Luxury French couture house Christian Dior has signed Johnny Depp as the face of its men’s fragrance campaign for a deal worth more than $20 million – a record for a men’s fragrance campaign, reported Variety on Friday.
Sources estimate the three-year deal is upwards of $20 million, and exceeds actor Robert Pattinson’s $12 million deal to serve as a spokesperson for Dior Homme and Brad Pitt’s $7 million deal to promote Chanel No. 5.
Since 2015, Depp has served as the face of Dior Sauvage.
Dior faced pressure to drop Depp from their campaign after a U.K. court ruled against him in his 2020 libel suit against The Sun over its description of him as a “wife beater” with regards to his ex-wife, actor Amber Heard.
Following the verdict of the defamation trial against Heard, Dior Sauvage sales skyrocketed, with Bernard Arnault, CEO of Dior’s parent company LVMH, citing the “image of Johnny Depp” as one of the main reasons why the cologne had been “a remarkable success,” added Variety.
Depp’s Dior deal coincides with a high-profile showing at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival, where the May 16 world premiere of historical drama ‘Jeanne du Barry,’ will open the festival.
He is also expected to attend a Dior dinner on May 17.