Emily Hampshire expresses remorse for insensitive Halloween costume mocking Johnny Depp and Amber Heard

Schitt's Creek actress Emily Hampshire, 42, recently took to Instagram to express her apologies and remorse for a Halloween costume she and a friend donned, depicting Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. The now-deleted post showed Hampshire dressed as Depp, complete with drawn-on facial hair and tattoos, while her friend mockingly imitated Amber Heard.

Earlier this year, Johnny Depp and Amber Heard were at the center of a very public trial over their mutual allegations of domestic abuse. Emily Hampshire, who played the role of Stevie Budd in the popular sitcom Schitt's Creek, described the costume as "one of the most thoughtless, insensitive, and ignorant things" she had ever done.

In the original post, the Canadian actress was seen wearing a pin-striped suit with slicked-back hair, holding a wine bottle – an apparent reference to details from the couple's televised court case last year. Hampshire went on to emphasize her regret, expressing her shame for having put "something that awful out into the universe" and declared that "domestic abuse is never, ever funny."


The controversy surrounding Depp and Heard's tumultuous relationship came to a head during a US court case last year, where Johnny Depp accused his ex-wife of defamation over an article she authored for the Washington Post. In the 2018 opinion piece, Heard detailed the hardships she faced, including the loss of work and receiving death threats, after publicly accusing Depp of domestic abuse. She wrote about feeling the "full force of our culture's wrath for women who speak out."

Depp contended that the article implied he was a violent abuser towards Heard and ultimately won the seven-week case against her. But two years earlier, Depp has lost a similar case in the UK against the Sun newspaper, which had called him a "wife-beater". The High Court ruling stated that the article's claims were "substantially true".

Emily Hampshire's Halloween costume choice serves as a reminder of the controversy that has surrounded Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's relationship and the importance of sensitivity when addressing issues related to domestic abuse.