Fairfax, Virginia, USA
The jury in Johnny Depp’s libel trial against his ex-wife, actress Amber Heard, on Monday heard audio recordings of the actor speaking about the violence that could ensue if their arguments escalated.
“The next step, if I don’t go…. there will be a bloodbath as there was on the island‘ says Depp in the recording.
Last week, the actor testified that Heard threw a bottle at him during a fight in Australia in 2015, cutting off his finger, and that he began writing on the walls in his own blood to tell the lies where he had caught her.
In other audio clips heard on Monday, Depp loudly yells vulgarities at his wife, calling her a demeaning name and saying: “Stupid (expression)!“.
Depp winced as the footage played, while Heard appeared to be fighting back tears.
Depp is suing Heard for defamation over a 2018 opinion piece she wrote in The Washington Post in which she described herself as “public figure representing domestic violence”.
The audio files were part of a grueling cross-examination of Depp that ended Monday morning when he took the stand for a fourth day to testify on his allegations that Heard misrepresented him as a domestic abuser.
Heard’s attorneys continued their barrage of questions during cross-examination, Focus on Depp’s alcohol and drug use and his explosive interactions with Heard throughout their relationship.
During Monday’s testimony, Depp actually said very little. Most of the interrogations consisted of Heard’s attorney playing audio clips or reading vulgar text messages from Depp and asking the actor if he read them correctly.
Throughout the interrogation, Depp expressed dissatisfaction with questions from Heard’s attorney, Benjamin Rottenborn. When he interrupted a reply, Depp said: “I spoke”. When Rottenborn said he considered the question fully answered, Depp replied: “As long as you’re happy.”
Depp also expressed his disapproval when Rottenborn read the headlines of a series of wrote negative articles about the actor, Some of these are from 2014.
“It’s all fake news. They’re trash,” Depp said.
Rottenborn submitted the articles to show that it wasn’t the 2018 post at the heart of the case that tarnished his reputation, but a long history of bad behavior.
While the defamation lawsuit is said to focus on whether Depp was defamed in the article, most of the lawsuit has focused on ugly details of the couple’s brief marriage. Depp denies hitting Heard, while Heard’s attorneys argue that Depp physically and sexually abused her and that his denials have no merit because he was often so drunk and drugged that he didn’t remember what he was doing .
Depp last spoke on Thursday. Heard’s attorneys cited his history as a hotel room vandal and an occasion when he broke a bathroom light during an argument with Heard. Depp is also facing a lawsuit filed by a member of a production team alleging the actor assaulted him in 2018.
The jury saw dozens of text messages from Depp to his friends about his alcohol and drug use and his interactions with his then-wife, as well as his regretful notes to Heard and her father.
Depp claims Heard’s allegations and articles helped unfairly ruin his reputation. which made him a Hollywood outcast and cost him his role in the lucrative Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Heard’s lawyers say the damage to Depp’s reputation is the result of his own wrongdoing.
Depp has been testifying in Fairfax County Circuit Court since Tuesday afternoon. The actor has explained that Heard abused drugs and that it was she who physically assaulted him. He described the drug addiction allegations against him as “extremely embellished” although he admitted to using a lot of drugs.