Johnny Depp learned a lot from being cast out into the Hollywood "wilderness"

He told the Hollywood Reporter: "It was a vast wilderness and ultimately that vast wilderness taught me a whole lot."

Asked what he'd learned, he said: "Honestly, I can sit here this very second and think about all the hit pieces, and how everybody was against me, and yeah yeah yeah he is off the map ... endless stuff.

"I can remember it all. Went through it all. Some of it was not the most beautiful time, some of it was hilarious. Some of it was mad.

"The thing is, it simply just was, and it simply just is. So, for me, it happened. I learned, man.

"Everything that we experience, whether you're given a snow cone or walking your dog, you learn something somewhere along the way.

"So I don't have any ill feelings toward anyone. I don't have this great reserve of hatred, because hatred requires caring. Why carry that baggage?"

The 61-year-old actor found acting helpful as it allowed him a way to "escape" when life was "crumbling all around" him.

Asked if he has a method that allows him to focus on his work amid the "challenges" he has faced, he replied: "Oh yes, of course, it is my responsibility. But it is also helpful in certain instances, especially when things are crumbling all around.

"It's weird to be able to escape, not into a character, but it is good to be able to inhabit a character, and as everything is in your toolbox - some of that stuff can be used as available stimulus. Which is great.

"So yeah. Everything has been ... it has really, it just is. And on some level, it is gonna be around, that kind of thing. It's like OJ [Simpson] or something. But hey, it just happened. That's all."