Johnny Depp Says It Hurt to Be Considered a Violent Man

Johnny Depp is opening up about the last three to four years of his life in an in-depth interview with British GQ for the magazine’s November 2018 issue.

Here is what the 55-year-old actor had to share with the mag:

On the last three to four years: “The last three or four years has felt like a perverse situation that was inflicted on me. It hurts.”

On the Hollywood film industry: “This vile f–king circus… But did it stop all the power mongers in Hollywood who were interested in shutting me up? Big money was being thrown about. People suing me at every opportunity. I mean, it’s all so obvious. Listen, I know I was never going to be Cinderella – I know this and accept it. But it felt like within a very, very short period of time that suddenly this version – for lack of a better word – of Cinderella had been immediately turned into the beast. He’s Quasimodo. I could feel people look at me differently, because of the accusations towards you. And then people start putting things in magazines: ‘He’s insane. He needs to take a sanity test…’ You know, ludicrous stuff. But the only thing that I could do was know what I still know. Ultimately, the truth will come out in all of this and I will be standing on the right side of the roaring rapids. I hope other people will be too. I know the truth and if I had to walk away from all of it today, the job, the career, all of it, and go toodle-oo, then fine.”

On being considered a violent man: “The thing that hurt me is being presented as something that you’re really as far away from as you could possibly get, you know? But to…” (Long pause) “To harm someone you love? As a kind of bully? No, it didn’t, it couldn’t even sound like me. So, initially, I just kept my mouth shut, you know? I knew it was going to stick on me and it would get weirder. Keep going, you know? Go nuts. I ain’t going to get into a pissing contest with someone about it. Spit out what you need to spit out and, you know, my attorneys will take care of the rest. I never went out and spoke about the shit.”

For more from Johnny, visit GQ-Magazine.co.uk. See the full feature in the November issue of British GQ, available on digital download on Wednesday, October 3 and on newsstands Thursday, October 4.