The dark side of stardom: A superstar’s childhood of pain

“There was physical abuse, certainly, which could be in the form of an ashtray being flung at you… or you get beat with a high-heeled shoe or telephone—whatever was handy,” Depp once said. “So in our house, we were never exposed to any type of safety or security.”

He explained that while the physical pain eventually became something he learned to endure, the emotional damage cut deeper. “The verbal abuse, the psychological abuse, was almost worse than the beatings… The physical pain, you learn to accept it.”