Johnny Depp Moving To Russia?

5:00 pm, December 12, 2020

Johnny Depp smiling in a blue suit and white shirt against a blue background — (Denis Makarenko/Shutterstock.com)

Twelve months ago, one tabloid claimed that Johnny Depp was moving to Russia so he could start a new life. The Pirates of the Caribbean star has been in the news constantly this year, so Gossip Cop is taking a look back to see if he really did spend his quarantine as far from Hollywood as possible. Here’s what we found.

‘Pirate Johnny Weighs Anchor’

The Globe reported that Depp was “feeling totally cursed right now.” He apparently realized that “he’s just not cut out for life in America anymore and it makes a heap of sense to head somewhere like Russia or another part of Europe, where he can get away from his money troubles and make a brand-new start.” Depp was in money trouble because of the then-ongoing lawsuit against this wife, as well as a suit against his former legal team over malpractice.

Gossip Cop busted this story at the time because it essentially came out of thin air. Depp was the one who sued Heard, so if he was really “utterly fed up” as the tabloid said, then he could simply drop the lawsuit. We also checked in with a source close to the Ed Wood star, who confirmed the story was fabricated. Depp also has a large amount of property around the world in places like France and the Bahamas, but nothing in or close to Russia.

So Did He Go To Russia?

Nope! He also didn’t drop the lawsuits either. Depp spent his year bouncing between Los Angeles and London where his lawsuit against The Sun was taking place. Depp lost that trial and was in turn asked not to return to the Fantastic Beasts franchise. He’s not strapped for cash though, as he’ll still get paid for the movie anyway. This tabloid pulled Russia out of nowhere as simply somewhere far from Hollywood, but there was no rhyme or reason beyond the distance.

Other Bogus Tales

This is the same tabloid that said Depp would be dead by Christmas last year. He’s still alive, so it’s pretty clear you can’t trust the Globe when it comes to stories about Depp. In another story about a star being rejected by Hollywood, this tabloid claimed that Jim Carrey was a “tinseltown reject” who was becoming an outcast. Carrey has largely chosen to step away from the red carpet scene, but you can still catch him on Saturday Night Live frequently enough, so he’s hardly the pariah this tabloid made him out to be.

This tabloid also reported that George Clooney was fleeing Amal simply because he was photographed in a car. The two aren’t having marital problems. It’s pretty clear that this tabloid likes the promote the narrative that people are fleeing Hollywood or are outcasts, but this is not telling the whole truth. While Depp has remained in the public eye for almost exclusively negative reasons, this doesn’t mean he’s about to flee to Russia.