Pirates of the Caribbean star Johnny Depp has opened up about the ab*se he suffered at the hands of his late mother, Betty Sue Palmer.
This is not the first time he has spoken on the topic. During his 2022 defamation hearing, the result of a Wall Street Journal op-ed by his ex-wife Amber Heard, he detailed how he had suffered in his childhood.
Highlights
- Johnny Depp opened up about his abusive late mother, Betty Sue Palmer.
- He credits his trauma for shaping his parenting style, claiming her cruelty taught him "how not to raise kids."
- Public reaction to Depp's revelations is divided, with some expressing sympathy while others question his accountability.
More recently, in an interview with the United Kingdom’s The Telegraph, he claimed that he was actually thankful for it as the experience affected his own approach to childrearing.
Johnny Depp says his mother was unpredictable and cruel
Image credits: Consolidated News Pictures/Getty
The world first heard the details of Depp’s relationship with his mother, Palmer, during the 2022 multimillion-dollar lawsuit—which, ironically, also stemmed from abuse allegations.
“She could become quite violent and she was quite violent, and she was quite cruel,” he said.
But most damaging, the actor claimed, was the verbal ab*se
Image credits: Ron Galella, Ltd/Getty
Depp went on to say that his mother was indiscriminate in her methods.
“And though there was physical abuse, certainly, which could be in the form of an ashtray being flung at you, hitting you in the head, or you’d get beat with a high-heel shoe or a telephone or whatever’s handy,” he said.
But the mistreatment went beyond physical. “The verbal abuse, the psychological abuse, was almost worse than the beatings.”
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“The beatings were just physical pain. The physical pain, you learn to deal with. You learn to accept it. You learn to deal with it,” he noted.
Depp blames Palmer for his substance overuse issues
He blamed his substance ab*se issues—which became a talking point at the trial—on his unpleasant childhood, claiming that he started out pinching his mother’s nerve medication from the age of 11 “to escape feeling so much.”
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Although the dr*gs varied, the trend continued into his adulthood.
He claimed that it was never for “a party effect” but rather “for trying to numb the things inside that can plague someone [who has] experienced trauma.”
“[It’s] a pretty young age to do that, I can’t say that I’m proud of admitting to that but I have to say that I knew not what else to do,” he added.
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Depp explained that his childhood home life was anything but a safe place and that “the only thing that one could do, really, was to try to stay out of the line of fire.”
He claims that he started using from the age of 11
These experiences, he said, impacted his approach to raising his offspring.
The actor, who is the father of two (Lily-Rose, 26, and Jack, 23) with his ex-wife Vanessa Paradis, repeated his childhood experiences in The Daily Telegraph on July 5, saying:
Image credits: Crave
“She beat me with a f*cking stick, a f*cking shoe, an ashtray, a phone, it didn't matter, man. But I thank her for that.”
The reason for his appreciation for this sordid story, he explained, stemmed from the fact that his mother “taught me how not to raise kids.” His key takeaway was “just do the exact opposite of what she did.”
Social media wants to know, “At which point does he become accountable?”
Image credits: WarnerBros / New Line Cinema
“I don't think it's right to bring down a parent on social media, no matter what,” wrote one person.
Another showed similar sentiments when they commented on a picture of him and his mother, saying, “but you were still there for her.”
Image credits: johnnydepp
One netizen blamed Depp’s upbringing for his and Heard’s failed relationship.
“Manipulative Narcissists do their homework and know how to identify guys who pretend [to be] tough but are nursing deep traumatic wounds within,” they wrote.
But not everyone bought into the actor blaming his mother, and one critic asked, “at which point does he become accountable?”
The internet is sympathizing with Depp
