Johnny Depp refuses to provide 'evidence of his drug and alcohol abuse' to Amber Heard in defamation suit
In December 2018, Johnny Depp’s ex-wife Amber Heard wrote an emotional op-ed for Washington Post about domestic violence. Although she did not mention ‘The Pirates of Caribbean’ actor by name, she mentioned that she had experience on the topic. This triggered Johnny Depp, and he filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against her in March 2019, claiming that her op-ed piece cost him a role in the ‘Pirates of Caribbean’ franchise and impacted his earnings. He also accused her of making up the abuse.
In order to defend herself, the ‘Rum Diary’ actress enlisted the services of Roberta Kaplan, the co-founder of Time's Up Legal Defense Fund. Roberta believes that by showing the judge that the allegations are true she can defeat the defamation lawsuit. For which she needs evidence of Depp’s alcohol addiction and substance abuse, the reasons Heard cited for Depp’s abusive behavior.
So the actress filed a motion on Thursday, September 12, asking the judge to demand Depp turn over materials related to his “drug and alcohol abuse,” “incidents of domestic violence and abuse” and, perhaps most sensitive of all, any documents having to do with any past arrests.
The actor has refused to provide the necessary details citing “invasion of privacy and irrelevance”. The court motion filed by Amber Heard reads, “In Mr. Depp's self-serving view, his privacy justifies denying discovering essential to Ms. Heard's defense, but somehow does not justify the entry of standard protective order. Mr. Depp refuses to produce evidence about his drug and alcohol abuse, even though he purports to challenge statements by Ms. Heard that his substance abuse is inextricably intertwined with his patterns of violent conduct. Mr. Depp also refuses to produce communications with his doctor about incidents of domestic violence and abuse. All of this evidence bears directly on Mr. Depp's claims; it is certainly likely to lead to the discovery of evidence that explains shifts in Mr. Depp's behavior over time, bears on Mr. Depp's own memory of events at issue, identifies witnesses who observed Mr. Depp's violence or helped cover it up and provides critical context for Ms. Heard's earlier statements.”
The actor’s representative, Adam Waldman, told Deadline, “Now her new #Timesup lawyers try to thread a difficult needle — desperately fight to get the case dismissed out of court for the 3rd time, sweep the unambiguous testimonial evidence of her crimes under seal to hide it from the public and embolden her (curiously silent) hoax-enablers, and smear Johnny Depp with additional false innuendo. All while arguing the abuse defamation she inflicted on Johnny Depp was somehow not about Johnny Depp.”
Depp and Heard met on the sets of ‘The Rum Diary’ in 2011. They got married in 2015. The actress filed for a divorce and restraining order from Depp in 2016, stating that the actor had been physically and verbally abusive towards her through the course of their relationship. The actress claimed that the abuse was stemmed from Depp’s alcohol addiction and substance abuse and also provided evidence of abuse to the court. Depp paid $7 million to Heard as part of the divorce settlement.