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First his looks went, now is £35m of his fortune set to follow? Drink, furious rows and why Amber Heard is divorcing Johnny Depp three days after his beloved mother died
Much has been made of Johnny Depp’s recent physical disintegration — the puffy cheeks, receding hair, expanding waist and yellowed teeth.
And in recent public appearances he has been shambling and apparently confused, too.
Yet his physical state may soon be the least of his worries as his lawyers gear up for a divorce battle with his wife of 15 months, Amber Heard.
Indeed, those acquainted with the inside of this fractious marriage say the American actress has such a wealth of damaging information about Depp that his only possible course now is to open his wallet — and fast.
‘This is potentially going to be an awful split,’ says one Hollywood insider. ‘Amber is already playing this shrewdly, and she has a lot that she can say.’
Among the reasons she might cite for launching divorce proceedings — just three days after his mother died — might be Depp’s apparently heavy fall off the wagon in recent years, and a number of what appeared to be drunken public appearances.
Already there is evidence of Heard beginning a PR campaign with a story planted in the celebrity magazine People, which asserted yesterday that she had ‘cold feet’ even during their engagement party.
It seems her people are trying to paint the brief and stormy marriage, which began in February last year, as a mistake on her part. The couple are reported not to have signed a pre-nuptial agreement. And Heard has already asked for ‘spousal support’ in her divorce papers — in other words, enough money to allow her to maintain the lifestyle she has enjoyed married to one of the biggest stars in the world.
Just to rub it in, she has also asked that he pay her legal bills. Depp’s lawyer is fighting all this tooth and nail. And given that his lawyer is the indomitable Laura Wasser — who has acted in divorces for Angelina Jolie, Britney Spears and Kim Kardashian — Miss Heard has quite a fight on her hands.
The actor will surely not forgive the fact that his wife has launched these proceedings so soon after the death of his mother, Betty Sue Palmer, at the age of 81. He was so close to her that he had her name tattoed inside a heart on his left arm.
It has been claimed that his relationship with Heard further deteriorated after he moved his ailing mother into their Los Angeles compound.
It is thought that his wife, a former model whose journey out of the small time was accelerated by her affair with the A-list actor, will end up with between £10 million and £35 million — a sizeable dent in Depp’s £270 million fortune.
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