JOHNNY Depp RUMOURS
Ross King tells it like it is from Los Angeles
THERE are, they say, three sides to every story. Your side, their side and the truth. This sprang into my mind as I was reporting on Good Morning Britain last week.
It seemed there was only one story in Hollywood – the acrimonious split between A-lister Johnny Depp and his beautiful wife and fellow movie star, Amber Heard.
Every day there are more pictures and stories emerging. So far allegations have been flying thick and fast with Amber accusing Johnny of assault, and being granted a restraining order against him. The entertainment press went a bit wild over this, as did social media – unsurprising given the profile of the people involved.
Not to mention the wider issues of domestic abuse that episodes like this throw into a sharp light. One of the questions I was asked on GMB about this was how much of a surprise this was. It’s been nothing of the sort, though. The Hollywood rumour mill was and still is glowing white-hot as stories about how things weren’t right made the rounds.
Standard fare for this town – but when I chatted with Johnny in Toronto last year during his appearance at the Black Mass premiere his old spark seemed to be missing.
Johnny’s bodyguard of many years, Jerry Judge, used to be my minder when I was working in London.
I’ve not spoken to him about this, and Jerry’s too discreet to tell me anything anyway.
But I know he likes the Pirates of the Caribbean star, and a lot of the accusations levelled at Johnny are, I’m told by some of his friends, not in his character.
Plenty of people who know him say he’s just not that type of guy and Johnny’s ex and mother of his children Vanessa Paradis wrote a glowing note about him in the days after all this came out.
That doesn’t mean any accusations shouldn’t be treated seriously of course.
There are suggestions something else is going on, to do with bumper divorce settlements on one hand, or Hollywood’s studio system protecting one of their A-list assets on the other.
Like I said, there are other sides to a story and we can’t know what goes on behind closed doors.
Trust me – there is a lot more to come over the next few days and weeks.