Johnny Depp made a rare reference to his infamous defamation case against his ex-wife, Amber Heard.
The 61-year-old spoke Tuesday at a press conference at the San Sebastián Film Festival for his new movie, “Modì – Three Days on the Wing of Madness,” and said he could relate to the film’s subject, Italian painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani, because of the media frenzy that surrounded his and Heard’s 2022 trial that ended in his favor.
“Each [character] has their story, because I’m sure we can say that I’ve been through a number of things here and there,” Depp said.
“But you know, I’m all right,” he added with a chuckle, as the audience also laughed.
Depp went on, “And I think we’ve all been through a number of things, ultimately. Maybe yours didn’t turn into a soap opera. I mean, televised, in fact.”
“We all experience and go through what we go through,” the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star said. “And those things that we are able to live and remember and use… these are your stripes. You never forget them.”
“Modi” is Depp’s second directorial feature. He also produced the film, which is set in Paris during World War II.
Riccardo Scamarcio stars as Modigliani. Antonia Desplat, Stephen Graham and Al Pacino are also in the cast.
Depp and Heard, 38, faced off in a six-week, televised defamation trial in Fairfax, Va., that culminated with the jury siding with Depp on June 1, 2022.
The “Sweeney Todd” star sued his ex over her 2018 Washington Post op-ed that didn’t name him but indirectly accused him of domestic abuse.
Heard countersued Depp, saying statements made by his former lawyer, Adam Waldman, had defamed her.
The jury ultimately awarded Depp $10.35 million in damages, while Heard won $2 million in her countersuit. The “Aquaman” star filed to appeal the verdict in the case, but she later withdrew and then settled. She agreed to pay Depp $1 million.
“It is important for me to say I never chose this,” Heard said in a statement in December 2022. “I defended my truth and in doing so my life as I knew it was destroyed.”
“The vilification I have faced on social media is an amplified version of the ways in which women are re-victimized when they come forward,” she added.
On the two-year anniversary of the verdict, Depp’s lawyer, Camille Vasquez, revealed in an interview with People that Depp wanted the cameras in the courthouse during the trial.
Vasquez, 40, said it was “incredibly important” to the “Edward Scissorhands” star that he could show his fans “the evidence that the jury was evaluating.”
On the other hand, Heard’s lawyer, Elaine Charlson Bredehoft, told People that televising the trial was a “huge mistake.”
“You should never have cameras in a courtroom for sexual assault or domestic violence [cases]. I hope that the rest of the world has figured that out and that mistake won’t be repeated,” added Bredehoft.
After the trial, Heard moved to Spain with her 3-year-old daughter, Oonagh Paige.
Depp, meanwhile, went back to touring with his band, Hollywood Vampires, and acting. His first movie after the trial was “Jeanne du Barry,” which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year.
