Johnny Depp Says He Wanted to Give Jack Sparrow a 'Proper Goodbye'

Johnny Depp is sharing new details about his exit from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

On Monday (April 25), the 58-year-old actor took to the stand amid his ongoing defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard.

Johnny testified that he had wanted to keep making Pirates of the Caribbean movies because he wanted to give his character Jack Sparrow a “proper goodbye.”

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He alleged that he was let go from the franchise after Amber‘s 2018 op-ed, in which she alluded to allegations of domestic abuse. Johnny responded to the essay by suing the actress for $50 million in damages.

Amber‘s attorney Ben Rottenborn asked if Johnny had been fired before the op-ed ran during his cross-examination last week, and also addressed comments Johnny had made about being unhappy with the film series.

Johnny‘s attorney Jessica Meyers worked to establish that the actor was still interested in making a sixth movie in late 2018.

“My feeling was that these characters should be able to have their proper goodbye,” he testified. “There’s a way to end a franchise like that… I planned on continuing until it was time to stop.”

Johnny went on to say that after the fifth Pirates film was released in 2017, he was approached by the creative team to collaborate with them on a sixth movie. Johnny said that the project is now in “dangle mode.”

Amber‘s lawyer asked about a 2018 report from the Daily Mail that indicated he had already been fired from the role due to “financial issues and personal dramas,” which was published two months before the op-ed.

“I wasn’t aware of that, but it doesn’t surprise me,” Johnny testified. “Two years had gone by of constant worldwide talk about me being this wife beater. So I’m sure that Disney was trying to cut ties to be safe.”

He added that he learned he was going to be re-cast a few days after the op-ed was released, from a news article quoting a Disney exec.

“I didn’t quite understand how after that long relationship, and quite a successful relationship certainly for Disney, that suddenly I was guilty until proven innocent,” he said.

Johnny doubled down on his claims that he would refuse another Pirates film even if Disney paid him “$300 million and a million alpacas,” noting that the comment was made after he was fired. He was also asked about a text he sent his assistant in March 2015, in which he complained about the franchise and suggested he not longer wanted to be a part of it.

“Honestly I will not again be doing anything that involves this discussion of furthering my embarrassment of having whored for all these f–king wasted piece of shit nothing years on characters that I so ignorantly started to think of as my legacy,” he wrote at the time. “Every c—ing fight!!! Every f–king time!!! I held my ugliness and rage deeper down and get in check when there was still room in my head to do such a thing!!!!”

He clarified the texts on the stand, explaining that he was venting his frustration because the script was “not up to snuff.”

“My anger is that the screenplay was very lazily written and I had to rewrite it,” he shared.

The actor also described the pride he had for the Jack Sparrow character in his testimony last week. “I incorporated my notes into the character and brought that character to life, much to the chagrin of Disney initially,” he said. “I believed in the character wholeheartedly, and initially, the Disney folks were somewhat upset.”

During Monday’s testimony, a witness recounted an explosive fight between Amber and Johnny.