Johnny Depp Burst Into Laughter During His Near-Death Experience on a Plane

When Johnny Depp felt his life was in danger, the What’s Eating Gilbert’s Grape star once shared that he laughed in the face of death. This was because the Oscar-nominated actor couldn’t believe his life might come to an end while riding a private jet.

How Johnny Depp feels about the idea of an afterlife

Depp doesn’t consider himself a traditionally religious person. In an interview with Life, he confided that he didn’t believe in an afterlife. But he wasn’t sure about completely classifying himself as an atheist.

“I mean, I’m a pedestrian,” he said. “I believe in where we are right now – just. There are all kinds of angles, right? Is there a god? I don’t know? Have you seen him? I haven’t seen him.”

On the few times he does meditate on his own mortality, Depp shared that he wondered if he’s left enough of his legacy behind.

“I think about it occasionally, you know, with regard to where I am today in my life and if I were to be taken away, do I feel complete, is there anything haranguing me that I must do before then? And no, you know? I have two amazing kids and a very privileged life, so if the time came, toodaloo,” he said.

But the idea of death wasn’t something he tried to focus on too often.

“Obviously, I’m not so concerned with it, only in the sense that I think it would be wrong to live in fear of it every day, because then, you’re not living,” he said.

Johnny Depp laughed hysterically during his near-death experience on a plane

Depp once believed that his time had come while he and his Rum Diary director Bruce Robinson were aboard a private jet. The plane’s engines temporarily gave out, and the pair began to brace themselves for what was coming next.

“The plane just shut down. The sound of the engines stopped. There was silence. Bruce and I were looking at each other and I think I said, ‘Is this it?’ It was like this weird extended moment when you’re just floating for a second and you could feel this unpleasant descent,” Depp once told Live (via Contact Music).

However, the Sweeney Todd star had a surprising reaction to their impending death.

“Nobody said a word except for Bruce and I, sitting next to each other saying, ‘Oh s***! This is death; I guess this is how it goes down.’ Then we burst into hysterical laughter at the idea that this was how we were going to die,” he said.

But the engines didn’t stay off for long, and Depp credited the ordeal for creating a memorable experience between him and Robinson.

“Suddenly the engines started back up again and we were climbing back up. I guess you could say that was a big bonding experience for Bruce and me. For a moment there, we were going down together,” he said.

Johnny Depp once claimed he almost died because of a fight with Amber Heard

The plane ride wasn’t the only time Depp felt he could’ve died. He once asserted that injuries he received during a fight with ex-wife Amber Heard also almost cost him his life. According to Mirror, Depp claimed he and his lawyer tried to convince Heard to agree on certain terms regarding their marriage. But Heard allegedly disagreed before flying into a rage.

“While I was in Australia filming a movie approximately one month after I married Ms. Heard, on a day where my then-lawyer tried to discuss with Ms. Heard the need that she sign a post-nuptial agreement with me, she went berserk and began throwing bottles at me,” Depp claimed in the papers.

Depp added that one of his fingers was severed after being hit with a shard of glass. This led to the actor contracting MRSA three times, which could’ve been fatal for Depp.

“I had to have three surgeries to reconstruct my finger and contracted MRSA three times,” he said. “I feared that I would lose my finger, my arm, and my life.”