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On Tuesday, Instagram influencer Jessica Reed Kraus shared in a Substack post that she had an hour-and-a-half-long conversation with Johnny Depp during the beginning of his six-week long trial.
Jessica Reed Kraus, who operates under the handle @houseinhabit, had nearly a million followers under her account. According to social media statistics tracker Socialblade, her follower count doubled during the defamation trial. Her Instagram stories also included several highlights with detailed testimonies given during the legal battle.
In her Substack post Kraus shared that the actor had thanked her “for caring enough to carve” her posts “with intention” unlike news publications which had “failed him so many times before.”
She revealed that Depp also expressed his opinions on "the death of journalistic integrity." The actor reportedly said:
“I don't know you, but I know, just by the words you use and the aesthetic in your work, that I trust you."
The influencer further shared that the two spoke about their mutual love of books and discussed the works of Hunter S. Thompson and David Foster Wallace.
How did Jessica Reed Kraus connect with Johnny Depp?
Kraus shared that she got the chance to connect with the actor through “an old friend of Johnny’s” who she had met on Instagram. She told Insider that she met the friend in person during the trial and also got the chance to overhear FaceTime calls between the Edward Scissorhands actor and his friends.
She revealed that she met Depp during a cocktail party that was held inside the hotel after he had testified. She recalled that the actor did not comprehend the amount of attention the trial was receiving:
“He's so naïve. He didn't even understand, on those phone calls, how viral every part of the trial was, because he is not really on social media.”
Jessica Reed Kraus also shared that the 58-year-old actor had reportedly become suspicious of the media following the infamous Rolling Stone article released in 2018, which had damaged his reputation. She said that Depp called it a “betrayal he hasn’t yet recovered from.”
Describing the conversation between her and Depp, the influencer wrote on Substack:
“In conversation he comes across smart, curious, funny and polite. Prone to shifting into character voices exactly as one might expect from the Johnny Depp we know onscreen. But other than that, he is humble, down to earth, and incredibly attentive.”
Once the trial ended, both Jessica Reed Kraus and Johnny Depp ended up in London.
The former had a pre-planned trip to attend the city for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee while Depp was to perform with British guitar legend Jeff Beck. She shared that she was sitting in a pub with her friends when the verdict was announced.
Jessica Reed Kraus also revealed that she got the chance to watch Depp perform during his concert with Beck in London. She shared that the invitation had come from one of Depp’s friends. However, she also added that following the concert, she did not get a chance to speak with Depp in person.
