Johnny Depp attended a memorial event for his late mother, Betty Sue Palmer, at a Hollywood restaurant on Wednesday, June 29, amid the ongoing divorce drama between him and estranged wife Amber Heard.
The Alice Through the Looking Glass actor, 53, kept a straight face as he strode into Ago Restaurant with his daughter, Lily-Rose, and his son, John Christopher, in tow. Depp’s sisters, a housekeeper, and a woman who did his mother’s nails were also in attendance, according to TMZ.
As previously reported, Depp’s mother, whom he was close with, died in Los Angeles on May 20 after battling a long illness. Heard, 30, filed for divorce three days later, citing irreconcilable differences. Then on May 27, she was granted a restraining order against her estranged husband after alleging that Depp had physically and emotionally abused her throughout the course of their relationship.
The Oscar-nominated star’s public appearance comes after he joined pal Doug Stanhope at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles on Saturday, June 25, surprising guests by hopping onstage at the end of comedian Mat Edgar’s set.
Stanhope made headlines in May after he published an essay on his website and with The Wrap detailing his firsthand observation of the former couple’s relationship. In his posts, the comic claimed that Depp confided in him that Heard was planning on leaving him and was plotting to blackmail him.
“He opened up in the most vulnerable of ways … that Amber was now going to leave him, threatening to lie about him publicly in any and every possible duplicitous way if he didn’t agree to her terms,” the comedian alleged. “Blackmail is what I would imagine other people might put it.”
Heard has since filed a defamation lawsuit against Stanhope, with her lawyer arguing that Depp’s friend was trying to “divert public attention away from the true facts regarding Depp which caused their marriage to fail.”
Depp’s divorce lawyer, Laura Wasser, has denied Heard’s claims of abuse. The actor’s exes, including longtime love and mother of his children Vanessa Paradis and ex-fiancée Winona Ryder, have spoken out in defense of the Pirates of the Caribbean star.
“I can only speak from my own experience, which was wildly different than what is being said,” Ryder, 44, told Time magazine in June. “He was never, never that way towards me. Never abusive at all towards me. I only know him as a really good, loving, caring guy who is very, very protective of the people that he loves.”
