Johnny Depp has revealed disturbing details about the physical abuse he endured as a child at the hands of his late mother, Betty Sue Palmer.

The 62-year-old actor opened up about his traumatic childhood in a July 5 interview with The Telegraph, describing how his mother would beat him with whatever objects were within reach.

"She beat me with a f—ing stick, a f—ing shoe, an ashtray, a phone, it didn't matter, man," Depp told the publication. "But I thank her for that. She taught me how not to raise kids. Just do the exact opposite of what she did."

Depp's revelations about his childhood abuse first came to light during his highly publicized defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard in 2022. During his testimony, he described Betty Sue Palmer as "violent" and "cruel," stating that he "tried to stay out of the line of fire" when it came to his mother. The actor explained that Palmer would hit her children in their heads and had "the ability to be as cruel as anyone can be."

The violence Palmer inflicted included throwing various household items at her children. Depp testified that "an ashtray" could be "flung at you," and she would use "a high-heeled shoe or a telephone or whatever was handy" to strike them. He also described how his mother would verbally abuse the family, calling him "one-eye" because he wore an eyepatch to correct a lazy eye condition as a child.

Depp's sister, Christi Dembrowski, corroborated his accounts of their abusive childhood when she testified during the 2022 trial. She described their mother as "high strung, nervous," and often "angry" in ways that boiled over into violence. Dembrowski testified that Palmer would "hit us" and "throw things," and that both siblings made a pact never to repeat their childhood experiences in their own homes.

Betty Sue Palmer died in May 2016 at age 81 after a long illness, just days before Heard filed for divorce from Depp.

Depp shares daughter Lily-Rose, 26, and son Jack, 23, with ex-partner Vanessa Paradis.

Tags
Johnny Depp, Actor, Hollywood, Child abuse, Mother