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Johnny Depp.
Though Johnny Depp filed a $25 million lawsuit in the beginning of the year against his former business managers at The Management Group, citing "gross mismanagement," TMG has presented evidence that shows the company made Depp aware of his financial troubles. Depp, meanwhile, claims he wasn't made aware of his dire financial situation until last year.First, the company filed a countersuit in which it stated the actor's lavish spending habits averaged to around $2 million a month.
Now E! has obtained legal documents filed by TMG, including email correspondence going all the way back to 2009, revealing correspondence between Depp, his sister, and personal manager Christi Dembrowski, as well as lawyers, agents, managers, and bankers about the star's finances.
According to the documents, Depp's former business manager Joel Mandel contacted Depp in December of 2009 advising the star to "take it easy on holiday spending" and "discuss some dollar limit" on participating in a John Dillinger Museum auction. The actor played the famous gangster in the 2009 movie "Public Enemies."
Mandel also asked Depp to meet in person "to talk about where we are financially, what we have borrowed in order to sustain ourselves, what we have had to do to obtain those borrowings, what is now necessary to pay those borrowings back, and finally, to look realistically at income and expenses to work together on how to make sure that these are back in balance."
Columbia Pictures
Johnny Depp earned $20 million for the 2010 movie "The Tourist."
Depp responded the following day, saying, "I am doing my very best on holiday spending, but there is only so much I can do, as I need to give my kiddies and famille [sic] as good as Christmas as possible, obviously within reason."The topic of Depp flying on a private jet also came up in emails and someone within his circle suggested that Depp begin flying commercial to cut down on costs. But Depp was completely against the idea. The star replied saying it "would be a f---ing nightmare of monumental proportions," citing a concern about constant paparazzi presence.
Depp didn't seem particularly concerned about the warnings his people gave him in the emails obtained by E!, and referenced some major paydays. According to Depp in the documents, he was set to earn $20 million for 2010's "The Tourist," $35 million for 2011's "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides," and $20 million for 2012's "Dark Shadows." And with that, TMG alleges, Depp didn't control his spending habits, leading to the actor's continued financial woes.
"For years, TMG repeatedly informed Depp and Dembrowski and personal lawyer, Jake Bloom, that Depp was living beyond his means, and urged him to spend less and to sell certain expensive but unnecessary assets to repay loans and pay his taxes and living expenses," the company's filing stated.
A representative for Depp did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.