
The following deals with domestic violence, which may be triggering for some readers.
With all his awards, accolades and box-office wins, Johnny Depp earned the kind of rare success that actors dream of. He had the sway to determine his own trajectory in Hollywood, to turn away from projects on a whim.
But over the last decade, since the film star's ex-wife Amber Heard levelled allegations of domestic abuse against him, it's the industry and former fans that are turning away from Depp.
Amber Heard urges survivors of domestic violence to 'speak up'. Post continues below.
The actor, who firmly denies being abusive, has waged a series of legal battles to combat Heard's claims. The latest, a defamation lawsuit against British tabloid, The Sun, over a 2018 article that referred to him as a "wife beater".
More on that later.
Here's how Hollywood's pinup boy lost his appeal, and the lengths he's going to to defend his name.
Gigging musician to Hollywood star.
Johnny Depp's childhood was a transient one. He was raised in Kentucky then Florida, but moved dozens of times. His father, an engineer, was largely absent, leaving him and his three siblings mostly in the sole care of his waitress mother, Betty-Sue.
Speaking about his mother, Depp has painted a picture of a complicated woman, describing her to Inside The Actor's Studio as one of the "smartest, funniest, greatest people" he'd ever known, then in 2018 as "maybe the meanest human being" he'd ever met.
"Yeah, there were irrational beatings," he told Rolling Stone. "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.'"