Actor Johnny Depp continues to testify in his defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife Amber Heard on Wednesday.
Heard has accused Depp of physically and sexually assaulting her on multiple occasions before and during their brief marriage. Depp sued after Heard indirectly referenced those allegations in a 2018 op-ed she wrote for the Washington Post.
On his second day at the stand on Wednesday, Depp scoffed at the idea that his constant arguments with ex-wife Amber Heard would ever prompt him to hit her.
“There is no need for violence,” he said. “Why would you hit someone to agree with you?
Depp also began to address Heard’s allegations at length.
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 accusation never made any sense to me.”
Actor Johnny Depp testifies during his defamation trial against his ex-wife Amber Heard at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse in Fairfax, Virginia on April 20, 2022. EVELYN HOCKSTEIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
He later addressed an alleged attack on a private plane flight from Boston to Los Angeles in 2014 while he was filming Black Mass. Heard said Depp was drunk and attacked her while on the plane.
Depp testified he took two roxycodone 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.
He went to great lengths to explain the difference between falling asleep on opiates and becoming conscious from alcohol, and maintained throughout his testimony that he had never been addicted to alcohol.
Depp testified that he may have 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. Depp said he retired to a basement bar and started pouring himself vodka, which enraged her even more.
He said she threw two vodka bottles at him, the second of which exploded where he had placed his hand on the 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. In opening statements, Heard’s attorneys said the laws of physics do not support Depp’s story and they will present evidence to prove it. In general, Heard has a “need for conflict, a need for violence” that “bursts out of nowhere,” Depp told the jury. “And the only thing I’ve learned from that is exactly what I used to do as a kid: retreat.”
Most of Depp’s first day in Fairfax County Circuit Court on Tuesday focused on his descriptions of a difficult childhood, his rise to fame as an actor after an aborted music career, and his early relationship with Heard after he separated her in the 2011 film The Rum Diary.” The two married in 2015 and she filed for divorce a year later.
Depp commented on a second day, saying things had changed in his marriage as he felt he was “suddenly wrong about everything,” in Heard’s eyes.
Depp said Heard attacked him a little to humiliate him. The insults escalated into full-blown circular reasoning with “no way in or out,” Depp said.
“It was kind of rapid fire, kind of endless parade of insults,” Depp said.
He added: “Ms Heard could not be wrong. It just didn’t happen. She couldn’t be wrong.”
Actress Amber Heard arrives in the courtroom at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse on April 20, 2022 in Fairfax, Virginia for her libel trial. EVELYN HOCKSTEIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
He said he’s constantly being told how wrong he is about various aspects of his life, including his 30-year acting career.
“I couldn’t be right in any way,” he said. “Not allowed to have a say.”
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.
“Why did I stay? I guess I stayed because my dad stayed[with my mom]…I didn’t want to fail,” Depp said. “I wanted to try to make it work. I thought maybe I could help her.
Depp said he used drugs and drank alcohol to cope with Heard’s abuse and said she is also a heavy drinker.
He added: “I had to have something to distance myself and my heart from these verbal attacks. I had to have something to sustain myself.”
Depp said he eventually quit drinking to try to salvage the relationship. But Depp said Heard refused to abstain, even when he asked her to help him with his sobriety.
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 and his attorneys said it was a clear reference to allegations Heard made in 2016, when the couple was getting divorced and she was seeking 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.
Heard’s attorneys say the article is accurate and does not defame him. They say Depp’s ruined reputation is the result of his own bad behavior, including drug and alcohol abuse.