The one-time private investigator hired by Amber Heard‘s legal team to dig up dirt on Johnny Depp admits he was stunned at the amount of unwavering support towards the actor while he had been facing abuse allegations.
In his new self-published book, Johnny Depp’s Accidental Fixer, released on July 5, Paul Barresi, 74, recalls interviewing 100 people ahead of Depp’s libel trials against his ex-wife, only to find that the majority were still on the star’s side.
They described Depp as a ‘gentleman’s gentleman’ and as someone who ‘doesn’t have a mean bone in his body’, despite the disturbing accusations that had been leveled against him.
Friends of the Pirates of the Caribbean star also told Barresi that Depp had ‘respect and adoration for women’ – in contrast to Heard’s claims that he was physically and mentally abusive.
But according to Barresi, a former adult film actor turned P.I. and Hollywood fixer whose previous clients include Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Cruise and Sylvester Stallone, he had embarked on an ‘unwavering quest for the truth’ about Depp, even if the findings were not what Heard’s lawyers wanted.
Barresi, who lost his private investigator’s license in 2012 for faking a report, was first hired by Heard’s team in July 2019 to turn up information that could be useful against Depp, ahead of both defamation trials in the UK and the US.
Depp ultimately lost the 2020 libel case heard at the High Court in London against a UK newspaper which had branded him a ‘wife-beater’, with a judge ruling he had put Heard in fear of her life.
But back in the US, a second libel trial in Virginia against Heard ruled in Depp’s favor, with a jury awarding him a total of $15million – $10million in compensation and $5million in punitive damages.
Barresi does not specify which case he was working on, only that he was given the instructions to ‘delve into the life and history of Johnny Depp and uncover evidence of his alleged physical abuse towards women’.
He was told to dig up witness statements, videos, photos or anything else that could substantiate Heard’s claims against Depp.
But once Barresi began speaking to Depp’s associates, he found that the picture was more positive than Heard’s lawyers had hoped for.
Brad Furman, the director of 2018 crime thriller City of Lies, was among those who disputed some of the allegations that had been leveled against Depp over the years.
The Hollywood star was sued in an unrelated case for assault, by the film’s location manager Gregg Brooks in 2017.
The crew member claimed Depp had become violent with him on the set of the movie.
Brooks’s personal assistant Miguel Guittierrez backed him up and said Depp offered Brooks $100,000 to punch him in the face and then punched Brooks twice in the lower torso.
Click here to resize this module
But Furman disagreed with this and told Barresi the fight didn’t get physical and Depp has ‘always been delightful’.
A set production assistants also said Depp was ‘lovely’ and a retired LAPD officer who was working on the film said the fight was ‘trivial’ in his view.
When Barresi suggested that Depp was violent, model and actress Carre Otis scoffed at the idea and said it was ‘ridiculous’, he writes in the book.
Former child star Olivia Barash, who worked at famed Hollywood nightclub, The Viper Room, which Depp owned in the 1990s, echoed those sentiments, claiming ‘Johnny doesn’t have a mean bone in his body’.
Richmond Arquette, of the Arquette acting clan, who worked at the Viper Room too, called Depp ‘a gentleman’s gentleman’.
Barresi widened his net and spoke with others who had known Depp for years.
They included the singer Chuck Weiss who said: ‘In my presence, Johnny has always demonstrated respect and adoration for women’.
Journalist Seven McDonald rebuffed Barresi’s efforts to dig up dirt on Depp, saying she never knew the actor to be threatening.
She said: ‘I don’t think I can help you. Johnny is a sweet man. I’ve never seen him be violent – in fact, just the opposite. Johnny Depp is the type who would crawl down a drainpipe to save a kitten from drowning’.
Perhaps the most forthright to defend Depp was tattoo artist Jonathan Shaw, a close friend of the actor.
He told Barresi: ‘Johnny is super controlled, and a superhuman being.
‘The only thing I would be willing to help that gold- digging w***e (Heard) do is help load the gun she wanted to use to blow her f****** brains out’.
Barresi does include some unflattering accounts of Depp.
Journalist Mark Ebner recounted how Depp threatened to ‘set (him) on fire’ during an encounter at the Viper Room which even Barresi says was a ‘chilling preclude’ to Depp’s now infamous text to his actor buddy Paul Bettany about burning Heard, a detail that came out at the trial in Virginia.
The ex-wife of Depp’s close buddy Isaac Baruch said that Baruch was a ‘manipulator’ and that he and Depp are ‘birds of a feather’.
But overall Barresi came away with admiration for Depp and said he felt a ‘deep empathy for his struggles and triumphs’.
His research allowed Barresi to understand the ‘complexities of his character’, he writes.
Barresi writes: ‘Through this journey, I aimed to honor our shared humanity, shedding light on the man behind the myths and offering a narrative grounded in genuine understanding and compassion.’
