‘This is a nightmare’
Angelina’s torment amid claims she’s Johnny’s ex
IN RECENT YEARS , two celebrity legal wranglings have dominated headlines. One, between Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, sought a ruling on child custody and financial arrangements. The other, between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, was fought viciously over various defamation claims. While the disputes were both linked to the A-list, they were wholly separate. And yet, a new chapter has seen both couples dragged together in explosive ways.
Earlier this year, Johnny lost a defamation case against The Sun after the newspaper called him a ‘wife beater’, and the High Court ruled that this was not inaccurate to the civil standard. Johnny’s lawyers have since filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal and Johnny has strenuously denied the claims. He has a separate, second defamation case ongoing in the US, set to go to trial in 2021. This is against ex-wife Amber who, Johnny claims, defamed him in an article about abuse. In the piece, published in December 2018 in the Washington Post, Amber described her experience of abuse, but did not name any individual. Johnny claims that he lost work because of the backlash. The resulting transatlantic ordeal has been messy to watch, and shows little sign of abating. Not least because of a recent article by The Hollywood Reporter claiming to have seen court papers naming women alleged to have been romantically involved with Johnny at some point. Angelina is on the list, as is Keira Knightley and La Vie En Rose star Marion Cotillard.
Johnny certainly knows all three: he worked with Angelina in 2010 caper The Tourist, appeared with Marion in 2009 gangster film Public Enemies, and starred with Keira in the Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise between 2003 and 2007.
Before now, though, there had been little more than whispers of relationships between Johnny and the three women. No public evidence that such relationships took place exists, and no comment relating to the case has been made by Johnny, Angelina, Marion or Keira. Johnny did, however, object to involving ex-girlfriends in the case and called any evidence that could emerge from former partners ‘irrelevant, immaterial or unnecessary’.
Being named now could not have come at a worse time for Angelina. The revelatory article was published just days before a ruling was due on her own long battle with Brad and the pair have faced complications at every turn.
‘It is a nightmare for Angelina to be named in Johnny’s case,’ a friend tells Grazia. ‘Not only because of the timing with her own legal issues ongoing, but also simply because it’s hugely embarrassing. Angelina has had a year from hell in terms of her legal complications, so the last thing she needs right now is yet another court case to be looming. It’s yet to be determined if she’ll be called to the stand, but given that she was named so prominently, she fears being deposed. It’s come as a real bolt from the blue,’ adds the insider.
Another source close to the Hollywood star explains that it goes against years of transformation. ‘Angelina’s role as mother, tireless charity endeavours and making interesting work are the most important things to her,’ they say. ‘The last thing she wanted was for her old life to catch up with her, and there was a real concern that the revelation could make her look bad mere days before a ruling was due on her case with Brad.’
Angelina’s presence on the list has, naturally, become a hot topic in Hollywood. ‘But the inclusion of Keira and Marion has raised a number of eyebrows too,’ says a source from LA. ‘One small mercy for them is that most of the fallout and analysis is about Angelina and Johnny. That being said, it’s far from ideal for either of them to be caught up in this mess: they are both happy and settled in their lives and are far from thrilled to have been dragged into this.’