At libel trial, Depp blasts Amber Heard’s ‘sick’ abuse claim

Shizuo Kambayashi / AP

In this Tuesday, June twenty, 2017, file image, U.S. actor Johnny Depp waves for lovers upon his arrival at a film premier in Tokyo. A new ad for a Dior men’s fragrance referred to as Sauvage, in which Depp appears, sparked outrage Friday, Aug. thirty, 2019, for its use of Indigenous American lifestyle and symbols.

By Jill Lawless, Related Press

Released Tuesday, July 7, 2020 | 12:05 a.m.

Current 6 hrs, 26 minutes in the past

LONDON  — Johnny Depp mentioned Tuesday that ex-spouse Amber Listened to had designed “sick” promises of abuse and falsely branded him a monster, as the actor testified in a U.K. libel situation that hinges on who was the aggressor in the celeb couple’s violent, harmful partnership

Depp is suing British tabloid The Sunlight over an April 2018 tale headlined “Potty – How can JK Rowling be ‘genuinely happy’ casting spouse beater Johnny Depp in the new Excellent Beasts film?” The newspaper’s lawyers plan to use Heard’s allegations of abuse by Depp to protect the “wife beater” declare.

The “Pirates of the Caribbean” star strongly denies Heard’s promises that he assaulted her in the course of their tempestuous marriage, and is suing The Sun’s publisher, News Team Newspapers, and its executive editor, Dan Wootton.

“These unwell promises are absolutely untrue,” Depp mentioned in a written witness assertion, including that Heard’s allegations hurt his career and had “been a constant concern in my casting.”

A 3-week demo over his libel promises opened Tuesday at the Substantial Court docket in London. It is one particular of the initial big instances to be held in man or woman considering that Britain began to lift its coronavirus lockdown.

Depp entered the witness box of the wooden-paneled courtroom donning a darkish suit and tie, and began by using the court docket oath and supplying his entire title: John Christopher Depp II.

He informed the court docket that Listened to had “said to the earth that she was in fear of her existence from me, and I had been this terrible monster, if you will. Which was not the situation.”

Depp, 57, and Listened to, 34, met on the set of the 2011 comedy “The Rum Diary” and married in Los Angeles in February 2015. They divorced in 2017, and now bitterly accuse one particular yet another of abuse.

Depp and Listened to arrived by individual entrances at the neo-Gothic court docket building. Both equally wore face coverings over their noses and mouths as they arrived. Proceedings have been unfold over many courtrooms to let for social distancing.

Although Listened to isn’t really on demo, the situation is also a showdown among the former spouses, who accuse every other of getting managing, violent and deceitful. It is set to set the two performers’ complex personal life underneath a microscope.

The Sun’s defense depends on Heard’s allegations of 14 incidents of violence by Depp among 2013 and 2016, in spots like Los Angeles, Australia, Japan, the Bahamas and a chartered jet. He denies them all and states Listened to, an actress and design, attacked him with items like a consume can and a cigarette. He also promises that on one particular occasion Listened to or one particular of her mates defecated on his bed.

In written witness statements, Depp mentioned that in Australia in 2015 Listened to severed the idea of his finger by hurling a vodka bottle at him. A image of the bloody digit was bundled with his witness assertion.

Depp claimed that on yet another occasion, Listened to regularly punched him in the face on a personal jet, forcing him to devote the flight locked in the plane’s bathroom.

“Rage-stuffed violent incidents on planes were being frequent with Amber,” he mentioned in the written assertion.

Describing one particular incident in which Listened to promises he strike her, Depp mentioned the opposite was legitimate.

“As factors tended to do, (it) escalated and got bodily, ending with a little bit of assault. Ms. Listened to struck me,” he mentioned.

He painted himself as a peacemaker who tried using to take out himself from conflicts “in advance of factors got out of hand.”

In a written assertion, Depp alleged that Listened to was “a calculating, identified borderline personality she is sociopathic she is a narcissist and she is wholly emotionally dishonest.”

Listened to alleges that Depp was inclined to consume- and drug-fueled violent rages.

Less than cross-examination by The Sun’s law firm, Sasha Wass, Depp acknowledged using myriad prescription drugs over the many years, like marijuana, cocaine, LSD, ecstasy, magic mushrooms and prescription painkillers.

He mentioned his drug use began when he was an 11-year-old boy or girl with “not a especially stable or secure or risk-free dwelling existence.” He mentioned it was “the only way that I located to numb the ache.”

Depp acknowledged that he had struggled with fame, saying it intended he was “forced to live the existence of a fugitive.”

“Anonymity doesn’t exist any more … You have come to be a merchandise,” he mentioned.

Wass depicted Depp as someone with an anger management difficulty, bringing up an 1989 arrest for assault and a later incident in which he weakened a New York lodge place.

“I was angry, but that doesn’t indicate I have an anger difficulty,” Depp mentioned.

Wass played the court docket a video clip clip recorded by Listened to that reveals Depp kicking kitchen cupboards and swearing in advance of pouring crimson wine from a large bottle.

Although saying he “wasn’t especially proud of myself” over the video clip, Depp denied that it showed he became a “monster” when he drank and took prescription drugs.

“It’s not Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” he mentioned.

Listened to is owing to give evidence later in the demo. Depp’s law firm, David Sherborne, mentioned Listened to had not too long ago requested that one particular allegation be read in personal “because of its supposedly horrific mother nature.”

Witnesses for Depp are scheduled to consist of his former partners Vanessa Paradis and Winona Ryder.

Depp is also suing Listened to in the United States for $50 million for allegedly defaming him in a Washington Put up article about domestic abuse. That situation is owing to be read future year.

Sherborne mentioned in an opening assertion that the actor had sued The Sunlight to “clear his reputation.”

“This is not a situation about dollars,” he mentioned. “It is about vindication.”