NEWS'I'm Still Bitter': Corey Feldman Claims Johnny Depp Got Him Fired From 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape' by Telling Producers He Was a 'Junkie'
Corey Feldman alleged Johnny Depp sabotaged him in the early '90s.
Corey Feldman has a bone to pick with Johnny Depp.
While appearing on the Wednesday, March 26, episode of the "Magnificent Others With Billy Corgan" podcast, Feldman claimed he was cast for Leonardo DiCaprio's role in What's Eating Gilbert Grape until Depp got him kicked out of the 1993 movie.
On Billy Corgan's podcast, Corey Feldman claimed Johnny Depp got him fired from 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape.'
"I never saw the film because I’m still bitter. Bitter leaf in that one," the child star, now 53, explained. "But yes, I was originally cast for that role."
When Corgan, 58, asked if he was "pushed out" of the film, Feldman replied, "Johnny Depp. He was cast after I was, and apparently whispered into the producers’ ear that he wasn’t fond of me."
The child star said Depp told producers he didn't want to work with Feldman because he was 'a junkie.'
Feldman alleged the Pirates of the Caribbean actor, 61, told producers he "was a junkie and that he didn’t work with junkies."
"This is the first time I’ve ever telling this story, so I’m sure I’m gonna get hung by this one," the '80s icon noted.
Though the Goonies star has struggled with drug and alcohol abuse over the years, he said that at the time, he was sober and "had just turned my life around."
- Paulina Porizkova 'Took Note' Of Johnny Depp Being 'Really Kind' To Everyone On Movie Sets: 'He Created A Calm Space Around Him'
- Leonardo DiCaprio's 'Endless' Method Acting Annoyed Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese Says
- Brian Cox Reveals He Turned Down 'Pirates Of The Caribbean' Role, Says Johnny Depp Is 'So Overblown, So Overrated' In Memoir
Want OK! each day? Sign up here!
"In fact, [I] was trying to help River [Phoenix] at the time, who he was running with at the time. As we all know, River’s last night on Earth was at Johnny’s establishment," he said, referring to how the late actor died of a drug overdose at age 23 in 1993 at The Viper Room, a nightclub partly owned by Depp.
Feldman is still bothered by the drama, as he thinks the film could have opened huge doors for his career: "Who knows what would have happened from that point forward."
After Feldman was axed, the role went to Leonardo DiCaprio.
Feldman rose to fame in the '80s and was emancipated from his parents when he was 15.
It wasn't until years later that he claimed he was sexually assaulted by multiple men, naming actor Jon Grissom and his former talent manager Marty Weiss as the assaulters.
In addition, he alleged Charlie Sheen sexually abused him and his late friend Corey Haim, who died in 2010 and also struggled with addiction.
Sheen's publicist responded by stating, "these sick, twisted and outlandish allegations never occurred. Period."
Feldman claimed he was sober when Depp got him kicked out of the 1993 film.
Feldman explained he first started using drugs to deal with the pain from the alleged sexual abuse he was experiencing and his mother's physical abuse.
The actor detailed his life growing up in Hollywood via the shocking 2020 documentary My Truth: The Rape of 2 Coreys.
