Paul Bettany on Depp's text about 'burning' Amber Heard

Paul Bettany is back in superhero form for his stand-alone series ‘VisionQuest’. As the series gears up to take over streaming charts, the actor addressed his personal text exchanges with fellow actor Johnny Depp, which came to light during the infamous legal battle with his former wife, Amber Heard.During the Depp vs Heard trial, Bettany's private messages with the actor raised eyebrows. The texts, exchanged between 2013 and 2014, included a conversation in which the two appeared to joke about Heard, with Depp suggesting that they burn her, among other graphic things, while Bettany, apparently taking it as a joke, and writing back that they should try a “drowning test” to determine if “she’s a witch.”In his recent interview, with The times, Paul shared that he "hadn’t spoken to Johnny in years when that happened and I haven’t spoken to him since.""I was being painted as this close friend of a guy I hadn’t spoken to in years," he continued, "and, honestly, amid all the s--t two celebrities threw at each other, that bit was the most odd."Bettany also explained why he chose not to publicly address the nature of his friendship with Depp while the controversy was unfolding.“I decided to say nothing because, I think, people know me," said Bettany, who met his wife, Jennifer Connelly, on the set of 2001's A Beautiful Mind.

"I’ve been married 23 years and, for what I do, I live an incredibly quiet life. Everybody kind of thought this is probably a nothing burger—and left it alone.”The actor had previously spoken about the impact of having his private messages with Depp made public. In a 2021 interview with The Independent, he said, "Can you imagine what it would be like, honestly, to have a bunch of lawyers go through every one of your emails and texts for 10 years? All I can tell you was that it was an unpleasant feeling."During his defamation trial against Heard, Depp described Bettany as one of his "close friends". He also testified that the exchange about burning Heard was a reference to a Monty Python sketch involving the burning of witches.A transcript of the conversation showed Bettany diverting the conversation by saying Heard was "delightful company and easy on the eyes". Depp testified that Heard "despised" his friendship with Bettany, claiming "he was a threat and would take me away from her."

Depp costarred with Bettany in 2010's 'The Tourist', 2014's 'Transcendence' and 2015's 'Mordecai'.The messages first came to light during Depp’s unsuccessful libel case against British newspaper The Sun in 2020. They later resurfaced during Depp’s 2022 defamation trial against Heard in the US. The jury ultimately found Heard liable for defaming Depp in a Washington Post op-ed.