Is Johnny Depp’s career over? After his Amber Heard divorce and exit from J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros.’ Fantastic Beasts, Christian Dior and Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice 2 might save him
Despite his domestic abuse scandal, the Pirates of the Caribbean star remains popular with his 9 million Instagram followers, who’re defiantly buying up the Christian Dior men’s perfume he endorses for US$5 million
In November, Johnny Depp lost his libel case against the British tabloid The Sun. He has forfeited his role in J.K. Rowling’s and Warner Bros.’ Fantastic Beasts film series. And he has turned to Instagram for emotional support from his nearly 9 million followers.
But the movie star, in all his ruin, has managed to keep hold of his reported US$5 million deal with Christian Dior’s men’s fragrance, Sauvage.
In a 2018 article in The Sun, which detailed Depp’s tumultuous 15-month marriage to the actress Amber Heard, Depp was labelled a “wife beater”. He sued the paper and endured a 16-day trial this July, during which several salacious – and disturbing – details were revealed.
Heard, who filed for divorce in 2016, said in court she “was afraid he was going to kill [her]”. She said when they fought, Depp would get physical.
“The physical abuse included punching, slapping, kicking, headbutting and choking me, as well as throwing me into things, pulling me by my hair, and shoving me or pushing me to the ground,” she said.
Depp countered by accusing Heard of leaving human faeces in their Los Angeles penthouse bed and throwing a vodka bottle at him, which wound up severing his fingertip to the bone.
Still, the scandal isn’t slowing down sales of Sauvage. The Guardian recently reported that defiant Depp fans have been buying the fragrance to support the star after Dior aired Depp’s ad during the highly rated The Great British Bake Off.
The ad aired in the US this month, though late at night during commercial breaks for The Late Late Show With James Corden and The Late Show With Steven Colbert.
“Dior is feeling a lot of pressure right now to do the right thing and ditch Depp,” British branding expert Jeetendr Sehdev said. “But in today’s market, and particularly with millennials, silence is complicit.”