Johnny Depp ‘is so broke he had to fire his longtime agent’

Last October, Depp walked away from UTA’s Tracey Jacobs, the famed agent who in 1988 took him from TV’s 21 Jump Street and made him into an international movie superstar.

A Hollywood source told The New York Post, “Depp told Jacobs and UTA he no longer wanted to pay their commissions. But they pushed back.” So the Pirates of the Caribbean star jumped ship to CAA, which gave him a sweeter deal.

About CAA’s lower commissions, another source said, “They don’t do blue-light specials.”

But as far as Depp’s finances, the agency was “sensitive to it when he signed.”

On Depp leaving UTA, the insider added, “He was with Tracey Jacobs for a gajillion years — their relationship had run its course. He was looking for a change.” CAA and UTA declined to comment.

Last week, it was revealed in documents filed by Depp’s business managers that he spends an astonishing $US2 million ($2.6 million) a month.

Among the examples of his excess were $US75 million spent on 14 homes, $US18 million on a luxury yacht, and $US30,000 per month on wine.

Plus, he blew $US3 million on shooting the ashes of his hero, author Hunter S. Thompson, out of a cannon over Aspen, Colorado.

The claims were made in a countersuit filed by The Management Group, who acted as Depp’s legal, tax and accounting advisers from 1999 until he fired them last year. Depp sued TMG in January, claiming they collected $US28 million in fees he never agreed to and tried to foreclose on his home.

TMG insists they handled his money responsibly, warned him he was overspending, and “Depp, and Depp alone, is fully responsible for any financial turmoil he finds himself in today,” said TMG’s lawyer Michael Kump in the cross-complaint.

On Thursday, Depp’s lawyer Adam Waldman said in a statement that TMG had “chosen to employ a reprehensible ‘blame the victim’ strategy in a transparent attempt to ... deflect away from their malfeasance.”

Depp’s rep didn’t respond to a request for comment.

This story originally appeared in The New York Post and has been republished here with permission.