'He looks ill': Fan fears for Johnny Depp after he appears pale and gaunt during European tour with his band

Photographs of Johnny Depp posing with fans in Russia over the last week have sparked fears among some that the actor is 'ill'.

Depp, 54, happily posed for two photographs with female fans before setting off for a performance with his band, The Hollywood Vampires. 

The photographs were taken at the Four Seasons hotel in St. Petersburg. The band performed in the city on Wednesday night after playing in Moscow two nights earlier. 

The women shared them excitedly on social media afterwards but, among comments from other fans who told them how lucky they were to have met their idol, were concerns over Depp's appearance.

Second photograph with a fan at the Four Seasons Hotel in St. Petersburg, he appears in the same outfit

'I think that my hero looks ill,' said one concerned admirer on Facebook. 

'He looks thin,' said another. 

Others did not seem to recognize the Pirates of the Caribbean star at all. 

In the photographs, Depp appears with a slight smile. He is wearing a hat with the letters 'FUGLY' branded across the front and is dressed in a t-shirt and jeans.

His t-shirt read: 'Stay humble or be humbled.'

In another, taken earlier in the week in Moscow, he was seen with sunglasses on and a hat while posing at a museum. That image provoked more concern with some calling him 'sick' and 'weak'.   

At the time, he was posing at the Mayakovsky state museum which honors the late poet Vladimir Mayakovsky. During his visit, he was kind to staff and posed happily for other photographs where he appeared healthier and in good spirits. 

The museum was thrilled with his visit and shared a photograph of a note he left in a visitor book afterwards.

It read: 'I have been completely humbled by your hospitality and such proximity to the genius of Mayakovsky.

'All my respect, Johnny Depp.'  

His European tour with the band comes as his seemingly endless legal woes continue. 

Depp has been embroiled in a legal dispute with his former management company for months. 

He claims they mismanaged his millions and left him vulnerable, a claim they insist is not true.

Depp is pictured with ex-wife Amber Heard in September, 2015. The pair divorced acrimoniously in 2016 by
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He is also being sued by former bodyguards who claimed that he forced them to work in a toxic environment at his home and that they sometimes had to act as a babysitter for the star. 

Some of the men worked for him during his marriage to Amber Heard which ended in astonishing acrimony and accusations of alcoholism, drug addiction and domestic abuse.

Depp denied her claims of physical abuse and his daughter and ex-partner Vanessa Paradis spoke out to defend him, insisting it was not true.  

Heard was given a $7million divorce settlement after they parted ways. She donated it to charity.