Speaking out. Johnny Depp’s notoriously private first wife, Lori Anne Allison, has made her position clear when it comes to her ex-husband’s battle against Amber Heard.
The makeup artist, 65 — who was married to the Pirates of the Caribbean star from 1983 to 1985 — spoke extensively about her reaction to Depp, 59, and Heard’s 2022 defamation lawsuit on an episode of “Popcorned Planet” that was live-streamed on Tuesday, April 11.
Noting that her ex-husband “is very private, which is why I don’t do interviews,” Allison revealed that she was “terrified” for Depp throughout last year’s defamation trial, saying that she “probably broke down several times” watching her ex testify in court. “It just broke my heart that somebody could do that to him.”
The Nightmare on Elm Street star sued Heard, 36, in 2019 after she published an op-ed in the Washington Post naming herself as a victim of domestic violence. Though she did not mention her ex-husband’s name, Depp — who was married to the Aquaman star from 2015 to 2017 — filed a lawsuit against the actress for defamation.
After a lengthy battle in court, during which both Heard and Depp testified and claimed the other was the abuser, in June 2022, a jury ordered the Justice League actress to pay her ex $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in putative damages. Heard was awarded $2 million in compensatory damages.
“I had met her before, I’d been to parties at his house. She seemed really nice and she was gorgeous, and what’s not to love?” Allison described her initial thoughts of Heard. “But as the time went by and I would hear things about her – she who shall not be named – he didn’t seem too happy all the time. I didn’t see him a lot so I can’t really say.”
Despite not claiming to know the intimacies of her ex-husband’s romance with Heard, Allison was clear that she was no fan of the actress.
“I’m no angel — I’ve done my share of sh—tty things to people — but what she did was absolutely horrific,” the beauty guru said on Tuesday. “And if there were things I could do to her that were legal I would do them! I would.”
Though both Depp and Heard initially tried to appeal the verdict, the exes settled in December 2022. “I defended my truth and in doing so my life as I knew it was destroyed,” Heard wrote via social media after the settlement. “The vilification I have faced on social media is an amplified version of the ways in which women are [re-victimized] when they come forward. Now I finally have an opportunity to emancipate myself from something I attempted to leave over six years ago and on terms I can agree to. I have made no admission. This is not an act of concession. There are no restrictions or gags with respect to my voice moving forward.”
Depp, for his part, donated $1 million of his win to charities.
“We are pleased to formally close the door on this painful chapter for Mr. Depp, who made clear throughout this process that his priority was about bringing the truth to light,” his attorneys Benjamin Chew and Camille Vazquez stated at the time. “The jury’s unanimous decision and the resulting judgement in Mr. Depp’s favor against Ms. Heard remain fully in place.”
In addition to his marriages to Allison and Heard, the Sweeney Todd star was also in a longterm relationship with ex Vanessa Paradis, with whom he shares daughter Lily-Rose Depp, 23, and son Jack Depp.
