Johnny Depp Testifies Ex- Amber Heard Attacked Him – Billboard

Actor Johnny Depp scoffed at the notion that his constant arguments with ex-wife Amber Heard would ever prompt him to hit her during Wednesday’s court hearing, insisting on cross-examination that her allegations destroyed his career.

“There is no need for violence,” Depp said on the witness stand during his defamation lawsuit against Heard, his second day as a witness. “Why would you hit someone to agree with you?”

Heard has accused Depp of physically and sexually assaulting her on multiple occasions before and during their brief marriage. The former Pirates of the Caribbean star sued after Heard, who is also an actor, indirectly referenced those allegations in an op-ed she wrote for The Washington Post.

Depp addressed Heard’s allegations at length on Wednesday. Heard said the first time she was attacked was when Depp hit her in 2013 after she made fun of a tattoo – one that used to say “Winona Forever” when he was dating actress Winona Ryder, which he changed to “Wino Forever” after they broke up.

“It didn’t happen,” he said of the alleged attack. “Why should I offend someone so much who makes fun of a tattoo on my body? That claim never made sense to me.”

He later addressed an alleged attack on a private plane flight from Boston to Los Angeles in 2014. Heard said Depp was drunk and attacked her while on the plane.

Depp testified he took two oxycodone pills – an opiate he admits was addicted to at the time – and locked himself in the plane’s bathroom and fell asleep to avoid their anger.

Depp testified that he only had a glass of champagne upon boarding the plane. But according to evidence presented at a similar trial in England, where Depp sued a British tabloid – a lawsuit he lost – Depp texted his friend, actor Paul Bettany, referring to half a bottle of whisky, “a thousand Red Bull vodkas” and two bottles of champagne to drink before the flight.

Depp also spoke about a heated argument in 2015 – shortly after their wedding – in Australia that resulted in the tip of his middle finger being cut off. He said Heard was angry that Depp’s attorneys asked her to sign a post-marital agreement.

He said she threw two vodka bottles at him, the second of which exploded where he had placed his hand on a basement bar, severing the finger to the point exposing bone.

“I don’t know what a nervous breakdown feels like, but I’ve probably never been this close,” he said.

Depp said he began writing on the walls in his own blood to tell lies he caught Heard telling.

Depp told hospital doctors that he injured himself, and text messages introduced as evidence at the same time refer to Depp injuring himself. Depp testified he lied about the cause of the injury to protect her. Heard’s attorneys have said the laws of physics don’t support Depp’s story, and they will present evidence to prove it.

Depp also gave a vivid description of one last fight as the couple drifted toward divorce, accusing Heard and her friends of pretending to attack them. Soon after, Heard applied for a restraining order and was photographed with spots on his face.

He testified that Heard was on the phone with a friend and yelled, “Stop hitting me, Johnny!” even though he wasn’t near her.

The fight had started when Depp said he realized it was time for the couple to split. The argument intensified, he said, when Depp accused her of leaving human feces on his side of the bed in the penthouse they shared. He said Heard kept denying it, blaming it on her little dogs, but he was convinced she lied.

Depp met Heard in the 2011 film The Rum Diary. The two married in 2015 and she filed for divorce a year later.

Depp said things started to change in his marriage when he felt like Heard saw him as “suddenly wrong about everything.”

Violence often ensues, sometimes with a slap or shove from Heard or his wife throwing a TV remote control or a glass of wine in his face, Depp said.

“There were times I would just lock myself in the bathroom or somewhere that she couldn’t get to,” Depp said.

Depp said he used drugs and drank alcohol to cope with Heard’s abuse and said she is also a heavy drinker. Depp said he eventually quit drinking to try to salvage the relationship, but Heard refused to abstain.

Depp sued Heard after she wrote a 2018 op-ed in The Washington Post in which she described herself as a “public figure who depicts domestic violence.”

She never mentioned Depp by name, but Depp’s attorneys said it was a clear indication of allegations Heard made in 2016 when she sought a restraining order against him.

Depp said the allegations and the article contributed to an unjustly ruined reputation that made him a Hollywood outcast and cost him his role in the lucrative Pirates of the Caribbean film series.

He said he was pulled from the franchise just days after the Post article was published. Under cross-examination, Heard’s attorney pointed to evidence that Disney made that decision months before the article was published.

Heard’s attorneys say the article is accurate and does not defame him. They say Depp’s ruined reputation was due to his own bad behavior.

Depp was cross-examined only briefly at the end of the day on Wednesday. Cross-examination will continue on Thursday.