Helena Bonham Carter Says Johnny Depp Is 'Completely Vindicated,' J.K. Rowling Has Been 'Hounded'

Mar. 15, 2025

Helena Bonham Carteris sharing her thoughts surrounding some of her controversial peers.

In a new interview withThe Sunday TimesMagazine, the actress, 56, said she believesJohnny Depp, who she has starred alongside in numerous films, has been “completely vindicated” following his six-week defamation trial againstAmber Heardearlier this year.

“I think he’s fine now,” Bonham Carter, who spoke to the publication after being named the first female president of the London Library, said. “Totally fine.”

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During her discussion withThe Sunday Times, Bonham Carter added that she believes Heard “got on that pendulum” when she was asked if Depp’s recent case was the “pendulum of #MeToo swinging back.”

“That’s the problem with these things — that people will jump on the bandwagon because it’s the trend and to be the poster girl for it,” Bonham Carter said.

Johnny Depp.JIM WATSON/POOL/AFP/Getty

Elsewhere in her discussion, Bonham Carter also addressed the backlash thatHarry PotterauthorJ.K. Rowlinghas faced in recent years.

The writer first came under fire in June 2020 when sheappeared to support anti-transgender sentimentsin a series of tweets. Though she denied that her views on feminism were transphobic, Rowling, 57,doubled down on her controversial standpointsin a lengthy essay shared on her website days later.

“It’s horrendous, a load of bollocks. I think she has been hounded. It’s been taken to the extreme, the judgmentalism of people. She’s allowed her opinion, particularly if she’s suffered abuse,” Bonham Carter said of Rowling, seemingly referring toRowling’s 2020 revelationthat she’s a domestic abuse and sexual assault survivor.

“Everybody carries their own history of trauma and forms their opinions from that trauma and you have to respect where people come from and their pain,” she said. “You don’t all have to agree on everything — that would be insane and boring. She’s not meaning it aggressively, she’s just saying something out of her own experience.”

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OtherPotterstars, includingDaniel Radcliffe,Emma WatsonandRupert Grint, haveeach spoke out against Rowling’s much-criticized remarksregarding the transgender community.

“Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are,” Watson, 32,wrote on Twitterin June 2020. “I want my trans followers to know that I and so many other people around the world see you, respect you and love you for who you are.”

When asked if she felt her cast mates were “ungrateful,” Bonham Carter disagreed. “I won’t say that. Personally, I feel they should let her have her opinions, but I think they’re very aware of protecting their own fan base and their generation,” she said. “It’s hard. One thing with the fame game is that there’s an etiquette that comes with it; I don’t agree with talking about other famous people.”

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.

source: people.com