jury in Johnny Depp–amber heard In Thursday’s defamation trial, the actor’s former agent and former business manager described the collapse of his reputation and finances when he was fired in 2016.
Tracey Jacobs, who has represented Depp’s UTA since the 1990s, explained how the star came to the agency in early 2016 and asked for $20 million.
In pre-recorded video testimony played for the jury, Heard’s attorney asked Jacobs, “So Mr. Depp came in and said, ‘I want you to get $20 million for me?'”
“It’s actually, ‘I want you to give me 20 million,'” Jacobs said. “This question is not being raised as a loan.”
Jacobs said UTA partners Jim Bercus and Jeremy Zimmer, who were in attendance, told Depp, “We can’t give our clients that kind of money. We’re not a bank.”
But Jacobs said Depp felt the agency should give him money, given the length of time they represented him.
Later, Depp’s former business manager Joel Mandel described how Depp’s personal wealth exploded in the early 2000s, but things started to change around 2010. Mandel said Depp’s spending “has become very large” and that it has become “unsustainable” when his income falls.
Mandel said he had “constant” conversations with Depp about reining in spending, but “it never seemed to happen”.
By 2015, Mandel’s situation had become so alarming that Depp couldn’t pay his taxes. He said Depp rejected a proposal that he sell a property in the south of France.
Depp fired Mandel in late 2016 and then sued the business management firm for $25 million. The lawsuit was settled in 2018.
In his testimony, Mandel denied that he ever stole or embezzled any money, or received any money other than fees from the actor.
Jacobs testified that they were able to get a loan for Depp through Bank of America. “It helped him a lot.”
By the time Depp dropped UTA in 2016, Jacobs said his reputation for being late on set made it harder for him to get a job. “His star has dimmed because of his reputation for being late and other things, it’s harder to get a job,” she said.
She said “other things” included questions about his drug and alcohol use. She said she asked Depp to meet Dr. David Kipper, whose approach helped other high-profile individuals sober up.
“People are talking and the problem is his behavior,” she said.
Depp sued Heard after publishing a Washington Post op-ed in December 2018 in which she said she wrote that she had “become a public figure representing domestic abuse.”In his $50 million lawsuit, Depp claims the article tarnished his reputation and cost him high-paying roles like Next Pirates of the Caribbean Movie.
Heard’s legal team argued that Depp’s reputation had been tarnished before that, due to his late arrivals on set and a life of alcohol and drug addiction.
Jacobs says Depp gets paid $25 million, plus back end pirate 5, But she can’t recall whether there were any negotiations to get him to appear in the next movie franchise.She said they were still there for him Murder on the Orient Expressof which he will be paid $5 million for four consecutive weeks of work, plus a portion of the back end.
Jacobs said that despite Depp’s anger issues, she said she never saw Depp hit a woman or throw anything at a woman. Depp has denied Heard’s allegations of domestic abuse.
Jacobs represented Depp first at ICM and then at UTA. She described how Depp’s career flourished and he became “the biggest star in the world”. But she said her work became more “complex” during her last 10 years of acting as he started “late to almost every movie”.
“I would be scolded by the studio,” she said. “I never said to him, ‘You are a tough client.’ I never used those words, but I was honest with him. I said, ‘You have to stop doing this. It hurts you, and it does in this way.”
She said she went to Australia twice, where Pirates 5 The film is in production due to Depp’s late complaints. Asked about one of the reasons Depp dropped her as an agent – her interests were “different than when we first started” – Jacobs denied she had a conflict and said she was never represented by Mandel.
Hurd’s lawyer asked Jacobs: “What do you think his reputation is today?”
“His lawsuit didn’t help. It’s endless,” Jacobs said, before adding that she didn’t know because “I’m not going to sell him out there.”
