Johnny Depp has struck up an unlikely friendship with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman after the kingdom’s ruling family invested millions in the actor’s latest film.
MBS has spent billions under his Vision 2030 plan to make Saudi Arabia, plagued by allegations of human rights abuses, a cultural and economic powerhouse by investing in the arts, sports and forging personal connections with stars.
Depp, 60, met MBS, 38, in the summer of 2022 after filming Jeanne du Barry, in which Saudi Arabia had invested millions.
‘They made a genuine connection. “It’s a shock to a lot of people who know (Depp), but it’s what happened,” a friend of Depp’s said. he told Vanity Fair.
Both men have faced a reckoning in public perception of their carefully crafted images in recent years.
Depp was found to have been domestically abusive towards his ex-wife Amber Heard when he lost a defamation case in the UK in 2020.
Johnny Depp, 60, met MBS, 38, after filming Jeanne du Barry, in which Saudi Arabia had invested millions, in the summer of 2022 (pictured at the Red Sea International Festival in 2023)
Johnny Depp has struck up an unlikely friendship with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (pictured).
Two years later, a series of more disturbing details, including allegations of sexual abuse, became public after he successfully sued Heard for defamation.
MBS, once a favorite among Western leaders who considered him a great reformer, irrevocably damaged his image by sanctioning the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
Depp insists Saudi Arabia is undergoing a “cultural revolution.”
“While I admit that I was initially somewhat naïve to what was happening in the region, I have since experienced firsthand the cultural revolution that is occurring there,” Depp told Vanity Fair.
The country has “young emerging storytellers radiating new ideas and works of art to a burgeoning film infrastructure and a new curiosity for innovation,” he explained.
Adding: ‘I have had the opportunity to meet people from various parts of the region who have been very welcoming in sharing their culture, traditions and stories with me.’
As part of the ‘Vision 2030’ plan, MBS has spent hundreds of billions on sports, tourism, arts and other ventures, such as real estate, to move the country away from its dependence on oil money.
It has made the entertainment industry, including film production, a key focus, hoping it will boost tourism figures and improve cultural perceptions of the controversial kingdom, while encouraging the country’s 30 million residents to increase their internal spending on leisure.
Depp met Prince Badr (left), the kingdom’s culture minister, in July 2022 while filming his French period film.
Depp told Vanity Fair that Saudi Arabia is undergoing a “cultural revolution”
Depp was found to have been domestically abusive towards his ex-wife Amber Heard when he lost a defamation case in the UK in 2020.
The Kingdom’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has invested millions in establishing the LIV Golf tournament, which attracts players such as Dustin Johnson and Sergio Garcia.
The PIF also provided most of the funding for the Saudi takeover of football club Newcastle United in 2021, a controversial deal that became a hot topic for the UK government.
“We are making up for lost time and making sure our country realizes its potential,” a Saudi government adviser told Vanity Fair.
Depp was previously associated with another Saudi prince, Abdulaziz bin Fahd, but a member of his entourage was convicted of raping a woman in 2012 at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan, where the prince had rented a block of rooms.
Prince Abdulaziz stopped appearing in public in 2017, after being detained by MBS along with 300 of Saudi Arabia’s richest men on suspicion of corruption.
The prince eventually resurfaced, smiling for a photo with MBS, but has since kept a very low profile.
The sudden disappearance reportedly made Depp wary of an initial meeting with more Saudi royals.
However, they convinced him and met with Prince Badr, the kingdom’s Minister of Culture, in July 2022.
A few months later, she flew to Jeddah for the 2022 Red Sea Film Festival and met the Crown Prince during the trip.
Depp visited again in early 2023 and was invited to MBS’s royal camp in the mountains.
The actor also flew on multiple occasions by helicopter to MBS’s yacht, one of the largest in the world.
The two men are now close friends, according to Vanity Fair, and Depp’s friends told the publication that he values the friendship and wants nothing in return.
However, Depp’s team is in talks with the Saudi government about a seven-figure deal for him to attend events and film movies in the country, the outlet reported.