Why I Don’t Support Johnny Depp
I am certain we know part of the story surrounding Johnny Depp right now. How his lawyer responded to Amber Heard’s accusations, claiming with photographs and written statements that she was the one being abusive, not Johnny Depp. How he lost part of a finger, that she lied about being punched, and the whole dirty mess.
As a survivor of domestic violence, I was inclined to believe Amber first. As more evidence came out, some switched sides, some felt Johnny was lying, and some essentially said both were bad, as both abused the other. I hung back, feeling uncertain. Why did Johnny wait so long? Putting aside the stigma of male victims, he could’ve counter-sued with what he had, and won the divorce.
So… I did some digging.
We knew Johnny Depp resurrected his career with Pirates of the Caribbean, with his fantastic but corny role as Captain Jack Sparrow. (Mustn’t forget the ‘Captain’!) We also remembered him as the broody hearthrob in the 1990s, as Edward Scissorhands.
However… did you know he did a great deal to cover up a dark past? It involved drugs, dealing and using, trafficking, deaths, and suspicious disappearances. Allow me to regal you, and provide the sources below.
Did you know that in 1993, he opened up a nightclub? He wanted to invest, with the highest percentage of ownership (51% in fact), and reopened it to call it The Viper Room. That nightclub existed on the site of the former The Melody Room, once owned by famous gangster Bugsy Siegel in the 1940s.
Does the club sound a bit familiar? If so, keep reading and be enlightened.
This was the very club the late actor, River Phoenix, died. He died of a drug overdoe at the club on October 31, 1993, just two months after Depp opened it.
Some sources, right after the club’s opening, claimed The Vipre Room quickly became a hub of illicit and illegal drug activities, with Depp at the center of it all. Phoenix, who visited for some fun, allegedly did a “speedball” of heroin and cocain, dissolved into a drink.
The cause of Phoenix’s death was “acute multiple drug intoxication”.
Dan Aykroyd, actor and friend of Phoenix, warned River not to do drugs or to associate with Depp or Depp’s friends. River chose not to listen. He paid for it with his life.
Supposedly, River’s fatal dose came from John Frusciante, the then-guitarist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Johnny Depp was also accused of giving River the drugs himself.
Frusciante would later speak about the night River died, whereas Flea would talk about his friendship with River.
Witnesses would report River and Frusciante coming to the nightclub high on drugs, and it was believed they would dabble in massive amounts of coke and heroin at Frusciante’s home.
River was to join Frusciante on the club’s stage, but Depp brushed him off.
At one point, cocaine was passed around. River began having seizures. Instead of calling for help, he was given a Valium to calm down. It was this cocktail of drugs that caused the overdose.
It was reported River was stumbling around, telling people he “didn’t feel good”, and saying rather incoherent staements. No one did anything, believing that he was just high and did “not seem that bad off”.
Depp allowed then-underage Joaquin Phoenix in the club that night. It was Joaquin who found his brother and called 9–1–1, watching his brother pass away.
With Joaquin and River was Samantha Mathis, River’s 23-year-old girlfriend and former co-star. She made a few statements as well.
The Final 24, a television show, would come out with a full documentary on River Phoenix’s death, covering the hours leading up to his passing. You can see an excerpt below.
River’s mother, Arlyn “Heart” Phoenix, published an open letter in the Los Angeles Times on her son’s life and death. She believed bad influences were the cause of Phoenix’s spiral into drugs and his death, implying Depp played a role.
According to an Vanity Fair article, Joaquin was hesitant in telling the EMTs that his brother took heavy drugs. The police wanted to talk to Joaquin and Rain about what occurred the next day — particularly about the drug scene at Depp’s Viper Room. But no chance was given, as Joaquin and Rain flew out to Florida right after the events.
Indeed, Samantha Mathis wouldn’t speak out about River for twenty-five years. She only spoke about it in 2018.
Then there was Johnny Depp’s relationship with Kate Moss, the very model who emphasized ‘heroin chic’. Moss was influenced by Johnny Depp to become a drug addict, and she would detail his volatile, drug-fueled mood swings.
The toxic relationship between Moss and Depp was emphasized by both’s heavy drug use. Moss was so insecure, she’d bug him everywhere, convinced he was cheating on her. Depp reportedly did drugs around her, and eventually, she fell down the drug hole as well.
Even after the death of River Phoenix, Depp’s club remained a hotbed for illegal drugs, junkies, and dealing. In early 1995, Autralian singer, Jason Donovan, suffered a drug-induced seizure at the club, but survived.
Depp was also a suspect in one of the partners’ of the club’s disappearances. Anthony Fox, who was having a legal battle against Depp for missing shares of profit, vanished — and fingers pointed at Depp. Fox was scheduled to testify shortly before his disapperance.
Fox’s case remained unsolved.
The court ordered Johnny Depp to turn his shares of The Viper Club over to Fox’s daughter, because he was actively hiding profits and defrauding Fox.
During this time, Depp’s activities grew increasingly suspicious and sketchy. Depp left the United States and moved to France, where he stayed for approximately a year after Fox vanished.
In 2018, twenty-five years after River Phoenix overdosed in his club, Johnny Depp finally agreed to give an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, breaking his silence on River Phoenix’s death. He was also in the midst of settling yet another, $25 million fraud dispute with his former business managers.
During the interview, he was clearly using drugs, mainly marijuana, and heavily intoxicated. He had and still has a history of alcohlism. This alone demonstrated his history of major drug use and encouraging drug addiction in others, such as Kate Moss implied in her story.
Does this mean he’s innocent or guilty of his abuse with Amber Heard? I say it’s neither, but it demonstrates he’s not purely clean as many of his defenders want to say.
I, for one, believe that both were abusive to each other. Amber likely struck back when Depp began hitting her, or verbally abusing her. It’s not the ideal way to deal with an abuser, but I do not wholly believe Johnny is innocent. He’s an addict and an alcoholic, a bad setting for any volatile situation.
