Meet Betty Sue Palmer: Johnny Depp’s Sister Reveals their Mom Physically Abused them

Christi Dembrowski, Johnny Depp’s older sister, testified in court on April 12, 2022, during his defamation case against his ex-wife Amber Heard. Johnny Betty Sue Amber for $50 million in March 2019 after she shared her experience of surviving domestic abuse in a Washington Post article.

Jury selection kicked off the first day of the three-week trial between the Pirates of the Caribbean actor and the American actress Amber Heard in Virginia.

The 61-year-old Dembrowski talked about their difficult upbringing and their controlling mother Betty Sue Palmer.

She spoke to the jury about her “calm” father John Christopher Depp as well as their childhood in Lexington, Kentucky. Dembrowski remembered a day when her mother yelled at Johnny and hurled an ashtray at him.

Johnny Depp’s sister reveals their abusive mother in the court

Papa was a kind, kind, caring, and compassionate guy, Dembrowski said in a statement to Depp’s attorney Benjamin Chew. Their mother, on the other hand, was “extremely high-strung, very worried, anxious, and furious,” and their parents had “two entirely different personalities,” according to the children.

Chew then inquired as to whether or not the mother had become upset with the father. Yeah, Betty “would shout, yell at him, she would strike him, call him names, that type of thing,” remarked Dembrowski. When mom shouted at him or slapped him, dad never reacted. Essentially, he would let her scream until she had expressed herself. He constantly strived to maintain harmony, just like you did with my mother.

Johnny Depp’s relationship with his Mom Betty Sue Palmer

Depp idolized his mother despite the fact that she had abused him in the past. In 1988, he even had the name of his mother tattooed on his left arm. After Depp won his first acting salary, he bought his mother a modest horse property in Kentucky. Even now, he still rubs her feet.

Depp and his mother have a very unique and tight bond. When Depp was nominated for “Best Actor” at the Academy Awards for his work in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Palmer was spotted with him.

Who is Betty Sue Palmer?

In 1935, Betty Sue was born in Floyd County, Kentucky—her sibling’s number three. When Johnny was just 15 years old, Betty married John Christopher Depp, and the two filed for divorce in 1978. Afterward, Betty wed Robert Palmer.

In 1981 court documents still preserved in the court archives, it is stated that “The wife hereby admits that the parties’ small child… John C. Depp II is entirely independent and self-sufficient.

The life of a child is a time of learning and growth. His mother, who used to work extra shifts to support the family, reared him alone.

She died in Los Angeles on May 20, 2016, at the age of 81. She was the “meanest human being I have ever encountered in my life,” according to Depp, who spoke at her burial. She was even referred to as a “b***h on wheels” by Depp in an interview with Rolling Stone in 2018.

The talented actor Johnny Depp has won multiple honors, including a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award. He received two nominations for the British Academy Film Award and three nominations for the Academy Awards.

Johnny Depp and Kate Moss Incident

While she and actor Johnny Depp were dating in the 1990s, Amber Heard said that Depp shoved model Kate Moss down a flight of stairs.

She was referring to rumors that Depp had shoved Kate Moss down the stairs, which she had heard from several sources. Even during the 2020 libel trial, the actress had made note of this.

“I responded to protect my sister. Johnny had used me as a punching bag for years, but I never actually struck him. After all these years, I finally hit him back for the first time, she continued.

In the meantime, Johnny Depp’s lawyer issued a statement in which he referred to Amber Heard’s claims as a performance of her life.

Heard’s attorney said that during her deposition and witness testimony leading up to that trial, Heard never once brought up the allegation.

He once got into trouble for damaging a hotel room in 1994 that was used by Kate Moss before they broke up. Moss wasn’t wounded in the incident, though, and the charges were dropped after Depp gave the hotel a $9,767 settlement. In 1998, Depp and Moss announced their separation in writing.