Actor Johnny Depp spent most of the second week of his defamation trial on the stand, testifying that he’d never hit ex-wife Amber Heard and saying she would have left “if she was scared to death.”
This last week of the trial against Heard in Fairfax, Virginia, included testimony on Depp’s severed finger, substance abuse issues, and vulgar messages.
Depp’s nurse, Debbie Lloyd, testified Monday about the search for the missing part of Depp’s finger, which Depp testified later was lost when Heard threw a handle of vodka at him. The incident happened shortly after the two married, while Depp worked on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and Heard worked on London Fields alongside Billy Bob Thornton.
WATCH: AMBER HEARD SUBMITS SECRET HOME FOOTAGE AS EVIDENCE IN DEPP’S DEFAMATION TRIAL
Lloyd testified that a television screen in the room where the fight occurred was shattered, and there was writing on the walls in blood. Depp claimed to have written on the walls and a lampshade with his finger shortly after it was severed. One written phrase that was discussed at length in court was “starring Billy Bob and easy Amber.”
When Depp took the stand Tuesday, he reiterated his sister and business manager Christi Dembrowski’s earlier testimony that they came from a troubled home. Their father hit them with belts, and their mother also got violent with them and their father. In return, Depp testified he’d never seen his father hit his mother, but his father repeatedly punched walls, once breaking his hand doing so.
“Never did I myself reach the point of striking Ms. Heard in any way, nor have I ever struck any woman in my life,” Depp said.
His mother’s “nerve pill” habit eventually led to the actor’s own drug habit beginning at 11 years old, according to his testimony. Depp was sober on and off during his relationship with his ex-wife, admitting to doing drugs with Marilyn Manson and Heard’s sister, Whitney Heard, on different occasions. Heard allegedly threw two different bottles of vodka at Depp, striking him the second time, in a fight over his sobriety.
On Wednesday, Depp testified to losing “nothing less than everything” due to his ex-wife’s accusations. The actor went on to say that he wouldn’t ever reprise his role as Captain Jack Sparrow with Disney since the company let him go following Heard’s opinion article.
Heard’s lawyers began cross-examining Depp Wednesday evening and all day Thursday, and they claimed to have more to come Monday. They presented the actor with text messages, audio recordings, and even a video Heard secretly recorded that was leaked to the public a year earlier. In the video, Depp is seen kicking and slamming cabinets and raising his voice at Heard.
“If she was intimidated, why was she filming?” Depp said later. “If she was scared to death, why didn’t she leave?”
In a string of text messages to actor Paul Bettany in 2013, when Heard was his girlfriend, Depp referred to her as a “whore” and discussed plots to “drown her,” “burn her,” and “f*** her burnt corpse afterward to make sure she is dead.” Depp expressed he was “ashamed” for the assortment of messages he’d sent “in the heat of the moment.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Depp is suing Heard for $50 million for allegedly defaming him in a 2018 opinion editorial she wrote, revealing that she was a victim of domestic violence.
