Amber Heard's ex-PI Paul Barresi says actress seized upon Johnny Depp's power to boost her career
Following the Amber Heard-Johnny Depp defamation case verdict announced on Wednesday, June 1, the 'Aquaman' actress’ former private investigator, Paul Barresi came out with a statement revealing that Heard used her ex-husband Depp to get ahead in Hollywood, among other claims. “Amber in some respects was an opportunist on par with everyone else,” the 74-year-old Hollywood fixer told the Daily Mail in the wake of the defamation case.
Heard, 36, had previously hired Barresi, as a private investigator from the very beginning of the trial to throw dirt on the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' star, according to the Daily Mail. "When Amber hired me, she wanted proof that Johnny was a serial abuser of women,” said Barresi. The celebrity investigator then went on to investigate nearly around 100 of Depp's former associates, who had collaborated with Depp in the films for the past three decades to gain information and evidence in an effort to incriminate the actor. However, despite all the efforts, Barresi failed to find evidence from any other women for domestic violence against Depp.
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Barresi's ensuing Depp dive, which included interviews with the 'Donnie Brasco' actor’s friends found that the A-lister was frequently preyed upon by so-called friends. The so-called friends persuaded the Jack Sparrow actor to foot the bill for everything from their rent to their house payments, cars, and even legal fees.
“Johnny was besieged by people who ingratiated themselves into his domain,” Barresi claimed. “Once they were there, they’d scratch his back with one hand while the other took in the feed.
“All of the people around him have been on the taking for so many years,” he added. Barresi revealed that among all, Depp's ex-wife Heard benefited from Depp the most. He said, “obviously knew his power in Hollywood and she seized upon that power in the hopes of furthering her career.”
Another name that Barresi revealed who took advantage of Depp was his childhood friend Isaac Baruch. “He’s the worst of all,” said Barresi. “He’s been living off Johnny his entire adult life. “At the end of the day, in Hollywood, it’s who you know and who’s pulling for you,” the Tinseltown detective further suggested. “Because for every part in a movie there are 2,000 people equally competent to handle that role", he added.
However, Barresi did not put all the blame on Heard and other opportunists. According to him while Depp was “king in the realm of entertainment,” he also presented an easy target for hucksters due to his “passive attitude.” Moreover, Depp had to suffer through a traumatic childhood and an early struggle that made him move from a small town in Kentucky to Hollywood. "He grew up to be a sensitive, fragile man,” Barresi claimed. “He didn’t have the role models to champion him.”
Reportedly, Depp had spent more than $2 million a month to fund his lavish lifestyle — of which $100,000 was spent on drug addiction doctors. “His ruin was in part by his own doing,” claimed Barresi, who said he “interviewed so many people who said there are many people who took advantage of Johnny.”
Barresi ultimately blamed Depp’s downfall on the “grifters, these wannabes, these freeloaders” who surrounded the actor. “They would insinuate into Johnny’s life,” Barresi claimed. “They would milk him for whatever he was worth — not so much materialistically or monetarily but emotionally. That’s what he’s lived with for decades,” he concluded.