Dakota Johnson broke her silent to Vanity Fair on what it was like being dragged into the defamation trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. Johnson went viral on social media during the trial due to a video from a 2015 press conference she attended with Depp at the Venice Film Festival to promote their crime drama “Black Mass.” In the video, Johnson reacts to Depp’s bandaged fingers and laughs after he seemingly explains his injury.
Depp’s finger injury became a focal point during the trial. The “Pirates of the Caribbean” star testified that Heard severed the tip of finger with a vodka bottle during an argument in 2015. As a result, social media users went crazy dissecting the video Johnson noticing Depp’s injury. One YouTube clip of the Johnson video has the title “The EXACT moment Dakota Johnson KNEW Amber Heard was VIOLENT towards Johnny Depp” has over 3 million views and counting.
“I was like, ‘For the love of God, why? Why am I involved in this?’” Johnson told Vanity Fair while shaking her head. “I don’t remember that at all, but please, take me out of this. Don’t let this go further. Can you imagine, oh, my God, if I was called to the witness stand? I can’t believe that people are watching [the trial] like it’s a show. It’s like it’s a courtroom drama and my heart breaks. It’s so, so, so crazy. Humans are so fucking weird. The internet is a wild, wild place.”
Johnson did not comment further on the Depp-Heard trial, but she did reflect on “cancel culture” at large. “What I struggle with in terms of cancel culture is the term cancel culture — the whole concept behind canceling a human being, like they’re an appointment,” she said. “No person will not make mistakes in their life.”
“The point of being alive is figuring it out. Hurting other people, harming other people is not okay,” Johnson continued. “There are consequences for those actions. But the concept of the Twitterverse deciding if someone just all of a sudden doesn’t exist anymore is horrifying, heartbreaking and wrong. I do think that it will pass. I believe that people want to live in a better world, ultimately. Also, Twitter makes up like, what, 12% of the world? I mean, some of these people can’t even spell.”
Head over to Vanity’s Fair’s website to read Johnson’s cover story in its entirety.