Usually when a person has to be escorted out of a workplace or other fine establishment, like a hotel, it’s not a good sign. Well, this week, following the verdict in his defamation trial against Amber Heard, Johnny Depp has been in the U.K. where he recently had to be escorted from a Birmingham hotel. Honestly, the pictures don’t look great, but it’s not what you might think upon first glance.
A flurry of photos hit the Internet this week of Johnny Depp exiting The Grand Hotel in Birmingham, England. In the images, he’s being flanked by two burly guards, one of whom is gripping him by the arm.
It doesn’t make for a great photo; in fact, it looks like he's being asked to leave said establishment. However, according to reports, Johnny Depp has actually been dealing with an outsized number of fans since he headed to the U.K. to start performing onstage with his pal Jeff Beck. Depp was in the U.K. when the Virginia-based trial verdict came down, and he has remained there in recent days. Fans have caught on, and from what a source told Page Six, have “mobbed” the actor wherever he goes.
In general, the former Pirates of the Caribbean actor has been supportive of the fans during and following his trial, but he looks a little frazzled here. Still, while Depp clearly has an escort in the first photo, subsequent photos that were taken by paparazzi on hand do make it much clearer that Depp is not being asked to leave the hotel or in any sort of trouble. A second photo has Depp more in control of the route out of the hotel and waving at the fans.
This isn’t the first incident of fans mobbing a celebrity we’ve seen since the world started opening up again. Marvel star Simu Liu recently opened up on Twitter about getting soda thrown at him by unruly fans. And a video of Justin Bieber went viral after he politely declined to give a fan a hug outside of his home.
In this case, Johnny Depp made it through unscathed – as did his coffee cup! – and later that evening made it to another show with Jeff Beck at Symphony Hall. His ex who defended him in court, Kate Moss, even attended one of these gigs.
Meanwhile, back in the U.S., Amber Heard’s lawyer has claimed she would appeal and that social media impacted the results of her clients defamation countersuit against the actor. Johnny Depp’s lawyers later also spoke about the trial to Savannah Guthrie about the matter and disagreed. We’ll have to wait and see what’s next.
