8 h, may 27, 2016 y - EXCLUSIVE: 'He's fine' Johnny Depp's sister speaks out

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Johnny Depp's sister has broken the family's silence over his split from Amber Heard to tell Daily Mail Online: 'He's fine.'

Christi Dembrowski became the first person close to Depp to discuss his state in the wake of the shock divorce after just 15 months.

Heard filed her divorce papers just three days after Depp's mother, Betty Sue, 81, died after a long illness.

He, his mother and his sisters had a close bond but Dembrowski told Daily Mail Online the family was coping 'fine' with the loss.

However the decision of a family member to speak positively about Depp's state after the divorce will fuel suggestions that his mother and sisters did not get on with Heard.

Her decision to file for divorce as he deals with bereavement was already seen in that light.

But it came against a background of claims that Depp's decision to move his mother into the Los Angeles compound her shared with Heard had hit their relationship.

Depp, 52, had never made any secret of his closeness to his mother and his sisters. Dembrowski, 55, runs his production company, Infinitum Nihil and is frequently seen with him on set.

Among her official production credits are The Rum Diary, the movie on which Depp met Heard.

He also has another sister, Debbi Depp, who lives in Kentucky.

Reports of tension between his family and his new wife had surfaced during his brief marriage but became more prominent in the light of the split.

TMZ reported that Dembrowski, their mother, their other sister Debbi and his two teenage children by Vanessa Paradis all 'hated' Heard.

Sources told the website that they believed Heard would 'treat him like c***', and that his mother particularly believed his younger wife was using him to boost her career.

Depp's spokesman had issued a statement about the end of the marriage saying that there had been 'lies' about his person life.

'Given the brevity of this marriage and the most recent and tragic loss of his mother, Johnny will not respond to any of the salacious false stories, gossip, misinformation and lies about his personal life,' it said.

It did not address which of the stories about the end of the marriage were lies - but was issued after a source close to Heard spoke to People magazine to describe the actress as a devoted daughter-in-law to Betty Sue.

'Amber was by Betty Sue's side during this illness,' the source said. 'And regularly visited her in the hospital.'

Neither Heard or Depp have been seen in public since she filed the divorce papers.

Her close friend, the gay rights activist and photographer Io Tillett Wright has also not been seen at either of her homes in New York and California.

Her close friendship with Wright was said to be one of the causes of tension between her and Depp.

The marriage is now claimed to have been in trouble almost since the beginning, with reports that Depp and Heard have been experiencing relationship difficulties since May last year.

It is believed the pair decided to give themselves a year 'to patch up' their relationship in a bid to save the embarrassment of having to end a three-month union.

SOURCE:
UK Court Documents:
- Core Trial Bundle Item 173(b)

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