Johnny Depp Shares About Life in Rural England and Being "Shy" During Rare Interview

This pirate has docked his ship on the other side of the pond.

Johnny Depp recently shared a little taste of his life in Somerset, a rural part of England where he has been living. The Pirates of the Caribbean actor noted that the Southwest England county is a place that provides him with a life that is more out of the limelight.

"I can go into shops without being surrounded by people wanting selfies. I don't mind that up to a point, but sometimes it gets a little too crowded," Depp told Somerset Life magazine for their April issue, per People. "I don't mind if people want an autograph or a brief chat but not when I am having some private time with my family. British people are cool and will greet you as if you are a neighbor without going over the top."

While Depp is no stranger to receiving attention from fans, he shared that he isn't the extrovert one may assume him to be.

"In truth, I'm quite a shy person," he said. "That's one of the great things about Britain, and especially Somerset. I can just be me—and that's nice." 

Reflecting on all of his properties, Depp noted that his homes all serve a purpose.

"I just love places with character. I have various houses in various places and they all mean something special to me," he said. "I don't have them just to say I own them, I have them for use and because they are a bit special."

Per Metro, Depp purchased the £13 million property, which features 12 bedrooms and eight bathrooms, in 2014.

That same year, the actor got engaged to Amber Heard after meeting her on the set of their 2011 film The Rum Diary. Heard later filed for divorce from Depp in 2016.

In 2019, Depp filed a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against his ex-wife, after she wrote a 2018 op-ed for The Washington Post, where she referred to herself a "public figure representing domestic abuse."

Although the article never mentioned Depp by name, his attorneys previously said in court documents that the published piece "depends on the central premise that Ms. Heard was a domestic abuse victim and that Mr. Depp perpetrated domestic violence against her," and that she allegedly "concocted the story in hopes of generating positive publicity and to advance her career."

Heard, who filed a $100 million countersuit against her ex in 2020, and Depp went to trial over the matter in Virginia in 2022. After over six weeks of trial, a jury found Heard liable of defaming Depp in the 2018 op-ed.

Depp was awarded $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. The punitive damages were later reduced to the state's statutory cap of $350,000. 

In December of that year, Heard, who originally filed to appeal the verdict, announced that she "made a very difficult decision" to settle the defamation case.

"I defended my truth and in doing so my life as I knew it was destroyed," Heard wrote on Instagram at the time. "I make this decision having lost faith in the American legal system, where my unprotected testimony served as entertainment and social media fodder."

In response to her choice to settle, Depp's team issued a statement: "We are pleased to formally close the door on this painful chapter for Mr. Depp, who made clear throughout this process that his priority was about bringing the truth to light."