Don’t mess with Johnny

CEBU, Philippines - Nowadays, stars including Demi Lovato, Ed Sheeran, and Selena Gomez are willing to talk about their experiences being bullied. And they have some rational advice for the victims: stay strong and don’t worry about what others think.
Johnny Depp’s take on it is a little different. While promoting his new movie “Black Mass” at the Toronto International Film Festival, Depp revealed that he could relate to some advice that his character, real-life former mobster Whitey Bulger, offered to his young son in the film that fighting back against bullies is okay. Getting caught is not, Bulger advised.

“I didn’t find it at all strange,” Depp, 52, said. “I remember when I was maybe six years old, there was a little horror at the school who was kind of needling me or whatever, and I think I told my mom or something.”

Depp, a Kentucky native, said his mother gave him clear instructions on what to do the next time that happened. And let’s just say, she didn’t tell him to shake it off.

“I come from nothing but hillbillies, and my mom said to me, ‘All right, here’s the deal, next time anybody puts their hands on you, pick up a brick and lay them out,’” the actor said, adding he’s “taken that advice ever since.”Although the A-lister probably doesn’t deal with bullying himself now, he still remembers his mom’s words when it comes to his teenage kids, Lily-Rose and Jack.

“If somebody tried to bully my kid, if they didn’t destroy the little booger, I would.”