Jenna Ortega has never been one to hide her feelings or soften her words, and we love her for it. Whether it’s speaking out about seeing underage deepfake nudes of herself on X, opening up about creative disagreements on the set of Wednesday, or defending herself against baseless criticism, the actor has never shied away from speaking her truth. And it turns out, her truth is that she finds the ongoing dating rumours regarding herself and Johnny Depp to be completely ludicrous and ridiculous.

Speculation that the two actors were romantically involved first started back in May 2023 after fans became convinced that Depp would be making an appearance in Ortega’s upcoming film Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Depp is a long-time collaborator of Tim Burton so the connection made logical sense.

However, in one of BuzzFeed’s recent iconic ‘puppy interviews’, Ortega set the record straight:

When asked by producers to spill the craziest rumour she’d ever heard about herself, the 21-year-old exclaimed: “Probably that I was in a serious relationship with Johnny Depp and I wanted everybody to ‘leave us alone’.”

Ortega went on to recall: “I was on set with Richard E. Grant and he came up to me and he just said, ‘Oh, so you and Johnny?’. I laughed because I don’t know that person.”

Back in September 2023, the Daily Mail had claimed that Ortega had written, and then promptly deleted, a statement on Instagram commenting on the situation. The Wednesday actor supposedly wrote: “I can’t even laugh. I have never met or worked with Johnny Depp in my life. Please stop spreading lies and leave us alone.”

However, in the puppy interview, Ortega set the record straight and claimed she never “spoke” about the situation and the entire thing was “insane” to her.

Depp, who is 40 years older than Ortega, is already in a constant state of controversy, which is probably why he also made sure that his team responded to the rumours when they first began making headlines: “Mr. Depp has no personal or professional relationship with Ms. Ortega whatsoever. He has never met her or spoken to her. He is not involved in any project with her, nor does he intend to be. He is appalled by these baseless and malicious rumours that are intended to harm his reputation and career.”

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is due to be released in the UK on 6 September 2024.