Johnny Depp claims Amber Heard ‘punched’ him as High Court libel case begins
Johnny Depp’s defamation case against the Sun newspaper over claims that he abused ex-wife Amber Heard kicked off at the High Court today, with Depp’s lawyers telling the court the allegations were “complete lies”.
They also claimed that Heard had “punched” the Hollywood actor in the face, which Heard denies.
Depp is suing the Sun’s publisher News Group Newspapers (NGN) and the Sun’s executive editor Dan Wootton over an article from April 2018 that referred to Depp as a “wifebeater”, and which claimed there was “overwhelming evidence” that he attacked his wife at the time.
Depp strongly denies the allegations.
The trial was due to be heard in March but was delayed due to the pandemic. Both Depp and Heard arrived at London’s High Court this morning wearing face masks to give evidence.
The case, scheduled to run for three weeks, is being spaced out across five courts in the Royal Courts of Justice due to the need to respect social distancing.
David Sherborne, representing Depp, told the court that the article in the Sun amounted to “a full-scale attack on [Depp] as a ‘wife beater’, guilty of the most horrendous physical abuse”.
“As allegations go, it is hard to think of ones in terms of physical abuse between two people in a relationship that could be any more extreme or violent than those Ms Heard will make against Mr Depp in this court,” he added.
Sherborne claimed recordings of arguments between Heard and Depp “undermine the very foundation of the case against Mr Depp”.
“The claimant’s position is clear — Ms Heard’s allegations are complete lies,” he said. “He is not a wife beater and never has been.”
Today, the first day of the libel case, the court heard a transcript of an argument between Depp and Heard from September 2015, that the 34-year-old actress alleged had followed a physical assault by the Pirates of the Caribbean star.
In a witness statement, Heard said Depp got “physically violent” with her. Depp denied the claims, and said the Pineapple Express actress was abusive towards him.
In the transcript of the argument, Depp accused Heard of punching him “in the face, with a closed fist”.
Heard refuted the claims, and said “it was a slap, not a punch”. “You’re a f***ing baby. You’re such a baby, grow the f*** up,” she added.
Depp denied Heard’s testimony that the videos were made to assist with relationship therapy, and instead claimed the videos were made to prove what she said to Depp in the couple’s frequent arguments.
The actor said he made the video “so I could later reference the tape if her words later didn’t match what I know they were”.
Depp’s legal team said the case was “not about money”, and that he wanted to “clear his reputation” regarding the allegations.
Sasha Wass QC, representing News Group, told the court: “Amber Heard is an intelligent and independent woman who has developed her own career as an actress.
“Her independence and self-determination gave rise to a series of conflicts between the two, with Depp seeking to control Heard’s social life and career choices.”
Depp and Heard met on the set of Hollywood film The Rum Diary in 2009, and were married in Los Angeles in 2015. Heard obtained a restraining order against the actor shortly after their split in 2016. Heard claims she donated her $7m (£5.6m) divorce settlement to two charities that work with abused women and ill children.
Depp’s lawyers are set to argue that the Sun’s allegations are not true and amount to “serious harm” as defined in the Defamation Act 2013. They are expected to claim that the accusations have caused significant reputational damage and have lost him lucrative film roles.
The court heard evidence from the defence that Wass claimed showed Depp had an “anger problem” inflamed by “drugs and alcohol addiction”.
Wass grilled the actor over his drug-taking with musician Marilyn Manson and English actor Paul Bettany. Depp claimed that he had taken drugs with Manson “twice maybe, many years ago… long before my relationship with Heard”, and also said that he and Bettany “have dabbled in drugs together”, including taking cocaine, alcohol, Xanax and Adderall.
Depp admitted that he spent “considerably more” than $30,000 a month on wine, and that he was “very much” a fan of red wine in particular.
The court also heard evidence of past arguments involving the Hollywood actor that had resulted in violence.
In 1994, Depp was accused of “trashing” a New York hotel room that he and his then-girlfriend, model and actress Kate Moss, were staying in. Depp was said to have “overturned tables and smashed lamps,” and was forced to pay $10,000 in damages.
Depp admitted to the damage, but denied claims that this suggested he had an anger problem. “I was angry, but that doesn’t mean I have an anger problem. On that occasion I expressed my anger in that way. I also express myself by laughing, I do not have a humour problem,” he said.
He added that “it had been a particularly bad couple of days. That day and evening turned out to be the apex of an unpleasant time.”
The court also heard a witness statement from ex-girlfriend and former co-star Ellen Barkin, who starred in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas with Depp in 1998. Barkin claimed “Depp threw a wine bottle across the room” at assistants during the filming period, adding that he was “jealous” and “controlling”.
“There was always an air of violence around him, he’s a yeller, he’s verbally abusive,” Barkin added.
The Hollywood actor denied the allegations, and claimed that the actress held a “grudge” against him after they split on bad terms.
“It’s not at all what happened,” Depp said. “I don’t want to call anyone a liar but I can tell you that incident never happened.”
Depp denied allegations that he used his “money, power and influence” to belittle his assistants. He said: “Never would I speak down to anyone, never would I think of anyone as lesser than me — film is a collaborative business”.
The court also saw a video secretly recorded by Heard in February 2016 in the couple’s kitchen. The video showed Depp rifling through cupboards, smashing items and shouting. Depp was seen pouring what he described as a “mega pint of red wine” in the video, which the court was told was recorded in the early morning. When he realised Heard was filming, he appeared to take her phone and stop the recording.
Depp denied allegations by the prosecution that this showed he was “violent”. “I was violent with some cupboards,” he said. “Clearly I was not in the best state of mind”.
“I wasn’t particularly proud of myself or happy about myself at the time. It’s not Dr Jeykll and Mr Hyde — I don’t believe I was a monster.”
Depp’s team said Heard’s story was an “elaborate hoax” designed to advance her career.
In a witness statement presented to the court, Depp’s lawyers claimed the American actress duped him into marriage by faking interests in his films and hobbies.
He stated: “It was not until much later [after we met] that I understood that she had an agenda, namely to get married to me in order to progress her own career and/or to benefit financially, and she knew how to bring it about.
“She had well and truly researched me and my interests and she would try to pose as some expert or intellectual on these things to try to ingratiate herself with me.”
He spoke of his difficult childhood as reasons for heavy drinking and drugs use throughout his life.
“There has been quite a lot of pain from youth and the way I was raised. When success and notoriety and all those things come to you and you don’t quite understand why they’ve come to you, it’s a very confusing thing, because you have become a product,” he said.
“Your name no longer sounds the way it did… Even when I speak, my name sounds foreign to me,” Depp said.
The actor said he was “exposed to abuse” in his childhood, and that “it very much turned me against violence”.
“I try to avoid confrontation… Violence is not something I go looking for. [But] there is a point when a man is attacking you or putting his hands on you in an aggressive manner and I have to get myself out of a corner.”
The trial continues.