Lily-Rose Depp defends friend Sam Levinson on ‘The Idol’ criticism: It couldn’t be further from truth

Los Angeles, Jan 5 (PTI) Actor Lily-Rose Depp says it was upsetting to see her friend and “The Idol” co-creator Sam Levinson being subjected to “negative” comments after the show premiered.

Depp starred in “The Idol” alongside singer Abel Tesfaye, better known by his stage name The Weeknd.

The HBO series, which arrived in 2023, courted controversy for its alleged sexually graphic content and glamorisation of toxic relationships. Levinson served as creator on “The Idol” alongside The Weeknd and Reza Fahim.

“I think the thing that sucked about that was to have people talking s**t about Sam, who is a great friend of mine and somebody that I consider family,” she said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast.

“The only thing that was upsetting about that whole time period was people talking negatively about (Sam) because the things that they said about him, particularly, as a filmmaker, just couldn’t be further from the truth than from, at least, my experience working with him. So that sucks. You just never want to hear people talking s**t about your friend,” she added.

Depp portrayed a pop star that gets into a relationship with a nightclub impresario (The Weeknd) in “The Idol”, which was cancelled after its first season.

The 25-year-old actor admitted the backlash didn’t come as a surprise to her as she knew the series would be perceived as controversial right from the beginning.

“That was a period in my life where I felt like I learned so much, I was pushed so far out of my comfort zone, in the most beautiful way, and it gave me so much growth that I will always look back on that as one of the most special times of my life.”

Depp said working on the project was like “pushing society’s buttons intentionally”.

“It’s beautiful and I wouldn’t have changed anything about it,” she added.

The actor will next star in Robert Eggers’ horror-drama “Nosferatu”, a re-imagination of the 1922 German film of the same name.