Sharon Osbourne has weighed in on Johnny Depp’s high-profile “wife beater” trial, saying on CBS’ “The Talk” that Depp and his ex-wife Amber Heard were “as bad as each other” and that she could understand the pair’s relationship because she once had a similar dynamic with her husband, Ozzy.
“Do you know what I think,” she said. “It takes two to tango. I think that they had a very vulnerable relationship. I think they’re both as bad as each other. She gave him as good as she got — it wasn’t just like a little mouse in the corner being battered. She gave him back, and I think that they were both drinking.”
Osbourne added: “I don’t know what they were using. I have no idea who was doing what, but I know they were both drinking, and it’s a volatile relationship. I had a relationship like that with my husband at one time. I would give him what he gave me.”
Osbourne’s comments came after Johnny Depp lost his high-profile libel case against the publishers of the British newspaper The Sun over an article that described him as a “wife beater.”
Three months after the blockbuster libel trial began, Judge Andrew Nicol ruled that the tabloid newspaper was correct in reporting that Depp was violent toward Heard during their marriage. In reaching his ruling, Nicol referred to 14 separate incidents The Sun’s lawyers cited to justify referring to Depp as a wife beater.
Following the verdict, Depp announced that he had been “asked to resign” from his role in JK Rowling’s wizarding-world spin-off “Fantastic Beasts 3.” The film had already begun production, but Warner Bros., which is releasing the film, said Depp’s role as the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald would be recast. The film is scheduled for release in 2022.
Earlier this year during a TV documentary on her husband’s career, Osbourne described episodes of physical altercations between her and her husband.
She said that in one serious encounter, after a night of substance abuse, Ozzy Osbourne turned toward her and said, “We’ve come to a decision that you’ve got to die,” and then began to violently choke her.
“He was calm — very, very calm — and he lunged across at me,” she said. “I felt the stuff on the table and felt the panic button and just pressed it. Next thing I know the cops were there.”