With a nasty divorce behind him, and a new management team handling his shaky finances, Johnny Depp is finally getting his life back to normal.
“He is taking work seriously and seems healthy,” a source close to the actor tells WHO's sister publication PEOPLE. “He spends time with his kids and is dating a bit.”
Depp and Heard became embroiled in a nasty court battle last May, when the actress filed to end her 15-month marriage to Depp and accused him of domestic abuse. The divorce was finalized in January, with Depp paying Heard a $7 million settlement.
Since the split, Depp, who returns to the screen on May 26 in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, appears revitalised. He’s “doing much better,” says the source, adding, “He’s more focused and happier.”
Just as the divorce was being finalised, Depp filed a lawsuit against his former business managers at TMG, alleging fraud among several other claims.
In the firm’s counterclaim, TMG claimed Depp has been unable to control his spending. Although he earned more than $650 million over the past 13 years, TMG claimed the actor had depleted his fortune with ill-advised purchases.
Expenditures like his $18 million yacht, the $30,000 he spends a month on fine wine and the $3 million he spent to shoot the ashes of his late friend Hunter S. Thompson out of a cannon, were outlined in TMG’s legal documents. The firm claimed Depp’s business managers advised him that his $2 million monthly expenses were unsustainable.
Depp is claiming that TMG mismanaged his wealth, and his lawyer Adam Waldman has argued that some of those expenses, like the $75 million in real estate he owns around the world, are actually lucrative investments.
But with new business managers taking charge of his finances, and with the lawsuit firmly in the hands of his legal team, Depp is focusing on his kids and his work.
His upcoming projects include a new movie version of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, out in November; the crime drama LAbyrinth; the sequel to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them; and a recently announced dark comedy about cyber security mogul John McAfee. He’s also writing new music, according to Waldman.
