<p data-testid="paragraph-0">LONDON, July 20 (Reuters) - A self-portrait by Johnny Depp went on sale on Thursday, depicting the Hollywood star when he was in between court cases relating to his marriage to ex-wife Amber Heard.</p>
<p data-testid="paragraph-1">Conceived in 2021 in the studio of British illustrator Ralph Steadman, the artwork called "Five" was completed this year.</p>
<p data-testid="paragraph-2">"This self-portrait, it was created at a time that was... let&rsquo;s say a bit dark, a bit confusing," Depp said in a video.</p>
<p data-testid="paragraph-3">"I looked at it and I don&rsquo;t know why, I thought it needed something else. It needed further information... essentially I just wrote five on there cos I was just about to enter into the fifth year of the madness."</p>
<p data-testid="paragraph-4">Depp married Heard, whom he met on the set of film "The Rum Diary", in 2015. Just over a year later, she filed for divorce.</p>
<p data-testid="paragraph-5">Their stormy relationship was laid bare in two trials.</p>
<p data-testid="paragraph-6">Last year, Depp was handed a near-total victory by a U.S. jury in his defamation trial with Heard, who had accused him of abuse. Depp denied hitting her or any other woman.</p>
<p data-testid="paragraph-7">Two years earlier, Depp lost a libel suit in Britain against the Sun tabloid, which called him a "wife beater". A London High Court judge ruled that Depp had repeatedly assaulted Heard. He was soon dropped from the "Harry Potter" spin-off franchise "Fantastic Beasts".</p>
<p data-testid="paragraph-8">Depp said "Five" was inspired by a photograph of him taken in 2015 when he became the face of a Dior menswear perfume.</p>
<p data-testid="paragraph-9">&ldquo;That whole time, as much as it was painful, Dior stuck to their guns and that was incredible,&rdquo; Depp said in the video.</p>
<p data-testid="paragraph-10">"Five" follows portraits by Depp in his "Friends &amp; Heroes" collection - depicting the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Al Pacino, Bob Dylan, and Keith Richards - sold by Castle Fine Art, a British group of retail art galleries.</p>
<p data-testid="paragraph-11">Priced at $1,950, the self-portrait is a time-limited edition, on sale for 13 days. Depp said $200 from the proceeds of each sale would be donated to the non-profit Mental Health America.</p>
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<div>(Reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Alex Richardson)</div>

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Johnny Depp self-portrait painted during 'dark time' goes on sale