We now know why Johnny Depp has his mouth closed in most red-carpet photos. After a photo of him at the premiere of his film, Jeanne Du Barry, at the Cannes Film Festival went viral on social media people were disgusted by his rotting teeth.


“Johnny Depps’ teeth are literally ROTTING,” tweets user @cocainecross posted alongside two Getty images of Depp’s mouth.



His mouth appeared to be yellow, his back molars black, and because Depp is a known chain smoker, many people said the photos of his teeth belonged in an anti-smoking campaign.


One user said they needed a “trigger warning” before seeing the photos on their timeline.


“Bro ur position as jack sparrow has been terminated u can stop pretending ur a pirate now,” said another user.



Soon after the image started making the rounds, Depp supporters claimed the photo was doctored, and used Twitter’s community notes to issue a correction stating the images were altered to “appear more yellow.”


So we investigated.


Searching Getty you can find the image shot by Marc Piasecki and used by @coccainecross fairly easily. After comparing the photos, there is has been no obvious editing done to Depp's teeth. And after staring at both photos for about 10 minutes, I feel queasy.



Twitter’s community note about Depp’s teeth has since been removed.



After the post went gone viral, one user posted a screenshot excerpt from a 1995 Depp interview with Premiere Magazine that has since been archived by online Depp fans, detailing Depp’s history of poor dental health.


“‘I’ve got loads of cavities. I had a root canal done eight years ago that’s unfinished. It’s like a rotten little stub.” He pulls back the curtain of flesh covering his upper-right molars, revealing the oddity. “But I like it. It’s like when the Indians would make something beaded, they would always put imperfections on it.’”


While Depp might not care what his teeth look like, *thoughts and prayers* to everyone at Cannes that comes in contact with his breath.



In other news, Helen Mirren came to Cannes with blue hair and those photos are much more appealing.