Looking back. Johnny Depp has had several high-profile relationships and breakups throughout the years, which have remained poignant memories for many of his famous exes.
“The first big thing I acted in was Cheers – and my first love, little Johnny Depp, was waiting outside the door,” Sherilyn Fenn — who dated the Pirates of the Caribbean star between 1985 and 1998— told The Big Issue in September 2017. “I had to walk on and say three lines then leave. My body was shaking. I walked out to say my lines but I just wanted to run back into my boyfriend’s arms and run away.”
The Twin Peaks alum continued: “We were so young. I met him when I was 19 and he was 21. We went out for two-and-a-half years when we were just starting out in the business. He was very sweet. He was my first love.”
Upon Depp and Fenn’s eventual split, he moved on with the likes of Jennifer Grey, Kate Moss and Vanessa Paradis. The Kentucky native began dating Paradis in 1998, nearly 14 years before they announced their separation.
“Love is the strongest and most fragile thing we have in life,” the French model told Harper’s Bazaar in August 2012 amid the twosome’s split. “Nothing is ever for sure, but when something in love doesn’t work from the beginning, it’s never going to work. Don’t push it.”
Paradis, who shares daughter Lily-Rose and son Jack with the actor, further gushed about their initial connection. She continued to the outlet: “When you meet the love of your life, it’s just obvious and natural and easier. You keep learning all the time. Sometimes you could be in an unhappy relationship; you are very much in love with someone, but it’s making you unhappy and you think things can change and you can work it out.”
The Dark Shadows star later connected with Amber Heard on the set of 2009’s The Rum Diary. While the pair were married between 2015 and 2017, they have since been locked in a heated legal battle following their divorce proceedings. Depp sued the Texas native for defamation in response to a 2018 opinion article she penned for the Washington Post, in which she revealed that she was a survivor of domestic abuse. Though Heard did not name her former spouse in the op-ed, his team alleged there were parallels between Depp and the article’s claims.
“It’s not about Johnny. The only person who thinks it is about Johnny is Johnny,” the Aquaman actress said in her courtroom testimony in May 2022. “It’s about me and what happened to me.”
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support.
Scroll below to read what Depp’s exes have said about their relationships through the years: