Johnny Depp’s Former Agent Said He Was “Unprofessional”

Johnny Depp’s former agent testified concerning the decline of his Hollywood star-power.

Depp and his ex-wife, Amber Heard, are at the moment embroiled in a extremely public courtroom battle, happening in Fairfax, Virginia.

The 58-year-old is suing Heard for $50 million, citing defamation over an op-ed she wrote for the Washington Submit in 2018.

The article detailed Heard’s expertise as a survivor of home abuse, and was headlined: “I spoke up in opposition to sexual violence — and confronted our tradition’s wrath. That has to alter.”

Although Heard didn’t title Depp within the op-ed, the actor and his attorneys argue that she not directly framed him as an abuser and considerably broken his fame and profession because of this.

In flip, Heard filed a $100 million counterclaim of her personal, alleging that Depp and his authorized staff defamed her by discrediting her abuse allegations as “faux” and a “hoax.”

The case acquired underway on April 11, and is headed into its twentieth day of trial.

A big portion of Depp’s defamation declare facilities across the demise of his performing profession — specifically, a job within the sixth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

Depp, his authorized staff, and his present expertise agent declare that he misplaced out on a job within the film — and a reported $22.5 million payout — due to the allegations in Heard’s op-ed.

Nonetheless, Depp’s former longtime agent testified Thursday that the actor’s wrestle to land main roles was a results of his personal actions.

Tracey Jacobs is a prime agent at United Expertise Company and represented Depp for 30 years. He fired her — alongside along with his longtime lawyer and administration agency — in October 2016.

Testifying through video hyperlink as a witness for Heard, Jacobs stated that representing Depp grew to become “much more difficult” within the final 10 years that they labored collectively, claiming that he developed a poor fame for his “unprofessional conduct” on film units.

Depp was “displaying up late to set constantly on nearly each film,” Jacobs stated, including that she had warned Depp about how his actions might affect his profession.

“I might get yelled at,” she testified. “I by no means stated to him, ‘You are a tough consumer.’ I by no means used these phrases. However I used to be very trustworthy with him and stated, ‘You have to cease doing this. That is hurting you.’ And it did.”

Regardless of confronting her consumer, Jacobs stated his conduct on set didn’t change.

“Initially, crews liked him as a result of he was all the time so nice with the crew. However crews do not love sitting round for hours and hours and hours ready for the star of the film to indicate up,” she stated.

When requested by Heard’s legal professional if a part of his unprofessional conduct included the elevated use of alcohol and medicines, Jacobs testified that it did, later including that “folks have been speaking” inside the business about his conduct.

“His star had dimmed on account of it getting more durable to get him jobs,” Jacobs stated. “Folks have been speaking. The query was on the market about his conduct.”

Due to this, Jacobs stated studios had grow to be “reluctant” to forged Depp of their initiatives.

“It additionally acquired round city. I imply, folks speak; it is a small neighborhood,” she stated. “It made folks reluctant to make use of him towards the tip [of our time working together].”

Jacobs’ testimony contradicted Depp and his staff’s argument that he was axed from the sixth Pirates film due to the fallout from Heard’s op-ed.

Depp’s present expertise supervisor, Jack Whigham, beforehand testified that he had “closed a deal” for his consumer to star within the sixth Pirates installment, however that in early 2019, “it grew to become clear [producers at Disney] have been stepping into a special path” that didn’t embody Depp.

He attributed this determination to the fallout from Heard’s op-ed, which he stated was “catastrophic” for Depp’s profession.

“After the op-ed, it was unimaginable to get him a studio movie, which is what we usually would have been centered on in that point interval,” Whigham testified.

Throughout his cross-examination, Heard’s legal professional argued that there was no written proof of proof stating Depp’s involvement within the sixth Pirates film.

Whigham — who beforehand claimed that Depp was set to earn $22.5 million for the function — responded that he would often use verbal agreements when negotiating a consumer’s pay for a possible challenge.

“It could be truthful to say I’ve by no means seen a doc…I’ve not seen ‘22 million’ written down on a web page, you are appropriate about that,” Whigham stated.

In her testimony, Jacobs additionally stated that she didn’t recall ever being concerned in negotiations concerning Depp’s future involvement within the sixth Pirates film.