The untold truth of Johnny Depp

Over the course of a film and television career that has spanned more than 30 years, Johnny Depp has played more than a few strange characters — partly because of his ongoing collaboration with notably weird director Tim Burton, which has seen him embody everyone from Willy Wonka to Sweeney Todd, and partly because he has always marched to the beat of a different drummer (or maybe it's an instrument we've never even heard of before).

Though he's had a tortured relationship with fame, he's a master of his craft — and an extremely interesting guy to boot. We've heard no shortage of unforgettable larger-than-life stories about this quirky star over the years, but they don't tell the whole story. Even after spending all these years in the limelight, there's still plenty that's been left out of the headlines about the enigmatic actor and musician — as he proved once again in 2018, when a shocking photo circulated seeming to show him in disturbingly poor health. We delved into that story — and so much more — to bring you the untold truth of Johnny Depp.

He's passionate about free expression in the arts

Along with several other socially conscious artists, Depp participated in the Voice Project's "Imprisoned for Art" campaign—an advocacy group that raises awareness about imprisoned artists and supports free expression. Peter Gabriel, Nadya Tolokonnikova (of Pussy Riot) and Tom Morello (formerly of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave) were some of the other activists that joined Depp in portraying artists that have been imprisoned unfairly, each appearing in mug shots signifying a real person, with t-shirts were made from each photo. Depp portrays Oleg Sentsov, a Ukrainian filmmaker serving a 20-year sentence in Russia.

> The Voice Project states that Sentsov was arrested for protesting Russia's 2014 takeover of Crimea. Sentsov is from Simferopol, the largest city in Crimea, and for his protest he was sentenced to prison and possibly tortured. The Ukrainian ambassador to the UK tweeted the image of Depp's fake mugshot with the hashtag #FreeSentsov. Sentsov is serving his sentence in east Siberia, where it's likely that he's not receiving any messages—a troubling state of affairs that only underscores the importance of the Project.

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