‘Aquaman’ producer: Amber Heard was never going to be fired from the franchise
Last year, Johnny Depp lost his libel case against Amber Heard and the Sun. The
Johnny Depp wants Amber Heard silenced with a confidentiality agreement
Remember when we thought this summer was going to be full of drama and tragedy from Johnny Depp and Amber Heard? While there was a solid month of drama, by the time their hearing was postponed back on June 17th, the craziness had started to die down. They’re scheduled to appear in court on August 15th to give testimony about the abuse, the restraining order and more. Since mid-June, there’s been relative quiet, which I suspect has been the goal of the lawyers and the court anyway. I’ve been hoping that Depp’s lawyers and Heard’s lawyers have been quietly negotiating some kind of comprehensive settlement. But now I don’t know. Depp’s team has filed new documents aiming to keep Amber and her team silent. Depp’s lawyers are asking the court to put a confidentiality agreement in place so that they can turn over Depp’s financial records without it leaking. Here’s part of the filing: “Johnny does not dispute that Amber is entitled to the majority of the information sought in her discovery requests and subpoenas. He willing to produce the documents necessary for Amber’s evaluation,” the docs read. “He has asked, however, that a confidentiality agreement be executed prior to the production of documents in order to protect the parties’ privacy. This case has been extraordinarily public since its inception. There have been daily articles in the domestic and foreign press about this proceeding and the parties’ lives. Every detail of this action has been chronicled by the media and it has become one of the most heavily publicized celebrity divorces in recent memory.” Thus, Depp’s team argues, “Amber’s need for financial information to resolve this case is distinct from the public’s appetite for information about celebrity divorces. Yet Amber has inexplicably refused to sign any agreement to maintain confidentiality in this action. Johnny has proposed two different versions of a confidentially agreement and has expressed his willingness to consider revisions and/or an alternate agreement drafted by Amber’s counsel.” The documents reveal that Depp—to no avail—asked Heard to sign a confidentiality agreement on May 27, 2016, noting that many media outlets have sited “sources close to Amber” in their coverage of the divorce. In fact, Depp’s lawyer, Laura Wasser, pointed out one TMZ article in which she believes Heard’s attorney, Samantha Spector, leaked information to TMZ “We agree to your proposal that ‘both sides would do everything in their power to prevent any further publicity and/or media disclosures about this matter, the case and the parties’ without exception,” Wasser states. “On 6/10 TMZ posted a story which contained specific provisions of the verbal settlement offer made to you…Not only did you not comply with your proposed agreement, you violated provisions.” The documents also indicate that the two teams tried to settle in mid-June into order to “avoid media exposure” and “resolve the matter amicably,” and that Depp was willing to use the mediator Heard proposed. However, they failed to schedule a meeting. Now, as Heard proceeds to request more information, Depp continues to press for confidentiality. “Johnny is merely trying to protect the documents and information Amber seeks from unwarranted disclosure to the media and other individuals not involved,” the docs read. [From E! News] Does anyone else think it’s a bit rich for Depp’s lawyer to cry foul about Amber’s team leaking to TMZ? Throughout May and June, Team Depp was leaking to TMZ on a daily basis. TMZ was running pro-Depp stories consistently, full of information that only people deep in Depp’s camp would know. While I don’t doubt that Amber’s team has leaked information to E!, People and TMZ as well, turnabout is fair play. I also think it’s interesting that Depp wants such a tight rein on his financial information specifically. In the past month, Depp has been making some strange financial moves, like selling his Basquiat paintings and putting his French chateau up for sale. Hm… Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
Johnny Depp Flees LA, Gets Support From Daughter & Disney
Like the swaggering pirate he so memorably portrayed, Johnny Depp might be wondering where the rum is these days. The answer? In the Caribbean, of course. According to several sources, Depp has been riding out his divorce from Amber Heard at his private island in the Bahamas. “He has no plans to return to L.A.,” a source close to Depp tells People magazine. “He misses nothing about L.A. but his kids, and they are visiting him in the Bahamas.” We suppose there are worse places to be self-exiled. The magazine states that Depp is currently being visited by his 17-year-old daughter, Lily-Rose. His son 14-year-old son, Jack, is expected to arrive with his mother, Vanessa Paradis, sometime this week. “Having his kids around is always great for him. He has really missed his kids,” the insider adds. “He likes being surrounded by people and everyone is trying to cheer him up.” As you’ve likely heard, Depp has been accused of assault by his estranged wife. View Slideshow: Johnny Depp Domestic Abuse Allegations: Stars React Heard has been granted a temporary restraining order, and she and Depp are reportedly on the verge of reaching a divorce settlement. Heard’s allegations have called into question the future of Depp’s career, but it seems the actor needn’t worry about his most lucrative properties. Disney – who, as the studio behind the Pirates of the Caribbean and the live-action Alice in Wonderland franchises is as responsible for Depp’s career renaissance as anyone – basically confirmed this week that it has no plans to cut ties with the actor, despite his recent legal troubles. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Disney CEO Bob Iger stated that he is “not worried” about Depp’s “personal problems.” Asked if he believes the current controversy will pass, Iger responded: “I don’t know whether it passes or not. We have Jack Sparrow.” Asked if he thinks people will separate the actor from his most famous character, Iger responded, “Right.” So it sounds like Depp can do no wrong in the eyes of those in his inner circle. The question now is – will the movie-going public be as forgiving? View Slideshow: 15 Celebs Who Have Been Accused Of Domestic Violence
Disney CEO Bob Iger is ‘not worried about’ Johnny Depp’s personal problems
Bob Iger is the CEO of Disney. Which means he’s getting a lot of the credit for the “success stories” in Hollywood these days. Disney owns LucasFilm, Marvel and Pixar, arguably the most successful properties in the film industry, domestically and internationally. So it’s no surprise that Iger was named The Hollywood Reporter’s Most Powerful Person In Entertainment. You can see THR’s Hollywood 100 list here. It includes people like Leo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Jimmy Fallon and Lin-Manuel Miranda. My intention was just to glance through Iger’s extensive interview, but I ended up being drawn in and I read the whole piece. Iger talks a lot about Marvel, Rogue One, Shanghai Disney, the Orlando massacre and more. He says Rogue One is “actually going to be a fine film” and that Disney is truly working on another Indiana Jones movie. But here’s something that might interest you at a gossip level: Iger was asked directly about Johnny Depp. THR: Do you have Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean in the park? Iger: Yes. And Johnny Depp’s personal problems? Not worried about it. The scandal will pass? I don’t know whether it passes or not. We have Jack Sparrow. You think people separate. Right. [From THR] And that’s it. That’s the only thing he says about Depp. I give Iger some credit for not slamming Amber and for not giving Depp some ringing character reference or endorsement. But I do think Iger is kidding himself if he thinks the public will be able to separate Jack Sparrow and a drunk, abusive scarf monster. Also: this interview took place several weeks ago, during the heat of the Depp-Heard back-and-forth in the press. It also took place after Disney’s Alice Through the Looking Glass bombed at the box office. Disney has a lot of money invested in Depp for Pirates of the Caribbean, and while Disney will still be okay if Pirates bombs (they still have Stars Wars and Marvel, after all), Disney doesn’t want to eat the $320 million it cost to make POTC: Dead Men Tell No Tales. And that’s just the production cost! It will cost Disney tens of millions to promote the film. Iger is counting on the idea that by the time the film comes out (next summer), people will have forgotten all about everything. Is that what will happen though? Embed from Getty Images Photos courtesy of Getty, WENN, The Hollywood Reporter.
Doug Stanhope: Johnny Depp ‘thanked’ me for ‘being honest’ about Amber Heard
Embed from Getty Images Just days after Amber Heard first went to court, seeking and receiving a restraining order against Johnny Depp after she presented a mountain of evidence that Depp was a domestic abuser, Depp’s good friend Doug Stanhope came out to defend his bro. Stanhope, a comedian, wrote an “op-ed” for The Wrap about how all of Depp’s friends knew that Amber was a super-manipulative wet blanket and everybody hated her and she was crying abuse to blackmail Depp. It was one of the biggest douche-bro defenses I’ve ever read. Amber thought so too. She filed a lawsuit against Stanhope for defamation days later. I sincerely hoped that the lawsuit would shut him up. It did not. Stanhope appeared on Howard Stern’s show on Monday to tell his side of the story. Douchebag says what? Johnny Depp’s pal Doug Stanhope broke his silence about the defamation lawsuit Amber Heard filed over the explosive op-ed he wrote for TheWrap, in which he claimed that the actress was blackmailing her estranged husband. Stanhope, 49, was a guest on The Howard Stern Show on Monday, June 20. He told Stern that Legalzoom.com is defending him in the case. “Anything that I say, they can twist my words,” the comedian complained. “It’s such a bulls–t suit.” He went on to detail his side of the story about the article, and how it went viral after it was posted on TheWrap on May 29, six days after Heard filed for divorce from Depp. “I put it on my website. The title was ‘At a Loss for Words’ … whatever it was. TheWrap got it as an exclusive, however that worked, and said, ‘Amber Heard Is Blackmailing Johnny Depp — This Is How I Know.’ I didn’t write that f–king title. I didn’t put that stupid tabloid title in there. I’m a better writer than that, so I don’t know if it’s hinged on that, I don’t know how much of it is spite.” While Heard called the piece “highly defamatory,” Stanhope said that Johnny Depp was happy with it. “I had no contact with [Depp] until he texted me after that went out and said, ‘Hey, thanks for being honest.’ He didn’t know that was going out. I was a little petrified because it kind of made him look like a bitch. ‘Cause he was kind of a bitch,” he said. Although he admitted it “still feels like name-dropping,” Stanhope maintained that he didn’t write the op-ed for publicity, and said the lawsuit is comical to him because he doesn’t have millions of dollars to lose. “The idea of some Hollywood supermodel lady winning all of my s–t … She would be locking the doors driving down my street even without seeing a person. I live on the Mexican border in this dirty pothole-riddled neighborhood.” Stanhope still stands by what he wrote, and repeated his allegations from the article on the radio show. “I visited him that day,” he said of May 21, the day Heard says Depp hit her with a cellphone during a violent argument. “He was alluding to the fact that she was going to do something like this. She didn’t come out until a week later that that happened. But it happened that night, and he was alluding to she’s going to do something like this.” “I think what she’s trying to do is make me shut the f–k up,” Stanhope concluded. “Because I can’t say anything about it, and now I’m talking more.” [From Us Weekly] The most interesting part is that Depp called him to “thank” him for being “honest” after the op-ed was published. If you go back and read the op-ed, it’s not like Stanhope was being honest about witnessing whatever dynamic between Amber and Johnny. He was being “honest” about the sh-t Depp had told him, stuff which Stanhope just took as gospel. Depp told Stanhope that Amber was going to claim that he (Depp) was abusive. And since Stanhope is incapable of critical thinking, he just believed that Depp was some kind of savant rather than an abuser who was enlisting his bros’ help in gaslighting his victimized wife. Embed from Getty Images Photos courtesy of Getty, Fame/Flynet.
Amber Heard & Johnny Depp’s restraining order hearing has been postponed
I was being completely selfish about Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s scheduled restraining order hearing. All I kept thinking was, “Is every entertainment journalist and gossip blogger going to have to hang around for hours on a Friday afternoon and evening to learn the details about the hearing?” But it looks like the much-anticipated hearing has been postponed. And Amber Heard wants you to know that it wasn’t her call. The postponement came after a conference call between Depp’s lawyer, Laura Wasser, Amber’s lawyer and the judge. Wasser asked for the continuance and Wasser also wanted the judge to give both sides to talk about a settlement. Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s hearing on domestic violence claims has been pushed to August, and a temporary restraining order against the actor has been reissued, PEOPLE has confirmed. The former couple were set to face off in a Los Angeles courtroom to address Heard’s domestic violence restraining order request. The hearing “was advanced and vacated,” the L.A. County Superior Court said in a statement after a phone conference involving Depp and Heard’s lawyers. The official hearing on Heard’s permanent restraining order request has been rescheduled for Aug. 15 and 16, but a status conference has been set for Aug. 2. Heard and Depp are not required to attended the status conference. A source tells PEOPLE that Depp’s attorney Laura Wasser asked for a continuance to postpone the hearing. [From People] It doesn’t surprise me that the hearing has been postponed, although it would surprise me if Amber and her lawyers were seriously considering a settlement. Just my opinion: Amber has Depp by the short hairs and she could probably run the table for a possible settlement, but everything seems to indicate that she wants her day in court. Will Amber hold out until August? It could go either way, depending on Depp’s ability to agree to Amber’s terms, I would guess. In the lead-up to the postponement, Amber and Johnny’s teams were sniping at each other in the press too. TMZ reported earlier Thursday afternoon that Depp wanted the postponement and he was willing to come to the table and negotiate a settlement for everything, including spousal support. Amber’s team then leaked stories about how she would never settle and that Depp is “terrified about what she’ll say on the stand.” There was also some question about why Amber was in LA this week when she had told everybody that she would be in London for costume fittings. According to TMZ, she returned to LA early because the Aquaman/Justice League costumers thought she was too skinny for a fitting. Apparently, she’s lost 20 pounds in the past few months just from the stress. And here are some photos of a very slender Amber out in West Hollywood yesterday: Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN.
Amber Heard withdrew her request for temporary spousal support
Johnny Depp has been “recuperating on his private island” for about a week now. The Hollywood Vampires’ European tour was over last week, and Depp flew to the private island he bought, years ago, for himself and his family. A source told People Magazine that: “Johnny is doing okay. He likes retreating to his private island whenever he can. He hasn’t been there for a while, and really seems happy being there now… He wants to see his kids, but otherwise he isn’t looking forward to returning [to L.A.]. He doesn’t seem too worried about court though. He has an excellent lawyer who is taking care of things.” [From People] Yeah, I’m so glad we got this important update on how HE feels. People Mag also says that Depp is due back in LA tomorrow, Wednesday, in time for Friday’s restraining order hearing and court appearance. So, we’ve established that Depp is away from LA… so why were his friends removing a bunch of stuff from the apartment Depp once shared with Amber? Yesterday afternoon/evening, Depp’s people began removing items from the LA apartment and Amber Heard’s people called the police. While Depp had permission, from the temporary restraining order, to have some of his items removed, there is some question whether these items fall into that description. Amber Heard’s camp just called the police … claiming Johnny Depp’s people are taking items from his downtown L.A. home in violation of the restraining order she has against him. Law enforcement sources tell TMZ … LAPD officers are responding to a possible violation of a court order. Johnny was ordered to stay 100 yards away from his home with Amber when she got the temporary restraining order. Sources connected to the former couple tell us Johnny himself is not there, but his people are removing things from the walls and taking furniture out of the home. Part of the restraining order includes a “move-out order” … which allows Depp to take personal clothing and belongings needed until Friday’s hearing. Amber’s camp believes his people are overreaching, especially because Johnny is in the Bahamas right now. The insinuation is clear … why the urgency? Sources close to Depp confirm his team is taking “personal items” and they believe it’s within the scope of what the order allows. [From TMZ] Amber was apparently not home either – she’s probably in London, or en route to London right now for her Aquaman/Justice League fittings. Apparently, Depp’s people really were trying to take furniture and bigger items from the apartment but the police officers made them put everything back? And finally, Amber’s lawyers have just filed new paperwork withdrawing Amber’s request for temporary spousal support. Amber doesn’t want to deal with the money side of things at Friday’s hearing, she just wants to deal with the restraining order alone, and deal with spousal support at a later date, probably through the divorce settlement negotiations. Sources tell TMZ that Amber only requested spousal support because she “thought it was standard operating procedure in a divorce case, but now feels Depp’s team is twisting it in the media. In the docs, she says it’s being ‘used against me to distract and divert the public away from the very serious real issue of domestic violence.’” That’s a really smart move, I think. Photos courtesy of WENN.