Emily Hampshire has apologized for dressing up as Johnny Depp and Amber Heard for Halloween along with a friend following criticism on social media.
The Schitt’s Creek star wrote in a statement on Instagram Wednesday, “I want to address what is one of the most thoughtless, insensitive, and ignorant things I’ve ever done. For Halloween, I stupidly thought it would be funny to dress as Johnny Depp and Amber Heard.”
She continued, “I am deeply sorry and ashamed for putting something that awful out in the universe. Domestic abuse is never, ever funny. These are real issues with real people and I REALLY regret my actions. In the future I will do better. I’m so sorry.”
In the since-deleted photos, Hampshire appeared to be dressed up as the Pirates of the Caribbean actor, with fake arm tattoos and makeup meant to resemble Depp, while wearing a tan-striped suit. As for her friend, she appeared to be the Aquaman actress, wearing a white buttoned-up blouse, with her pulled back and a sad look on her face.
The costumes appeared to portray Depp and Heard from last year’s defamation trial. But fans were quick to call out Hampshire online, accusing her of mocking Heard.
From April to June 2022, Depp and Heard went back and forth in the courtroom in a highly publicized defamation trial. This came after Depp filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against Heard after she wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post in which she called herself a domestic abuse survivor. Though she never mentioned the actor’s name specifically, the story was published amid headlines of their heated divorce in 2016.
A Virginia jury ended up awarding Depp $15 million, $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages, but the latter was reduced to Virginia’s statutory cap of $350,000.
The trial was also made into a three-part docuseries on Netflix, which debuted in August.
