Johnny Depp grilled about '3-day ordeal of assaults' against Amber Heard, his severed finger
Johnny Depp denied abusing ex-wife, Amber Heard, for days during a 2015 drug binge in Australia. In court on Thursday, the actor claimed it was Heard who assaulted him and that she was responsible for cutting off his fingertip. The infamous injury was a point of contention under cross-examination.
Depp answered questions about his relationship with Heard for the third day in a row as part of his libel lawsuit against the Sun. The Fantastic Beasts star, 57, is suing the tabloid's owner, News Group Newspapers, and the paper’s executive editor, Dan Wootton, over a 2018 article that called him a “wife-beater.” Depp has denied Heard’s abuse claims for years. The Sun stands by the statement and Heard, who was in court again, will testify on behalf of the defense during the three-week trial.
Heard alleges she was abused 14 times from 2013 to 2016. On Thursday, the Sun’s attorney, Sasha Wass, focused on violent incidents that supposedly occurred when Depp was shooting the fifth Pirates of the Caribbean film in Australia. Just as it’s been since the pair split four years ago, it was a he-said, she-said in court over who was responsible for the abuse. Wass asked Depp about subjecting Heard to a “three-day ordeal of assaults” while he was high on drugs and drunk.
“I vehemently deny it and will go as far as to say it’s pedestrian fiction,” he replied, according to the Associated Press.
Depp admitted that their relationship felt like a “constant tailspin” and recalled telling Heard several times, “Listen, we are a crime scene waiting to happen.” He maintained he was never violent.
Wass and Depp sparred over details of the alleged altercation in Australia.
According to the Guardian, Wass claimed Depp held Heard by her hair, slapped her face, smashed her head against the fridge, spit at her, told her he hated her, threw bottles at the wall, shoved Heard against a ping-pong table which collapsed and ripped a phone off the wall, causing injury to his finger. Depp denied each accusation, saying “not true”, “no, ma’am” or “fabrication.”
However, Depp agreed the pair got into an argument.
“She was unwilling to sign a prenup,” he recalled. “My attorneys tried to get her to sign a postnup agreement.”
Heard stated in court documents she was assaulted over three-days in early March 2015. The pair wed weeks earlier. According to Depp, she got frustrated and “started yelling” at him over being asked to sign the postnuptial agreement. Wass contended the argument exploded because he was drunk and taking drugs, like ecstasy. The actor denied taking drugs, but admitted to falling off the wagon with alcohol.
Depp noted it’s a possibility they also argued over accusations she was having affairs with the leading men in her films, which Heard has claimed. Heard had been shooting a movie with Billie Bob Thornton. During Wednesday’s court appearance, Depp admitted to being jealous when she worked with James Franco.
Depp told the court it was Heard who was violent in Australia and that she threw alcohol bottles at him with one ultimately cutting off the tip of his finger.
“After Ms. Heard threw the second vodka bottle at me, which severed the tip of my finger and crushed the bone, is when I began what I would feel as some species of nervous breakdown,” Depp told Wass. “I didn’t want to live at that time.”
The court was shown photos of walls in their rental home painted with his injured finger. The house had up to $150,000 in damages and while Depp agreed the couple “wrecked” the house, he said Heard was responsible for most of the damage.
During the hours long cross-examination, Wass asked Depp about an email he sent to his doctor at the time. In the message, he accused Heard of “having an obsession with herself” and only being interested in fame, but the defense argued he admitted to injuring his finger himself. “I’m so very sad. I cut the top of my middle finger off, what should I do? I’m so embarrassed …” it read.
“That doesn’t mean to say I myself did it,” Depp said.
“Are you serious?” Wass replied.
Depp picked apart what Heard called the “three-day hostage situation” in Australia in his written statement, citing medical records and witnesses.
“Amber claims that during these three days, I subjected her to a variety of what sounds like torture and other abuse. These sick claims are completely untrue,” he stated in the document, which has been viewed by Yahoo Entertainment.
Depp admitted to breaking his sobriety on March 8 “by drinking vodka after a sustained period of verbal abuse and endless aggression from Amber after I unsuccessfully sought refute and peace from her in one locked bathroom after another.”
“I understand that Amber makes references to a bottle of Jack Daniels in her first witness statement. There was no Jack Daniels on the property. I know that because if there had been, I would have definitely drunk Jack Daniels rather than vodka when I finally broke down and sought the solace of alcohol for the first time in a very long time,” Depp wrote.
Depp added “my finger was cut off by Amber throwing a large ‘handle’ vodka bottle at me” and that he called his security guards shortly after the incident and he was eventually taken to the hospital.
“It is important to remember that my 24 hour a day security guards were right outside the property during this incident the whole weekend, and Amber knew that. At no point did she seek help from them while she claims she was undergoing a three-day hostage ordeal,” Depp said, noting the property manager who escorted Heard back to L.A. did not “see any damage to her face where she claimed I had been savagely striking her.”
“The truth is that she did not sustain any injuries at all during the weekend of March 8, while I suffered grievous injuries including a severed finger and a cigarette stubbed out on my cheek,” Depp added.
The Australia incident was hardly the only thing covered in another explosive day in court. The actor was asked about multiple other alleged violent altercations, including one from December 2015 when Depp allegedly headbutted Heard. The AP reports Wass alleged to Depp that by the end of their marriage, “you were routinely using violence against Ms. Heard when you were intoxicated and when you were angry.”
During a different alleged violent altercation, Heard claimed that Depp trashed her closet, slapped her and headbutted her, causing two black eyes. Depp claimed Heard was the aggressor, and he had only tried to restrain her “to stop her flailing and punching me.” Images of Heard appearing hurt were shown in court.
Depp’s cross-examination is set to conclude Friday morning.
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