‘A bit dark, a bit confusing’: Johnny Depp sells copies of self-portrait ‘Five’

Actor-turned-artist Johnny Depp is selling his self-portrait.

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Depp started painting the portrait titled “Five” in 2021 while he was engaging in a multi-courtroom battle with his former wife Amber Heard, USA Today reported.

“It was created at a time that was, let’s say, a bit dark, a bit confusing,” Depp said in a video promoting the sale, according to the publication. “Essentially, I just wrote ‘Five’ on there because I was just about to enter the fifth year of the madness.”

Heard had filed for divorce in May 2016, asking for a temporary restraining order. In 2022, Depp claimed libel against his ex after she referred to herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse” in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed article. A jury in Virginia determined that she had defamed him and awarded Depp $15 million in damages. A countersuit found that Depp also defamed Heard, awarding her $2 million, USA Today reported.

There was also a lawsuit in the U.K. that found that a tabloid article calling the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star “a wife beater” was “substantially true.” After that ruling several high-profile projects dropped Depp as their star, but one company stood by the actor.

He said in the video about the painting that the image was based on a photo he did for Dior for its Sauvage campaign with Jean-Baptiste Mondino.

In addition to the hash mark five, the image also includes a mark that he calls “The Bunny Man” which was inspired by a nightmare his now 21-year-old son Jack had when he was 5.

“The Bunny Man can be interpreted as a fearsome vision. But look closer, he can also be seen as an inseparable friend, even a shamanic warrior at the doorway between reality and imagination. Johnny sees him as powerfully standing with a sword of truth, guarding the heart, and delivering through all adversity where, above all, The Bunnyman becomes whoever he needs to be,” Depp’s NFT art organization, Never Fear Truth, said, according to Forbes.

“Johnny realised this iconic figure on a large canvas, and it has since come to symbolise both him and his work. As such it is being registered as a global trademark. Where The Bunny Man appears with Johnny’s initials it represents an additional guarantee of authenticity beyond his handwritten signature.”

Signed prints of the painting will cost $1,950 and will be sold for a total of 13 days by Castle Fine Art, the same gallery that held Depp’s first collection, portraits he had painted of “Friends & Heroes.” The timeframe for the sale is based on Depp’s favorite number, 13, which he has a tattoo of, Forbes reported.

A portion of the proceeds, $200, will go to the non-profit Mental Health America. A framed version will cost $2,750, Forbes reported. Along with Depp’s signature, the print will be embossed with the Bunny Man image to confirm its authenticity.

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