Hollywood heartthrob Johnny Depp took in hundreds of millions of dollars as Captain Jack Sparrow in Walt Disney Co.’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise and other movies, but not enough to pay for his own swashbuckling lifestyle.
The 54-year-old actor’s financial implosion is at the heart of the lawsuit Depp brought against his former business manager, seeking $25 million in damages for negligence and mismanagement, that provides a rare glimpse into the dealings between megastars and those they entrust with running their business and private life.
A preliminary skirmish is scheduled for Monday in Los Angeles, where Depp’s lawyers will ask a state judge to throw out counterclaims by the Management Group that it isn’t to blame for his extravagant spending. The management company Depp fired last year alleges the actor repeatedly ignored its warnings that his $2-million-a-month lifestyle, including $30,000 just for wine, wasn’t sustainable.
"When Depp was confronted by TMG or any of his other advisers about his spending, he most often engaged in profanity-laced tirades where he abused the professionals surrounding him and claimed that he would work harder to afford whatever new item he wanted to purchase," the company said in a court filing.
Bahamas Islands
The items Depp wanted -- and paid for -- included a 45-acre chateau in the South of France, a chain of islands in the Bahamas, a 150-foot luxury yacht, art works by Andy Warhol and Gustav Klimt, 70 collectible guitars, 40 full-time employees around the world and a specially made cannon that he used to blast the ashes of Hunter Thompson over Aspen, Colorado, according to his former business managers.
Depp has argued that the litany of big-ticket purchases is "an improper, retaliatory effort" to publicly attack him and distract from the Management Group’s wrongdoing.
The Beverly Hills-based company, headed by brothers Joel and Robert Mandel, received 5 percent of Depp’s gross income, or about $28 million over 17 years, to manage almost every aspect of his personal and business life, including paying his bills, arranging travel, buying and selling properties, and handling his taxes.
The company had on average four full-time employees working on Depp-related matters and at times as many as 12, the Management Group said.
Unlike the talent agents and entertainment lawyers whose services Hollywood stars rely on, business managers aren’t regulated, which creates a greater risk of conflicts of interest, improper behavior and disputes ending up in court, said Devin McRae, a lawyer with Early Sullivan Wright Gizer & McRae LLP, who has represented celebrities including Shannen Doherty in lawsuits with their business managers.