unquestionably needed her most. There is no court record of him ever having been legally emancipated," Paul added.
In a 2018 interview to an outlet, Johnny told, "My mom was born in a f--ing holler in eastern Kentucky ... Her poor f--ing ass was on phenobarbital at 12." He told about his mother who died in 2016.
He said his father, a civil engineer, was largely absent, and his mother raised him and his three siblings, also revealing that his childhood was unhappy.
"Yeah, there were irrational beatings. Maybe it's an ashtray coming your way. Maybe you're gonna get clunked with the phone. It was a ghost house -- no one talked. I don't think there ever was a way I thought about people, especially women, other than 'I can fix them'," Johnny said at that time.
He also recalled rubbing his mother's feet after she came home from double shifts at her waitressing job. Johnny also revisited the day when he bought her mother a small horse farm in Kentucky with one of his first big payouts from his acting work.
He added he said at her 2016 funeral, "My mom was maybe the meanest human being I have ever met in my life."
Johnny Depp, who recently said Hollywood was "boycotting him" over his ongoing legal battle with ex-wife Amber Heard, in August was granted permission to press libel charges against Amber in the US despite a UK court ruling that he was a "wife-beater," Page Six reported.
Reportedly, the press libel case was brought by Johnny over a 2018 Washington Post op-ed (opposite the editorial page) in which Amber described being the victim of domestic violence, without naming him.
As per Page Six, the case is expected to be heard in court next year.
