Well, this is certainly some new insight into Johnny Depp as a romantic partner — and it couldn’t have come at a more opportune time.
Jennifer Grey released her memoir Out of the Corner this week, and in it she spills the tea for the first time on many aspects of her life, including her surprisingly contentious relationship with Patrick Swayze on Dirty Dancing, her father (legendary Broadway star Joel Grey) coming out, and her beautiful but tumultuous relationship with Johnny.
For those who don’t know, despite becoming one of the biggest stars in the world at the time, the late ’80s became a very rough period for Jennifer. She was a passenger in the car with then-boyfriend (and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off co-star) Matthew Broderick when he got into his terrible 1987 accident in Ireland — a crash that claimed the lives of two women. She and Matthew survived, though he was severely injured with amnesia, and she ended up with whiplash — and survivor’s guilt.
Related: The Details Of Jared Padalecki’s Car Crash Are Horrific!
She and Broderick broke up the next year, and in 1989 she got set up on a blind date with Johnny Depp — then the star of 21 Jump Street, yet to break out with Edward Scissorhands. She wrote in her book that the date went amazingly well as they “talked, drank Jack Daniel’s, laughed our asses off, took cigarette breaks midcourse.” And obviously she couldn’t get over how “ridiculously beautiful” he was.
She told ET this week:
“We were young… To me, this guy was the answer to my problems. This guy was sweet, and loving, and romantic, and crazy about me, and beautiful. I was in desperate need of rebounding into something that looked and felt like 1989 Johnny Depp. Trust me, it was a very soft landing. It was necessary. I was bleeding out inside and this guy saved me and just made me… not feel what I was feeling.”
Sounds amazing. Unfortunately it wasn’t all champagne and roses. The two were engaged briefly, but she called it off. Why? She wrote in her memoir about how his commute from Vancouver, where he filmed the teen police drama, stopped being a joyous occasion as he got more and more problematic:
“He’d started missing his flights home to LA having overslept or, when he did come home, he’d be crazy jealous and paranoid about what I’d been up to while he was gone. I attributed his ill temper and unhappiness to him feeling miserable and powerless to get off 21 Jump Street.”
“Crazy jealous and paranoid”? Hmm. She may have thought he was just in a bad mood, but that description is disturbingly in line with what Amber Heard has described in her testimony this week.
The Aquaman star claimed Johnny accused her of “secretly having a thing with” James Franco, denied her permission to hang out with co-stars because it couldn’t possibly be platonic, and even physically threatened a woman for snuggling up to her at a campfire.
While Johnny’s exes have largely supported him when it comes to the accusations of domestic violence, this description of the lothario as being volatile and controlling over 20 drug- and alcohol-consuming years before he even met Amber… Well, it doesn’t look great.
Jennifer doesn’t have any specific comment on the ongoing trial. She simply told ET on Friday:
“All I can say about that trial is that it breaks my heart for everybody involved. I just think it’s sad and I wish it was resolved and I just wish everybody well.”
What do YOU think of Jennifer’s take on dating Johnny??
