£7m goes overboard!
JK Rowling’s huge loss as she sells £22m yacht once owned by Johnny Depp...for £15m
WE have all made an impulse buy and then changed our mind. But JK Rowling appears to have suffered buyer’s remorse on a grand scale.
For the Harry Potter author is set to make a £7million loss by selling the motor yacht she bought only last year.
Miss Rowling has put the 156ft Amphitrite – formerly owned by Johnny Depp – up for sale at just over £15million. She reportedly paid £22million for the luxury vessel, having fallen in love with it after chartering it for a holiday with her husband Neil Murray and their two children.
The Amphitrite, named after the sea-goddess wife of Poseidon, was built in Turkey in 2001 and was refitted in bohemian Art Deco style by Depp in 2009 at a reported cost of £5million.
The Pirates Of The Caribbean star owned the yacht when he was married to French singer Vanessa Paradis. Depp named the yacht the Vajoliroja – a pun on the Jolly Roger using the first two letters of Vanessa, Johnny and the names of their children, Lily Rose and Jack.
Its name was changed early last year when Depp sold the yacht after marrying Amber Heard. The 1930s-style superyacht can sleep ten guests.
As well as the master bedroom on the main deck, there are four other bedrooms and spacious dining, entertaining and relaxation rooms. It was available for charter this summer at more than £100,000 a week.
The for sale advert, placed on yacht brokers’ website Curtis Stokes & Associates, includes photos of the Amphitrite’s lavishly decorated interior, including patterned wallpaper and crushed vel- vet seating. There is also a dining area on deck.
A picture of the salon shows two separate seating areas with teak and glass double doors, sofas, end tables, coffee tables, lounge chairs and bar.
Included in the purchase price are artworks, two rigid inflatable tender boats and equipment for guests to enjoy waterskiing, windsurfing and kayaking.
No reason was given for the prompt sale and a representative for Miss Rowling said: ‘We will not be commenting on this as it is a private matter.’
However, a source close to the author said she had owned it for some time and ‘has made use of the yacht’. Losing £7million from buying and selling the Amphitrite will barely put a dent in Miss Rowling’s fortune.
She dropped off Forbes’ list of world billionaires four years ago, but this is understood to be a result of paying huge amounts in UK taxes and giving a large portion of her fortune to charity.
However she is still estimated to be worth hundreds of millions and last month was named the world’s third-richest author. Her first adult novel, The Casual Vacancy released in 2012, is still selling well and Miss Rowling continues to add to her earnings through Pottermore, the website she uses to sell Harry Potter e-books, as she held on to the rights rather than sign them over to her publisher.
‘She has made use of the yacht’