As Paul Bettany brings the “WandaVision” trilogy to a close in “VisionQuest,” the longtime Marvel Cinematic Universe star has responded to a past controversy involving the trial of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard.
Bettany, who was caught in a text exchange with the former “Pirates of the Caribbean” star during Depp’s 2020 libel case against The Sun, spoke to The Times about his career Thursday following the premiere of “VisionQuest.” In the interview, Bettany sought to distance himself from Depp, claiming he had been misrepresented as a close acquaintance of his “The Tourist,” “Transcendence” and “Mortdecai” co-star.
“It was a very interesting time,” Bettany said. “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 and, honestly, amid all the s–t two celebrities threw at each other, that bit was the most odd.”
Bettany, who has had a relatively “controversy-light career,” as The Times noted, said he chose to say nothing at the time. In the years since the trial, he has spoken about the incident, telling The Independent that “it was an unpleasant feeling” to have his texts and emails from a 10-year period scoured over.
“I decided to say nothing because, I think, people know me,” Bettany told The Times on Thursday. “I’ve been married 23 years and, for what I do, I live an incredibly quiet life. Everybody kind of thought this is probably a nothing burger — and left it alone.”
The texts were shared in court when Depp sued The Sun for libel over a story that called him a “wife-beater” (Depp lost the case, with the judge finding evidence of 12 episodes of domestic violence and ruling the story “substantially true”). In the exchange, Depp says, “Lets burn Amber,” to which Bettany replies, “Having thought it through I don’t think we should burn Amber- she’s delightful company and easy on the eye, plus I’m not sure she’s a witch. We could of course try the English course of action in these predicaments- we do a drowning test. Thoughts? N.B I have a pool.”
“Let’s drown her before we burn her!!!” Depp replied. “I will f–k her burnt corpse afterwards to make sure she is dead…”
“My thoughts entirely!” Bettany responded. “Lets be CERTAIN before we pronounce her a witch.”
