“That’s Worse, Paul”: People Are Calling Out Paul Bettany’s Latest Defense Of That Horrifying Johnny Depp Text Conversation, In Which They Fantasied About Drowning, Burning, And Raping Amber Heard

Posted on Oct 20, 2026 UTC

Paul Bettany has opened up about his horrifying private text conversation with Johnny Depp — and what he had to say has not gone down well.

If you need a reminder, the controversial exchange was made public during Johnny’s libel case against the British tabloid the Sun back in 2020. The actor had sued the newspaper’s publisher after they called him a “wife beater” in a headline referencing his ex-wife Amber Heard’s testimony that he had abused her several times between 2013 and 2016.

However, the court ended up ruling in the Sun’s favor as they found the headline’s claim to be “substantially true.”

Part of the evidence presented to the British court included Johnny and Paul’s 2013 text messages, which started with Johnny writing: “Let’s burn Amber!!!!” To which Paul replied: “Having thought it through I don't think we should burn Amber- she's delightful company and easy on the eye, plus I'm not sure she's a witch. We could of course try the English course of action in these predicaments- we do a drowning test. Thoughts? N.B I have a pool.”

“Let's drown her before we burn her!!! I will fuck her her burnt corpse afterwards to make sure she is dead…” Johnny said in response, and Paul wrote back: “My thoughts entirely! Lets be CERTAIN before we pronounce her a witch.”

For reference, Paul and Johnny have starred in three movies together, the first being The Tourist in 2010, then Transcendence in 2014, and Mortdecai in 2015.

And Paul expressed his loyalty to Johnny amid all of Amber’s allegations. Per People, in 2016, he tweeted: “Known Johnny Depp for years and through several relationships. He's the sweetest, kindest, gentlest man that I've ever known. Just saying." In a follow-up tweet, he purportedly added: “All I'm saying-Domestic violence is a serious allegation. Trial by twitter is unhelpful. Let the facts come out before rushing to judgment." Paul has since deleted his X account.

The British actor first publicly discussed the controversial text exchange in an interview with the Independent back in 2021, where he said: “It was a strange moment. What was strange about it was you suddenly have one of the most scabrous newspapers in London and their lawyers pouring through your texts for the last 10 years. Can you imagine what it would be like, honestly, to have a bunch of lawyers go through every one of your emails and texts for 10 years? All I can tell you is that it was an unpleasant feeling.”

Then, in 2022, Paul lambasted the public criticism that came off the back of the texts as he suggested that the whole thing was taken out of context. After admitting to the Times of London that the situation was pretty “embarrassing,” Paul said: “We live in a world without context. I didn’t know Johnny when he was married to Amber. I knew him before. But we hadn’t spoken for years. During the marriage I didn’t know them. So I wasn’t around for any of that.”

“Anything that you say is oxygen for a fire,” he added at the time. “And there’s just no fucking fire. The only real way to deal with this elegantly is to say: I’m not sure there’s anybody who has one of these devices [a smartphone] that would feel comfortable having a team of lawyers scour their private text messages.”

And now, Paul has opened up some more while promoting his TV show VisionQuest in a new interview with the Times of London — and the 55-year-old star appeared keen to distance himself from Johnny even more.

He said: “I hadn’t spoken to Johnny in years when that happened and I haven’t spoken to him since. I was being painted as this close friend of a guy I hadn’t spoken to in years and, honestly, amid all the shit two celebrities threw at each other, that bit was the most odd.”

“So I decided to say nothing because, I think, people know me. I’ve been married 23 years and, for what I do, I live an incredibly quiet life. Everybody kind of thought this is probably a nothing burger – and left it alone,” Paul concluded.

But these comments have left a pretty bad taste in people’s mouths, with many keen to note that even if he wasn’t close with Johnny at the time of the trial, the text exchange suggests that they certainly were when the conversation took place — and time does not negate the weight of the messages. One viral tweet reads: “so you're not close friends, you just joke about brutalising women with anyone? that's worse, paul.”

“so you don’t even have to be close with someone to laugh with them about murdering their wife and raping her corpse, good to know,” another adds. Somebody else noted: “I would be way more inclined to believe this if he weren’t on here like immediately after amber’s initial statement that he was abusive being like ‘she’s lying, I’m super close w johnny and I’ve been to his private island and he’s a good guy.’”

One more asked: “You were friends with Depp when you wrote those texts. Why don’t you just apologize?” Another sarcastically wrote: “‘I can excuse my text messages fantasizing about drowning and raping a woman with Depp but I draw the line at being considered close friends with him.’”

As I’m sure you know, after the Sun lawsuit, Johnny sued Amber for defamation as he claimed that she had falsely implied he was abusive toward her in her 2018 Washington Post op-ed. What followed was arguably one of the most highly publicized — and depressing — celebrity trials of all time, and the jury ultimately ended up ruling in Johnny’s favor.

What are your thoughts on Paul’s latest comments? Let me know down below.

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