ALISON BOSHOFF: Ho, ho, ho! Johnny Depp to launch his own brand of Caribbean dark rum

He is famous for loving alcohol, and now actor Johnny Depp is launching his own brand of Caribbean rum in a move that could make him a fortune.

I hear that Depp, 60, an island owner in the Caribbean, is in the advanced stages of developing a dark rum. This is not an endorsement deal: he owns the company (which he founded with a friend for 30 years). And the brand will be "authentic and personal" to the star in flavour, taste and appearance.

The design of the label is still being finalized, but it is believed that it will have personal touches, including artwork based on his tattoos. Specifically, three hearts tattooed on his arm representing the loves of his life (ex-partner Vanessa Paradis and children Jack and Lily-Rose) and a skull and crossbones, a nod to his most famous role. : Captain Jack Sparrow.

A release date has yet to be announced, but a Depp rum would sell quickly among his large fan base, and a financial windfall could be just what he needs. Depp told the court in 2020 that he had lost his $650 million fortune due to alleged financial mismanagement and uncontrolled spending. In an interview, he said that he had felt insulted by claims that he had spent $30,000 a month on wine, as "it was a lot more".

More recently, he has generated controversy due to his ties to the Saudi regime, which helped finance two of his films.

He now he has the opportunity to change his luck. Fellow actor George Clooney led the way with her Casamigos tequila, which became the fastest-growing super-premium tequila brand in the US and was purchased by Diageo for $1 billion in 2017.

Depp has largely stepped back from big box office hits, following ugly legal battles with his ex-wife Amber Heard. He directs but does not act in Modi's latest project, a low-budget film about the artist Modigliani. Before that he appeared in Jeanne du Barry, a French film.

Depp said in court that he would never return to the Pirates of the Caribbean series. A source close to the actor told me last year that he had fallen in love with acting. He's saying that he's not interested in saying someone else's words. 'He is currently interested in authentic expression of himself, through art and music.'

Depp remains the face of Sauvage, a men's fragrance from Dior. In January last year, Bernard Arnault, chief executive of LVMH, which owns Dior, said the star remained a strong driver of sales, justifying his decision to renew his contract in 2022, despite the controversies. . You've probably seen the ads. "That's working very well," Arnault said.

Depp was described by a doctor as addicted to drugs and alcohol during his 2018 libel case against The Sun newspaper. He termed his use as "self-medication." "I'm not a maniac who needs to be high or loaded all the time," he insisted.