The cameras stopped rolling on Vanderpump Rules, and that's when it all got real. I'm Jax Taylor. And I'm Brittany Cartwright. And we are talking about everything on our podcast, When Reality Hits. Marriage and parenthood, friendships and feuds. Definitely feuds. And life before, during, and after Vanderp up Rules. So listen to and follow.

When.

Reality.

Hits with Jax.

Taylor and Brittany Cartwright. At Apple podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Today on the TMZ Podcast.

Hello and welcome to the TMZ podcast. I'm Charlie Codden, and today I'm joined by Fabian Garcia.

What's up, dude?

Hot take.

Fabian we call you? No, stop all that.

Why do we call you hot take.

Fabian in the office? You don't and please don't. Opinions, I guess. Everybody has opinions. It's fine. It's not hot takes.

All right, we need your opinions, your hot take s on these next few stories we're going to.

Do today.

Yes, there's a lot. Eds room Miller made their first public appearance in years at the premiere of the movie The Flash. We're going to talk about Johnny Depp. Well, he's found out a way to spend the one million dollars he's got from.

Amber Heard. Finally made its way to Johnny after a long time, yes.

And finally, Pat Sajak retiring from Wheel.

Of Fortune. Yeah, which is a huge deal.

It's historic. On to our first story of the day.

Esra. So this is a meaty one. So Esra Miller, obviously, the star of The Flash. That movie is coming out this weekend. Esra made their first, like you said, public appearance at the red carpet premiere in LA on Monday night. And there were questions as to, like, whether they were going to talk to the press. Obviously, Esra Miller is scandal written right now.

What are they.

Going through? They have been accused of a lot over the past year and a half or so. Allegations of attacking people, assaulting people, harassing people, alleged break ins, alleged child abductions, alleged kidnapping, alleged hoarding of weapons, alleged fostering an environment full of drugs. Their list is so long.

But the list always starts with the word alleged.

Yes, they've been accused of a lot. The one thing that Edd is Miller has copped a plea deal in is in the... I think it was in the breaking and entering in Vermont or something like that. They were accused of breaking somebody's home. In the end, they copped a plea deal and pled guilty to trespassing a lesser charge. And obviously, in the wake of all these allegations against them, and not to mention all these stories about them, Edd's R Miller has come out publicly, I think, six, seven, eight months ago or so. And they said, Hey, I'm going through something thing. I'm going through mental health stuff. I'm going to get professional help. I apologize for all my erratic behavior. And that seemed to be good enough for Warner Brothers because there was a lot of calls for them to drop Esra Miller.

But they said no.

They said no because the movie was already essentially almost completed at that point.

And it's supposed to be.

A banger, right? It is supposed to be a banger, which we'll talk about in just a second. There's a conspiracy theory on that. I'll get into it. It's an unfounded one, but it's interesting. But yeah, so Esra walks the red carpet yesterday, mostly stoic, stone faced, doesn't talk a whole lot.

Great hair.

Great hair. Yeah. They got a whole style going on. They did, in fact, talk to the press just a little bit. There was one outlet they spoke with. It seems like it might have been pre set up to where no questions about their scandals or controversies were going to be addressed. And as we just talked about the movie, yeah, the director is great. I'm so happy to be a part of this. Yada yada yada. Very just kosher softball stuff. And they went in and the movie began and that was it. And they were posing with the director and Ben Affleck was there on the red carpet, et cetera, et cetera. So here's a couple of things, takeaways from this. One, E dgar Miller is trending today because people are angry to see them out and about and basically see them turn the page on this whole thing. And there are comparisons being made to Jonathan Major's.

Because his alleged incidents cost him a lot of work.

It has so far. Jonathan Major's still has his role at Marvel, thus far. Disney hasn't dropped him just yet. So he still has the Disney job, but he's lost other projects.

Like that ad for.

The army. The ad for the army. There's been actual, apparently, movie roles that Jonathan Majors has also lost as well. Not to mention management and PR and stuff like that. So there's been a little bit more of a fallout with Jonathan Majors as opposed to Esra Miller, who you could argue has escaped this whole thing relatively unscathed.

Jonathan major's lost potential roles that he hadn't yet fulfilled.

Correct, that he hadn't.

Quite filmed. Yes. And Azra had already done this flash movie and pulled it off in a way that everyone's raving about.

People are raving about. And that's a great point. I know there's the comparison, but if you actually look at the facts like you just explained, it is apples to oranges a little bit, right? They're different situations, different allegations. And yet the comparisons are being made. And the question being posed by Enlarge is, why is Azra Miller, who is part of the LGBT community, getting a pass, if you will, whereas Jonathan Major's, a black man, is not getting this pass. And look, maybe that's a fair question to ask. It's being asked on Twitter, obviously. And yet, Azra Miller is moving forward. There are reports that a sequel for the Flash has already been written and is shelves and is just waiting for the box office numbers. Because if this movie does numbers, which it's projected to do numbers, the word is that Warner Brothers is going to green light the sequel. And the director has already said, assuming the director is brought back for the sequel, that he will, in fact, cast as Romiller in that role again if there's a sequel.

Offer ing Hollywood stuff, though, it feels like talent wins.

Yes, talent wins. That's a great way to put it. Morgan Wallen, you could argue, overcame his scandal through talent because he's a great musician. His music was so good, he overcame the scandal. So basically, yes, that's a good point. Onto the conspiracy there real quick about all the good press for the Flash. There's been a lot of buzz, a lot of hype. People have been saying, Oh, my God. It's the greatest this superhero movie. There's a report out yesterday. The director and one of the producers for The Flash confirmed it to one of these outlets out here. There was a story that Tom C ruise called them. He went to a screening of The Flash recently, apparently loved it, was raving about it. And not only that, but called Andy Muchietti, who's the director and I guess one of the producers or something, and chatted them up for 15 minutes talking about how great this movie was. That was the story circulating in Hollywood. Andy Muchietti confirmed that story as he said, Yeah, Tom C ruise did, in fact, call us. That's just PR, though, right? So here's the thing. So with this Tom C ruise cherry on top, on top of all the other good press and all this great hype, like, Oh, my God, so good.

There's this conspiracy theory. It's an unfounded one, but it is interesting that people are Warner Brothers is behind the scenes, trying to manufacture good press for.

This movie. Of course.

They are. You think they're maybe doing that?

You.

Think to the point where they're lobbying Tom C ruise, Hey, Tom, can you do... You make a good phone call? You think that might be happening? If Tom C.

Ruise is already in Warner Brothers, Good Grace is in him. He's doing other...

I'm sure he is. Yeah. He's more of a paramount guy these days. But yes, he's worked with Warner before, too.

So he's somewhat of an employee, or has been in the past.

Sure. You scratch my back, I.

Scratch yours. So why wouldn't they do that story?

That's not far.

Fetched to you then? No. Every studio does things to promote a movie, whether it be like Big Billboard, or an ad on TV or an ad on radio or this other guerrilla marketing where it's like, You can't really tell if it's real or it's not. Good on the studio for doing this. This doesn't seem like something that's a no no.

Yeah. Although I guess if it was out publicly that the studio was doing this, it would be seen as like, That's not a good look. You're going around trying to basically curry favor with people.

That's.

What people do. That's what politicians do. That's actually realistic. You're very right. That is, in fact, what people do behind the scenes. But the fact that it's not out in the open, it's just a hush hush thing, maybe that's going on. In any case, lots of buzz. The movie is projected to do really, really.

Well I'm looking forward to.

Seeing it. I'm going to see it, too, dude. I'm very good at separating the art from the artist. I can do that with anybody. Cosby, Weinstein, all the terrible people in the world. You love? The work is the work, dude. I'm not going to.

Stop you. You listen to Bounce, Bounce, Bounce with R Kelly?

You know what? With R. Kelly... So listen, if R Kelly, like if Bump and grind or if... If it came on the radio. If Ignition comes on, I'm not going to.

Change it. You sing along?

No, I don't sing along. I don't make a huge fuss.

About it. You're sitting on the thing. You won't turn it.

Off, but you won't sing along. The R Kelly one is the one where I'm like... I don't go out of my way to seek R Kelly music anymore. If it comes on, it's not that big a deal. Frankly, there's not that many R Kelly hits anyway. There are a few. I know he's got a lot of hits, but they're not in rotation, at least these days, not regularly anyway. So I don't know. Anyway, we can move on, I.

Guess, right? All right. Let's go on to our next story. Johnny Depp, having settled the lawsuit with Amber Heard for a million bucks.

This is from the trial last year.

From the.

Defamation trial, yes.

She's got to pay him a million bucks. Well, actually, her insurance is paying him a million dollars. They covered it. And he has decided that he's giving it away to charity. And the charities it's going to, he's giving 200K to each of these five charities. Make a Film Foundation, The Painted Turtles, Red Feather, Teterora Society, and Amazonia Fund Alliance. So they're each getting 200K from, well, Amber Heard, I guess, on the heels of.

All of this. Yeah. If you want to look at that.

People say that basically he's trying to get his image even brighter, rehash his image using her money. Do you.

Buy any of that? No. So Johnny Depp from the very beginning... And look, I'll just be frank. I don't know if I have a bias or not, but I believe Johnny Depp in this whole thing. I'll just be up front.

About that. I don't.

Okay, that's fine.

I'll be up.

Front, too. We can agree to disagree. So Johnny Depp from the beginning said, I'm not here to bankrupt Amber Heard. I'm not here to collect her money or pocket her cash. I just want to repair my image, et cetera, et cetera. So he said from the beginning he'd be giving this money away. This is not a surprise. The only new thing that we're learning is where the money is actually going and how he's divvying it up or whatever. So Johnny Depp is rich. He doesn't need her money. He was never seeking her money. And these foundations are good. Make a film foundation, make a Wish, but it's more geared toward filmmaking and basically fulfilling sick kids dreams who are in the hospital by meeting directors and actors and things like that. It's a little bit more film centric than Make A Wish. There's a couple of here because I wrote this story. There's a couple in here where they're basically seeking to preserve Indigenous communities, Indigenous culture. Johnny Depp is apparently quite passionate about that. And then there's another couple of the charities in here that are tied to Marlon Brando and Paul Newman. I guess those two guys had gotten involved with these charities from the beginning.

They're heroes of Johnny Depp, so he wants to continue their legacy.

I still think it's just giving the charity to look good rather than why.

Didn't he give... It certainly is PR. There's no denying it's PR.

Why didn't he give any of his own money, too? If you really cared... Maybe he.

Could have matched or something.

Why don't you match and say, Sorry for that hole. We wasted a lot of your time, society. Here's some more money because I really... It's basically just giving Amber's... Well, actually, Amber didn't even have to pay a cent. She didn't.

Even have.

To pay a cent. It's the insurance company paying her out.

Which just seemed... I would argue, Amber Heard got off the hook big time. Well, maybe not because reputation wise, she's finished, I would say.

Well, no, she's actually about to go to.

Her own movie. I saw that. So she's going to appear. So she's been living in Spain, obviously lately, out of the States, laying low with her daughter, etc. And that's fine. By the way, she speaks great Spanish. That sounds sexy. It is. I mean, she still looks great. But yeah, she speaks fluent Spanish. But to your point, like you just made, she's going to be at this Italian... It's like a lowkey film festival at the end of this month. She's going to be promoting some new movie that she's in. I haven't.

Heard of it. I'm rooting for her, man. Are you? You? Yeah. Why, though? Because Johnny was bad to her, man.

What does that mean, though? See, that's.

The thing. He was a horrible, horrible boyfriend, and she might have.

Been a bad guy. Here's the thing. Being a horrible boyfriend and beating on a woman is different, bro. That's my deal. And that's the line for me. It's like emotional abuse. Johnny is like your sports team. I know. I don't want to relitigate this whole thing, but the line between emotional and verbal abuse and all that stuff, again, that's all bad. But there's a line between... When you put hands on a woman, you're hitting a woman. I just don't believe her. I 100 %.

He gets so drunk, bro. He gets so drunk.

You're right. He does get quite drunk. He does throw things apparently and gets.

Slamming cabinets. Are you coming around?

No, I'm not coming around. I'm not coming around. But anyway, the money has gotten a good place. Can we at least.

Agree on that? Money's going to a good place, but I just don't give Johnny, Oh, my God. I'm going to give you so much credit for giving him his.

Money away. And by the way, as far as Johnny Depp, the comeback or whatever, the new French movie that he's in, John Dupree, something like that, something Barry Dupree.

Sounds.

Boring. It does sound boring. I've heard it's very meh.

It's all in French.

It's all in French. I've heard it's very meh. I don't know if there's actually any real comeback for either of them at this point.

I hope Amber gets back to the height. She was never that big.

She was never even that good of an actor. Let's be real.

I hope she gets big.

Anyway, all right. We can move on to our final story, which is this one's actually sad a.

Little bit. Yeah. Pat Sajak after 41 years. I think since 1981 is when he started Wheel.

Of Fortune. I didn't know that. I thought he was doing it since the 90s, maybe, but.

Apparently he was doing it. ' 81. Well, yeah.

And then Vanna White came on in '82, actually. So she's been with him basically just as long as his.

Sidekick or whatever. Totally. So he just announced that the next season will be his last. He's retiring, yes. He's retiring. Everyone's a bit shocked by it, even though he's been doing it a long time. And people are already speculating about who should be his replacement.

Yeah. So wait, hold on. I thought there were rumblings about him retiring in the past few years. It wasn't quite clear when he was going to do it. He had hinted that he was going to retire. I don't know how big of a shock. The fact that it's happening, yes, it is shocking. I don't think it's like people are like, Oh, my God. I can't believe this. It didn't just come out of nowhere.

The world didn't stop. But he's an old guy. He is.

An old guy. He's a legacy game show host, almost on the same level as the late Alex.

Trebeck was. Well, he's been hosting more TV than Trebeck has. He beat.

His record. He even beat Bob Barker, who was the record holder for, what was it, Prices Right? Yeah. And Bob Barker retired and gave it to Drew Carey, etc. You know what's so interesting about this? So we'll see who the next host is. I really don't care who the next host is. I don't watch Game of Wheel of Fortune and all that. It's just a very a throwaway show. It's not that.

Big of a deal. People want Vanna White to be the.

Next host. I would be more than happy to see Vanna White host. That'd be great. Have a male, maybe switch it up. Have a male tap in the board and revealing the letters.

That would be interesting, actually.

The other interesting element about the Pat Sajak retiring thing is, are you aware that he's a conservative guy? Right, I am. He's a bit of a conservative guy, which is fine. You could be conservative, but he has caught flak in the past for certain positions he's taken and certain statements he's made.

Is he Trumpy?

I don't know if he's Trumpy. I don't know if he's quite on the MAGA level, but he's gotten some flak before. And the news of him retiring, it was not nearly as big as when Alex Trebeck, who was widely beloved, I don't think he was ever really political or even got into politics or anything like that, but Alex Trebeck was widely. But when he stepped down from Je property before he passed, obviously, that was huge, huge, huge. It was like there were specials about it. We did a special on Alex Trebeck. That was also because he was dying, though. We're not going to.

Do a special on... It was also because he was dying.

Yes, he had the illness and everything.

You're right. He had to step down because of his health. And I think that made... But you're right.

It made.

The news bigger. You're right. But he was more beloved.

He was. Then Pat Sajak. He was.

Pat Sajak is an institution. He's an icon. But I don't think people just wear a Pat Sajak t.

Shirt around. They don't. He's the guy you know on TV, but he's not, you're right, not nearly on the levels of Alex Trebeck as far as people liking this guy. He's good at his job. He's a charismatic. He's a great game show host. But he's just like, Oh, yeah, Pat Sajak. It's fine.

We'll get somebody. You're down for.

Vana White? Down for Vana White. Yes, down for Vana White. I don't know. You know what's so funny? With game shows these days, it's a small little foot note, but shows like Wheel of Fortune and even Jepperty, frankly, they seem like small potatoes compared to... I was watching this show last night. I was at the gym and they had TVs on the treadmill and stuff. And the wall was on NBC. Do you know what that is? The wall, the balls drop. Big money, hundreds of thousands of dollars. We're talking big money. Whereas on Wheel of Fortune, it's like, oh, $20,000.

You're saying they need to up the price.

They need to up the ante on the money. And they just need to up the stakes in general because the wall is it. There's so many unique new game shows out now. Anyway, they got to step it up. So anyway, we'll see if Wheel of course, can refresh the format.

It sounds like you're putting in your pitch to be the new host. It sounds like this is what we need to do. Definitely not. What game show would you host if you could host any?

I don't know. Is the Bachelorette still on? That's just.

Because you want.

To get laid. No, that's not quite it, but just part of it.

Anyway. Okay. Well, thank you very much for joining me here tonight, Vivian. That was a.

Good one. Yeah, it was good. Thanks for having me and I appreciate it.

We'll see you here tomorrow.

Bye. Take it easy, guys.