Entertainment · Celebrity · 2 hrs ago
Paul Bettany says he has not spoken to Johnny Depp since 2020
Paul Bettany says he has not spoken to Johnny Depp since their texts became public.
The actors’ messages surfaced in 2020 during Depp’s UK libel case against the publisher of The Sun.
Depp had sued over a 2018 headline calling him a “wife-beater”; the court ruled the claim was substantially true.
In messages sent in 2013, the two made violent remarks about Depp’s then-wife, Amber Heard.
Bettany says he had not spoken to Depp for years when the messages came out and felt he was wrongly portrayed as a close friend.
He says he chose not to comment at the time and has since kept his distance from Depp.
Bettany is now appearing in the Marvel series VisionQuest, but no further action related to the texts is described.
Paul Bettany says he has not spoken to Johnny Depp since their private texts became public.
Bettany said he had not spoken to Depp for years when the messages surfaced during Depp’s 2020 libel case against The Sun.
He said he was misrepresented as a close friend of Depp.
The messages, sent in 2013, included violent remarks about Amber Heard.
Depp lost the libel case, with the court finding that claims in The Sun’s story were substantially true.
- Who
- Paul Bettany and Johnny Depp.
- What
- Bettany says he has not spoken to Depp since their private texts became public and says he was misrepresented as Depp’s close friend.
- When
- Bettany made the comments in an interview published in October 2026. The texts were sent in 2013 and made public during Depp’s 2020 case.
- Where
- The texts were used in Depp’s libel case against The Sun in the UK.
- Why
- Bettany was responding to attention around the texts and his portrayal as Depp’s close friend.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Depp and Bettany exchanged private texts about Amber Heard.
The texts were used as evidence in Depp’s libel case against The Sun.
Bettany discussed the messages in an interview with The Independent.
Bettany said in an interview that he had not spoken to Depp since the texts became public.
- Text exchange
- Sent in 2013
- Libel case
- Depp sued The Sun in 2020
- Court finding
- The Sun’s story was found substantially true
- Bettany’s statement
- He said he has not spoken to Depp since the texts became public
- Films together
- The Tourist, Transcendence and Mortdecai
3 sources
What people are saying
I hadn’t spoken to Johnny in years when that happened, and I haven’t spoken to him since.
I was being painted as this close friend of a guy I hadn’t spoken to in years
All I can tell you is that it was an unpleasant feeling.