Johnny Depp Returns to Classic Rock Cosplay After Amber Heard Trial, Preps New Album With Jeff Beck

Jon Blistein
·2 min read
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Britain Johnny Depp - Credit: AP
Britain Johnny Depp - Credit: AP
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Johnny Depp is going back to indulging his classic rocker fantasies. After winning in his contentious defamation suit against ex-wife Amber Heard, the musician made a cameo at Jeff Beck’s concert in Gateshead, England, where the guitarist said his new album with Depp would arrive this summer.

“I met this guy five years ago and we’ve never stopped laughing since,” Beck said during the concert (via fan shot video shared on YouTube). “We actually made an album. I don’t know how it happened. It will be out in July.”

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Beck didn’t give an exact release date for the album, nor share any details about what would be on it. A representative for the guitarist did not immediately return Rolling Stone’s request for comment. 

Following closing arguments in the Depp/Heard defamation trial last Friday, May 27, Depp returned to the U.K. and began joining Beck on stage. On Thursday night, he played guitar and/or sang on six songs, including his own unreleased song, reportedly titled “This a Song for Ms. Hedy Lamarr,” Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing,” and John Lennon’s “Isolation” (Beck and Depp released a studio version of the latter in 2020).

Depp’s appearance with Beck last night was his first since he prevailed on all three claims of his defamation suit against Heard. The actress, meanwhile, won just one of the three claims in her countersuit against Depp (he was awarded $15 million in damages, she $2 million). Depp had sued Heard over a 2018 op-ed for the Washington Post, in which she spoke about her experiences with domestic abuse, but did not name Depp. While both Heard and Depp had accused each other of abuse, the jury’s decision seemed to suggest they doubted Heard’s claims even as she presented photos of her injuries, video recordings of Depp’s meltdowns, and witness testimony corroborating her claims of abuse.

As such, the outcome has raised significant concerns among domestic abuse survivors and activists. “This is basically the end of MeToo,” Dr. Jessica Taylor, a psychologist, forensic psychology Ph.D., and author of two books on misogyny and abuse, told Rolling Stone. “It’s the death of the whole movement.”

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