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Johnny Depp again took the stand at a courthouse in Fairfax, Virginia, to refute testimony previously given by witnesses, including Amber Heard, who testified that his ex-wife beat him multiple times and that her allegations of violence against him ” be horrible’.
Heard previously testified that Depp hit her, and every time she used force, it was in response to him. Depp said on Wednesday that Heard’s allegations of physical and sexual assault “have gotten out of hand”.
“I have never in my life committed sexual assault, physical abuse. All these bizarre, outrageous stories about me committing these things and living with them for six years and waiting to get the truth out,” Depp testified. “So this is not easy for all of us. I know that. Whatever happens, I came here and told the truth. And I’ve spoken out for what I’ve been reluctantly carrying on my back for six years.”
Depp is suing Heard for $50 million, alleging that a 2018 Washington Post op-ed she wrote in which she herself “represents a public figure who represents domestic violence” defamed the actor and caused him to lose work in Hollywood. . Heard has filed a $100 million counterclaim for defamation over statements by a Depp attorney who called her abuse allegations a “hoax.”
On Wednesday, Depp was shown a photo of himself with a black eye as he and Heard honeymooned on the Orient Express and asked how he sustained the injury.
“Ma’am. Heard me hitting,” he testified.
When Heard took the stand earlier this month, she shared her perspective on multiple alleged violent incidents with Depp. She testified that Depp had taken about 8-10 MDMA pills around the time of a March 2015 incident in Australia in which Depp suffered a seriously injured finger.
Depp said consuming many pills would not be possible for him during the testimony Wednesday.
‘Because I’d be dead. I’m pretty sure I’d be dead,” Depp said. “I think one would die. Probably pretty soon.”
Heard testified that she didn’t know until several hours later that Depp had injured his finger. Depp testified that the tip of his finger was chopped off after Heard threw a glass vodka bottle at him.
A text message from Depp to his then doctor read, “I’ve cut off the tip of my middle finger…What should I do!??” Depp testified that when he was later examined by the doctor at the house where he was staying, he told the doctor what had happened.
“If you saw the damage in the house and the blood everywhere and there was clearly severe damage everywhere, there would be no point in lying to the man. He’d been through it before with me and Mrs. Heard,” Depp testified. “I told him she threw a bottle of vodka and smashed and cut my finger. The tip of my finger. A good piece. I miss it.”
An orthopedic surgeon specializing in hand surgery hired by Heard’s team as an expert witness testified Monday that Depp’s injuries to his finger were inconsistent with his claim that Heard hit his hand with a glass vodka bottle. something Depp disputed on Wednesday’s booth.
Expert witness disputes cause of severed finger Johnny Depp
“That’s all the exploded first bottle that went past my head,” Depp testified, pointing to a photo of the scene. “And the second bottle hit right here where my hand rested on the marble bar.”
During Depp’s cross-examination, Heard’s attorney Ben Rottenborn confronted Depp with graphic text messages the actor had sent to friends.
In an August 2016 text message to his former agent, Christian Carino, Depp wrote that Heard was “begging for total global humiliation…She’s going to get it,” adding, “I can only hope karma kicks in and takes her breath away…”
Depp testified why he sent those texts.
“When you’re accused of horrific acts and things you didn’t do, it’s actually some very ugly things that go out about you non-stop by Ms. Heard and her team, then you tend, as people , to get very, very angry and mad,” Depp testified. “Not to the point where you go out and hurt someone, not to the point where you even attack a cabinet, but you do get enraged, you wonder why this person is doing this to me.”
Model Kate Moss came virtually from England to testify as a witness for Depp earlier Wednesday, telling the jury he never pushed her down the stairs.
Moss, who testified for less than three minutes, said she was in a romantic relationship with Depp from 1994 to 1998. Moss had pushed when she and her sister Whitney Heard Henriquez argued with Depp on a staircase.
“He waved at Whitney and I had heard a rumor about that, a vague rumor,” Heard testified on May 17.
On Wednesday, Moss testified under oath that the rumor was not true — that the then couple had gone to Jamaica during their relationship and that at some point during the trip there was a downpour and Moss fell down a flight of stairs, injuring her back.
“We left the room and Johnny left the room before I did and there had been a rainstorm and when I left the room I slipped down the stairs and hurt my back,” Moss said. “I screamed because I didn’t know what was happening to me and I was in pain and he came running back to help me and carried me to my room and got me medical help.”
Depp’s attorney asked Moss if Depp had ever pushed her down the stairs in the course of their relationship.
“No. He never pushed, kicked or threw me down a flight of stairs,” Moss testified.
Moss has not been investigated by Heard’s legal team.
When Depp later took the stand, he was asked about his memory of the incident with Moss.
“I remember seeing Kate come out the door and come. And there was three little wooden steps and she slipped, her legs went up, and she landed right on her coccyx, on her lower back. She was clearly in physical pain and she was hurt, she was crying, so I ran up to her and grabbed her to make sure she was okay. That’s it, that’s the whole story,” Depp testified.
The jury also heard on Wednesday from Morgan Tremaine, a former employee of entertainment news website TMZ, who testified about tips the outlet received around the time Depp and Heard’s 2016 marriage ended.
TMZ tried to intervene in the case to prevent Tramaine from testifying, fearing Tremaine would reveal TMZ’s anonymous sources.
Judge Penney Azcarate denied TMZ’s request, allowing Tremaine to testify.
Tremaine, a former field assignment manager, testified that his job was to send photographers to places in Los Angeles based on tips or known celebrity hot spots. He testified that a news producer received a tip that Heard would file a temporary restraining order against Depp, and he sent photographers to the courthouse.
Tremaine did not reveal who the tip came from, but said the news producer had received the tip and believed it to be credible.
“Their goal was to capture her leaving the courthouse and then she’d kind of stop and turn to show the bruise on the right side of her face, the alleged bruise,” he said. .
Tremaine also testified that a video showing Depp slamming kitchen cabinets was sent anonymously to TMZ in August 2016 via the email tip line. He also received a tip that Heard would be arriving at Los Angeles International Airport later that day.
Tremaine said he had contacted Depp’s lawyers “to help with the timeline” of events in the case six days ago, and that he was not interested in testifying.
“I gain nothing from this. I’m actually kind of targeting TMZ, a very controversial organization,” Tremaine said in response to a question from Heard’s lawyer. ‘I’m not looking for 15 minutes here. Although you can speculate. I could say the same about taking Amber Heard as a customer for you.”
Heard previously testified that she was not the one who tipped TMZ to her court hearing and that she did not send the video of Depp slamming cabinets shut to the outlet.
The process has now been going on for six weeks, with a week-long break in the middle. Closing arguments are expected at the end of this week.
