Johnny Depp has hired a high-power legal team to take aim at a U.K. tabloid, alleging that the newspaper hacked into his phone to reveal private aspects of his life to the public without his consent or knowledge.
According to legal documents obtained by The Blast, Depp has filed suit against News Group Newspapers by issuing a letter of claim, accusing the company’s tabloids the Sun and the now-defunct News of the World of “multiple breaches” of his privacy and “misuse of private information, including the illegal interception of his voicemail messages and other unlawful data gathering.”
The suit claims that the tabloids hacked into his phone and had access to his personal information from 1996 until 2010, claiming to have evidence that “clearly points towards repeated and prolonged illegal intrusion” into Depp’s private life.
Depp points to tabloid reports about his children, his girlfriends’ pregnancies, and other “wrongful disclosures” to obtain the sensitive information.
“These details were obviously intrusive and sensitive and included the stages of the pregnancies, our client’s movements and plans (showing clear surveillance of him),” the legal letter states.
Depp claims he has been “deeply impacted” by the hacking, and insists he’s not launching the lawsuit to seek any “financial reward” but out of “principle,” in order “to protect his family, to seek justice for a wholly unjustifiable wrong which (the company) has yet to fully admit, and to uncover the truth about what went on.”
“Yesterday we sent notice to the Sun of our intention to file suit against them for illegally hacking Johnny Depp,” Depp’s attorney Adam Waldman told The Blast. “Our Barrister David Sherborne has represented Princess Diana, and also Elton John, Jude Law, Hugh Grant, and Prince Harry in hacking claims against the Sun. The Sun has paid out tens of millions of pounds to settle dozens of illegal hacking claims for one reason — because they did it. This case is a matter of principle for Mr. Depp, not one of money.”
ET Canada has reached out to Depp’s attorney for comment.
