Tattoos don’t always mean forever. Johnny Depp has largely remained mum about his impending divorce from wife Amber Heard, but the actor let his body do the talking during a recent performance with his band in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
The 53-year-old Alice Through the Looking Glass actor stepped out with Hollywood Vampires bandmate Joe Perry on Friday, July 1, flashing a noticeably altered version of his knuckle tattoos.
The letters on his right hand, which once read “Slim” — Heard’s nickname — have since been subtly changed to read “Scum.”
The veteran actor also has an oversize tattoo of Heard’s likeness on his right bicep, but he has since appeared to have covered it up with a blot of dark ink.
As previously reported, Depp has been spotted out and about in the last week, first by surprising guests at a comedy show on Saturday, June 25, by joining his good friend Doug Stanhope on stage.
Then, on Wednesday, June 29, the Pirates of the Caribbean actor attended a memorial event for his late mother, Betty Sue Palmer, at a Hollywood restaurant.
This isn’t the first time Depp has dealt with the awkwardness of his love tattoos in the aftermath of a split.
His ex, Winona Ryder, famously inspired him to get a tattoo reading “Winona Forever” during their relationship. When the pair called it quits in 1993, however, he changed it to read “Wino Forever.”
Ryder, 44, recently spoke out in defense of her famous ex in light of Heard’s allegations of domestic abuse.
“I can only speak from my own experience, which was wildly different than what is being said,” the Stranger Things actress told Time magazine. “He was never, never that way toward me. Never abusive at all toward me. I only know him as a really good, loving, caring guy who is very, very protective of the people that he loves.”
