Johnny Depp sacked agent to cut costs?

Johnny Depp reportedly fired his agent to cut costs.

The 53-year-old Hollywood star is believed to have got rid of UTA’s Tracey Jacobs last October as signing a new deal with rival agency CAA meant he would be paying lower commissions.

A source told The New York Post’s Page Six column: "Depp told Jacobs and UTA he no longer wanted to pay their commissions. But they pushed back."

On their lower prices, another insider said: "They don’t do blue-light specials."

However, CAA were "sensitive" to Johnny’s financial situation when he signed with them.

And an insider insists the ‘Rum Diary’ star’s change of agent was because he needed a "change", rather than being financially motivated.

The source said: "He was with Tracey Jacobs for a gajillion years — their relationship had run its course. He was looking for a change."

News comes after details of Johnny’s extravagant spending was laid bare as part of his legal battle with his former management team.

The ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ actor and The Management Group (TMG) are currently suing each other over the handling of his finances from 1999 until early 2016, during which time he was among the best paid actors in the movie business.

And last week, TMG claimed their famous client left himself on the brink of financial ruin due to his own eye-watering spending habits, which included splashing out $3 million to blast Hunter Thompson’s ashes out of a cannon and $18 million on an 150-foot yacht.

TMG also insisted he was kept fully informed that he was spending his fortune more quickly than he could afford.

The firm explained: "Depp often responded by rebuking and cursing his business managers for issuing such warnings and advice, while increasing his extravagant lifestyle and spending, and demanding that his business managers find some way to pay for it all.

"Depp, and Depp alone, is fully responsible for any financial turmoil he finds himself in today. He has refused to live within his means, despite the best efforts of TMG and the repeated warnings about his financial condition from TMG and his other advisers."

However lawyers acting on behalf of the ‘Sleepy Hollow’ star accused TMG of trying to shift the blame.

In a statement, Adam Waldman, Depp’s attorney, said TMG "have chosen to employ a reprehensible ‘blame the victim’ strategy in a transparent attempt to save their own skin and deflect away from their malfeasance, which is chronicled in Mr. Depp’s 48-page complaint".

The statement continued: "Mr. Depp did not sue his former business managers for his own personal investment decisions or the ‘financial distress’ they wildly allege – Mr. Depp sued them for fraud and multiple breaches of their fiduciary duty, among other claims."

According to Depp’s lawyers, the actor "lost tens of millions of dollars and has been forced to dispose of significant assets to pay for TMG’s self-dealing and gross misconduct".