Disgrace and rehabilitation are now part of the life-cycle of celebrities, statesmen and royals, with Johnny Depp's return to prominence serving as a prime example. From minor gaffes to major cancellations, it is all but impossible to tread a path in the public eye without a tumble, and the question of how best to recover has become central.
Depp's Unrepentant Comeback
London is suddenly full of Johnny Depp. He appears on escalators, prosthetic-nosed but distinctive as Ebenezer in a projected Christmas cinema hit, and at bus stops peddling Sauvage cologne for Dior. Reports suggest the one-time pariah of Hollywood is set to command megabucks when he returns as Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean 6.
Depp has not taken the traditional road to rehabilitation. Although he lost his libel lawsuit against The Sun, which had accused him of being a wifebeater, in 2020, he has never accepted this charge nor apologised for any of his conduct. Shored up by a successful subsequent lawsuit in the US in 2022, in which he took Amber Heard to court for writing a blind piece in The Washington Post about domestic abuse, Depp has maintained an almost Trumpian stance of unrepentance.
Changing Paths to Redemption
Historically, rehabilitation was all about the big three: apology, taking responsibility and doing some sort of public penance. When Jeffrey Archer died a few weeks ago, the great and the good swarmed to pay homage. Despite, or perhaps because of, a four-year prison sentence for perjury and perverting the course of justice, by the time of his death in October, Archer was treated by MPs and royals alike as a national treasure.
Queen Camilla called the author “as rich, varied and colourful as any of the characters in his books, with as many surprising plot twists”. Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the party he once brought into disrepute, praised “his storytelling, vibrant life force and charitable support”.
These days a penal sentence can be replaced with a laceratingly humble and confessional interview or a reality TV stint. I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here is the obvious example of reputation rehabilitation earned in the televised stocks. Matt Hancock went into the jungle a hypocritical Covid groper but emerged, in third place, a remarkably palatable figure.
Behind the Scenes of Reputation Management
Behind every fallen celebrity, including Winona Ryder, Will Smith, Boris Becker and Prince Harry, marches a team of shadowy figures who have managed their path back into the public’s affection. For mega stars such as P Diddy and Kevin Spacey, the war of their reputation is not fought on a chat show couch anymore, but on social media, with secret hands controlling content and bots manipulating how scandals are reported and received.
In civil court cases, reputational harm is a bitterly contested charge. In the Blake Lively v Justin Baldoni saga, although the initial claim was over sexual harassment and hostile work environment, the most bitterly contested charge argued by each was of reputational harm.
The Perils of a Botched Comeback
The only thing worse than the obscurity of disgrace and ostracisation is the disaster of a botched comeback. Huw Edwards is the poster boy for this. Edwards resigned from the BBC in 2024 after revelations that he had been in a secret relationship with a 17-year-old boy, and was charged with three counts of making indecent images of children.
Since then Edwards has taken the worst conceivable path to reputation redemption, in turns apologetic then belligerent, and most recently taking the ill-fated decision to take to Substack to defend what most would agree is the indefensible. Whether he will one day claw his way back into public life seems unlikely, though not impossible.
When the mighty fall, the best advice is to bide your time, according to reputation management consultant Ralph Ward-Jackson. This, for most celebrities used to the instant gratification of public adoration, is the great agony. An agony made all the more excruciating if they feel, as 99.9 per cent seem to, a passionate sense of injustice at their pillorying.
