Lily-Rose Depp defends her silence on Johnny Depp and Amber Heard trial
Lily-Rose Depp maintained her silence during dad Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s trial — and she plans to keep it that way.
“When it’s something that’s so private and so personal that all of a sudden becomes not so personal … I feel really entitled to my secret garden of thoughts,” the actress said in her December 2022/January 2023 Elle cover story, published Wednesday.
Lily-Rose, 23, noted that she is “not here to answer for anybody,” saying she wants to be “defined” by her own merit.
“I feel like for a lot of my career, people have really wanted to define me by the men in my life, whether that’s my family members or my boyfriends, whatever,” she explained. “And I’m really ready to be defined for the things that I put out there.”
Johnny, 59, was married to Heard, 36, from 2015 to 2017. Two years after their divorce was finalized, the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star sued the “Aquaman” actress for defamation over an op-ed she wrote about sexual violence. She filed a counterclaim in 2020.
The former couple’s trial kicked off in April and ended in June, with Heard being found guilty of all three defamation claims.
The following month, the “Stand” star requested a Virginia judge toss the verdict, claiming in a 43-page motion that the evidence did not hold up.
While Lily-Rose was criticized on social media for not speaking out during the trial, many of her fans came to her defense at the time.
“She doesn’t owe you ANYTHING and she doesn’t need to do ANYTHING… stop harassing her,” one Instagram user wrote in May.
“Ignore the hate love. … Not everything has to be public,” another added.
The model broke her social media silence that same month while celebrating her birthday with an Instagram post simply captioned, “🍦23🍧🌸!”
Although Lily-Rose continued to remain neutral in her Elle interview, she did open up about being raised by Johnny and her mother, Vanessa Paradis.
“I know my childhood didn’t look like everybody’s childhood, and it’s a very particular thing to deal with, but it’s also the only thing that I know,” she told the magazine.
“My parents protected my brother, [Jack], and me from it as much as possible. I’ve just been raised in a manner that has taught me that privacy is something that’s important to protect.”