Yahoo Finance Johnny Depp's Former Agent Says Studios Became 'Reluctant' to Hire Him Due to 'Unprofessional Behavior'
Johnny Depp's former agent said studios grew hesitant to cast the actor because of his reputation for "unprofessional behavior."
The three-time Oscar nominee, 58, is currently in a legal battle with ex-wife Amber Heard, suing her for $50 million for defamation. Depp claims her December 2018 Washington Post op-ed about coming forward with domestic abuse allegations tarnished his career, even though she didn't mention him by name in the article.
Previously, Depp's current talent agent Jack Whigham testified that the star lost a potential payday of $22.5 million to be in a sixth Pirates of the Caribbean movie due to the fallout of the article. "After the op-ed, it was impossible to get him a studio film, which is what we normally would have been focused on in that time period," Whigham said.
On Thursday, however, Tracey Jacobs — who was Depp's agent for 30 years before being fired by the movie star back in 2016 — had her deposition played for the courtroom. In it, she testified that Depp's career was waning due to his "unprofessional behavior" years before the op-ed was published.
"He became the biggest star in the world," she said, adding that it became "far more complicated" to represent him in the last 10 years they worked together due to "his unprofessional behavior."
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"Showing up late to set consistently on virtually every movie. I would get yelled at. I never said to him, 'You're a difficult client.' I never used those words. But I was very honest with him and said, 'You've got to stop doing this. This is hurting you.' And it did," said Jacobs.
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"Initially, crews loved him because he was always so great with the crew. But crews don't love sitting around for hours and hours and hours waiting for the star of the movie to show up," she continued. "And it also got around town. I mean, people talk; it's a small community. It made people reluctant to use him toward the end [of us working together]."
Depp resigned from his role in the Fantastic Beasts franchise in November 2020 after losing his highly publicized U.K. libel lawsuit case against British tabloid The Sun for calling him a "wife-beater." The court upheld the outlet's claims as being "substantially true" and Heard testified to back up the claims. In March 2021, his attempt to overturn the decision was overruled.
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In his testimony for this Virginia case, Depp — who has said multiple times under oath that he has never struck Heard or any woman — said that following Heard's allegations against him, he lost "nothing short of everything."
Heard, 36, is countersuing Depp for $100 million, claiming he and his legal team defamed her by launching an online smear campaign to discredit her abuse allegations as "fake" and a "hoax." She testified that her own career "took a hit" after those public comments from her ex-husband's attorney, and she "fought really hard" to stay in the Aquaman sequel when "they didn't want to include me in the film" despite her contract.
"I come from nothing. All I have is my integrity. All I have is my name — and that's exactly what he promised to take from me," Heard said on the stand.
