Johnny Depp's libel testimony: From Amber Heard shi***ng on bed to haymaker punch, 5 shocking claims made by star
As the world eagerly awaits the verdict of the dramatic libel lawsuit against News Group Newspapers, publishers of The Sun, as well as its executive editor Dan Wootton, filed by Johnny Depp after being branded by the newspaper as a 'wife-beater' in one of their 2018 articles, let's look back at the highlights of the testimony given by the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' actor under oath.
The July case revealed shocking details about Depp and ex-wife Amber Heard's stormy private lives as the court heard allegations of severe domestic abuse, drug abuse, and extramarital affairs, which continued for three weeks at London's High Court. The actor was the first one to be questioned on the stand. Here are 5 most shocking claims made by the star about his own life as well as his former spouse's conduct:
Heard and her friends defecated on his bed
Lawyer Sasha Wass for NGN read out many text messages during Depp's testimony. One of these text messages included one to Johnny Depp's former assistant Stephen Deuters from 2013. Wass told Depp, "Can I ask you about another joke you cracked with Mr. Deuters on October 11. It's you saying will you squat in front of the door to the master bedroom and leave a master coil of dookie so Amber steps in it thinking one of the dogs has a major problem. It will be funny."
Depp revealed that the text had been an example of his "lavatorial, childish" sense of humor. This piece of testimony follows a day after Depp claimed that he had decided to call off the couple's marriage after he found feces on his bed. During Depp's opening arguments, his legal team said, "Depp who in the end was forced to finally call time on this relationship, largely after behavior by her and her friends following her birthday party in their flat in April 2016... including, he says, one of them defecating on his bed, something which Ms Heard blames on their tiny dog."
Depp's witness statement showed that he had claimed that Heard had told their building manager that the incident was a "harmless prank". "I understand that the following morning [after the party] Ms Heard (or possibly one of her friends) defecated in our shared bed. On 12 May 2016, Ms Heard confessed to our estate manager, Kevin Murphy, that leaving the feces in the bed had been 'just a harmless prank' thereby effectively acknowledging that she had been responsible, whereas she had previously sought to blame our dogs," his legal team said.
'Cruel' Heard withheld his rehab medicines
Depp accused Heard of withholding his rehab medicine while he lay "sobbing like a child" as he suffered from withdrawal on a detox trip to his private island in 2014 before his wedding. The 57-year-old, under cross-examination by Wass, discussed his 2014 trip to his private island Little Hall Pond's Cay and denied kicking, pushing and grabbing Heard by her hair while she nursed him through an "agonizing" withdrawal from prescription painkiller Roxicodone.
Depp said that months before his marriage to Heard, he retired to the island with her and a nurse as he attempted to beat his addiction to the prescription drug. Depp, in his witness statement, claimed that Heard "often intervened and withheld medicine from me" while they were on the island. The actor described the instances as "one of the cruelest things that she has ever done." He added that after Heard denied him medicines, he would be left "sobbing like a child" on the floor having the "heebie-jeebies" and start shaking and having stomach cramps.
He added that when he told Heard that he needed his medication, she refused and said "no, four o'clock." He added: "My body clock was needing medication to stop the onslaught... I was not in good shape. For someone this low... it is the lowest point I believe I have ever been in my life... on the floor, sobbing like a child and had still not received the medicine."
'Childhood pain' made him do every drug
Depp referred to the pain he suffered as a child which led him to become dependant on "every drug under the sun" by the age of 14. "My experience of alcohol and stimulants began at a very young age," Depp said after taking the stand. "It was not a particularly stable or safe home life, there was a lot of unpleasantness in the house. I remember my mother used to ask me to get her nerve pills. Around the age of 11, it dawned on me that these pills calm your nerves and I brought them home and took one. That began what was the only way to numb the pain."
He added: "I'm well aware that there's been a lot of pain the way I was raised. When you are trying to figure out what it's all about when success and notoriety and all these things come to you and you don't quite understand why you have them and you don't feel very worthy, it's very confusing."
Heard's allegations of abuse 'reflections of her own behavior'
In his witness statement, Depp claimed that his drug-taking habit did not turn him into a violent man that Heard often referred to in her court deposition as a "monster". In fact, it was Heard who repeatedly physically assaulted him, Depp said. "I do not believe that I have an overbearing, manipulative or controlling personality, or that anyone who knows me well would describe me that way. In contrast, I believe that Amber had an obsessive need to control me and all situations in our relationship. I truly believe that most of the descriptions Amber provides are in fact reflections of her own behavior," he said.
Heard threw him a haymaker punch for being late for her birthday
Heard had thrown a "haymaker" punch at him in 2016 following her 30th birthday party, to which Depp had been late due to an "unpleasant and ugly" meeting with his business advisers, the actor said. "I was in the early stage of learning from my recently acquired new business manager that the former business managers had (taken) quite a lot of my money. They had stolen my money," he said.
At the meeting, about which he had informed Heard, Depp found out that his previous managers had lost $650 million he had made from films, which his lawyers concluded was a 'ludicrous' sum of money. He also discovered that he owed $100 million because he had not paid his taxes for 17 years. He told the court that when he was in bed that night reading, the 'Aquaman' actress accused him of making a fool of her in front of her friends and threw a 'haymaker' at him.
In a "secret" recording of the pair talking in July 2016, the actor is heard telling his ex "you f***ing haymakered me, man." The actor also added, "you came around the bed to f***ing start punching on me." When asked what a "haymaker" was, Depp replied: "It's just a type of wild swinging… kind of a roundhouse punch, as it were. It's a bit of a wild swing, but effective if it reaches the target."