Johnny Depp said he was a “crash test dummy” for the #MeToo movement during his defamation trial against his second ex-wife, Amber Heard.
“I’ll tell you what hurts. There are people, and I’m thinking of three, who did me dirty,” the actor told the Times of London about his unnamed pals in a new interview published Saturday.
“Those people were at my kids’ parties. Throwing them in the air. And, look, I understand people who could not stand up [for me], because the most frightening thing to them was making the right choice,” he added.
Depp, 62, said his lengthy trial with the “Aquaman” actress, 39, was prior to the #MeToo movement, which amplified the voices of survivors of sexual harassment and assault.
“I was like a crash test dummy for MeToo, … and I sponged it, took it all in,” the “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor told the outlet.
“And so I wanted from the hundreds of people I’ve met in that industry to see who was playing it safe. ‘Better go woke!’”
The MeToo movement was founded by survivor and activist Tarana Burke in 2006. In 2017, the #MeToo hashtag went viral when actress Alyssa Milano tweeted ‘me too’ and encouraged others who had been sexually harassed or assaulted to do the same.
Heard’s accusations of domestic violence in May 2016, a year before the fall of Harvey Weinstein, who allegedly sexually harassed, asaulted or raped more than dozen women who came forward in an exposé.
In February 2019, Depp sued Heard for $50 million for defaming him in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed about abuse.
Three years later, the mom of three lost the defamation trial and was ordered to pay her ex $10 million in compensatory damages and $350,000 in punitive damages. She was awarded $2 million in compensatory damages for her counterclaim.
In December 2022, the “Justice League” star settled the case with Depp, agreeing to pay him $1 million.
Three months after losing the trial, Heard and her eldest daughter, Oonagh Paige, 4, relocated to Spain.
Last week, the “Rum Diary” actress’s ex-girlfriend Bianca Butti explained why she believed Heards’ claims about being in a “violent” marriage with Depp.
“I believe all of it. Especially as someone who was her intimate partner,” the camera operator, who dated Heard after her split from Depp, said in Kelly Loudenberg and Makiko Wholey’s new book, “Hollywood Vampires: Johnny Depp, Amber Heard, and the Celebrity Exploitation Machine.”
“If I made a sudden move during an argument, she would recoil. It was clear to me that she was in a very violent relationship,” Butti claimed.
