Johnny Depp Rumor

Johnny Depp is not headed to Vashon, officials say

By LESLIE BROWN

Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber Editor

The rumor has been circling the Island like a gull at KVI Beach: Johnny Depp, word has it, just bought Tom Stewart’s spectacular 525-acre estate near Paradise Valley.

How great is the speculation? Great enough that someone has stated it as fact on Wikipedia: “Johnny Depp, world famous actor, now owns the former Misty Isle Farm property. Has been spotted driving on the Westside Highway,” according to an entry in the user-generated, online encyclopedia under the “people of note” section for Vashon Island.

But according to a spokesman for Stewart’s company, Services Group of America, there’s nothing to the rumor.

“We’ve not been in contact with Mr. Depp regarding this property or any other property,” said Brad Parker, from the company’s Scottsdale, Ariz., headquarters.
Told of the Wikipedia entry, he said he’d go online and make a change to it.
“I have no idea how it would have gotten onto Wikipedia,” he added.

Stewart’s Misty Isle Farm has been for sale for nearly two years, listed initially at $125 million. The sprawling, ranch-style home is small by multi-millionaire standards — a mere 6,500 square feet. But the expansive property boasts a number of other amenities that set it apart from other parcels in the luxury home market, including an airstrip, a helipad, 10 additional residences, botanical gardens, a putting green, bridle trails and a three-acre pond annually stocked with 500 pounds of rainbow trout.

The demand is soft for luxury homes, however, and the property, initially the subject of a focused marketing effort, is no longer being actively peddled, said Hans Youngman, who manages the ranch.

“There’s no marketing campaign currently under way,” he said. “There had been, but it got put on hold because of the economic conditions and lack of interest.”

Youngman said he, too, has heard the Johnny Depp rumor several times and, like Parker, said there’s nothing to it.

“Jack Sparrow,” he said, referring to Depp’s character in “The Pirates of the Caribbean,” “won’t be the next owner of Misty Isle Farms.”

Stewart, a stalwart Rep-ublican known for the conservative celebrities he used to bring to his estate, enjoyed the Depp rumor, Youngman said. In fact, he thinks that’s possibly how it began to spread.

“When a friend asked him about it, he sort of led him on for a moment,” Youngman said.
Johnny Depp’s publicist, Robin Baum, did not return repeated telephone calls or e-mails requesting comment.

The Johnny Depp rumor is not the first one about a Hollywood star snatching up the largest private parcel on Vashon. For a while, Tom Cruise was the purported buyer; then John Travolta; then Cruise and Travolta together, with an eye towards making it a Church of Scientology retreat.

Many have heard the rumors and have called or e-mailed The Beachcomber, asking if they’re true. Most were curious, some skeptical. A few said they thought it just might be true that Depp had indeed purchased the property or, at the very least, was poking around.

“I have some good sources who have confirmed that there has been interest from him,” said Melinda Songterath, owner of The Hardware Store Restaurant. “I don’t think it’s a completely fabricated rumor that he’s interested in the property.” She added, however, that she’s not seen “any concrete evidence. ... It’s really all rumors, as far as I’m concerned.”

Emma Amiad, a buyer’s broker on Vashon, also said she’d heard from “a reliable source” that Depp had bought Stewart’s place for $75 million, $50 million less than the asking price. “You might want to watch for it,” she said in an e-mail.

As for Youngman, who some say was the source of the Cruise/Travolta rumor, he said he doubts Depp would find Vashon Island particularly compelling.

Noting that the movie star recently bought his girlfriend a French estate, he added, “He likes France. I don’t think he’d spend much money on a cattle ranch here in Washington state.”

Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber Editor Leslie Brown can be reached at editor@vashonbeachcomber.com or 206-463-9195.