Talk that the Edward Scissorhands actor, 61, was seeing the 21-year-old Wednesday actress started after gossip blog Deuxmoi said last year that they had been spotted together and were possibly working together on Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, set to be released next month.
However, this turned out not to be untrue, and Ortega has admitted it was “so insane” that people believed it, with even her co-star Richard E. Grant quizzing her on the speculation.
In a BuzzFeed Puppy interview, she said, “Probably that I was in a serious relationship with Johnny Depp, and I wanted everybody to leave us alone.
“It’s so insane to me. Like, I never spoke on that. I never said anything like that. Articles really do just make up their own quotes, but I thought that that was pretty hilarious.”
The actress added: “I was on set with Richard E. Grant, and he came up to me and he just said, ‘Oh, so you and Johnny?’ And I laughed because I… I don’t know that person.”
Ortega initially tackled the rumours in a since-deleted Instagram post, branding them “ridiculous”.
She said on her Instagram Stories: “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.”
The star has previously been romantically linked to singer Jacob Sartorius, 21, and ‘Andi Mack’ actor Asher Angel, also 21.
A representative for the Pirates of the Caribbean actor also shut down dating rumours, on top of talk that he may be starring alongside Ortega in the upcoming fantasy flick, in a statement.
It read: “Mr. Depp has no personal or professional relationship with Ms. Ortega whatsoever. He has never met her or spoken to her.”
Heard was ordered to pay the actor US$10 million ($16.1m) in compensatory damages and US$350,000 ($560,350) in punitive damages – which she argued she didn’t have.
The jury also awarded the actress US$2 million ($3.2m) in compensatory damages for her countersuit against Depp.
The top-rating ZM host joins Francesca Rudkin to talk about her media career, being an Australian on NZ radio and telling her story in her new book. Video / Newstalk ZB