Editor’s note: Some testimonials contain graphic language and descriptions of sexual and physical assault.
Johnny Depp on Wednesday called his ex-wife’s allegations of sexual and physical abuse “insane” when she returned to the courtroom in her defamation suit against Amber Heard.
“Ridiculous, humiliating, ridiculous, painful, savage, incredibly brutal, cruel and all false,” Depp said when asked about his reaction to Heard’s accusations when he previously testified at trial.
Actor Johnny Depp testifies in the Fairfax County Circuit Court Chamber in Fairfax, Virginia, Wednesday, May 25, 2022. Evelyn Hockstein / AP
Depp testified on Wednesday as a rebuttal witness: both he and Heard testified extensively before the trial.
He gave some specific answers to some of the particular accusations made by Heard and also by his sister, Whitney Henriquez, who provided some of Heard’s strongest supporting evidence.
He concluded his lawyers’ interrogation with a definitive denial of the allegations.
“Never in my life have I committed sexual harassment, physical abuse, all these extravagant and outrageous stories of me committing these things,” she said. “And living with it for six years, and hoping to be able to get the truth out.”
He said that “no matter what happens, I did come here and tell the truth and I talked about what I had been carrying on my back, reluctantly, for six years.”
Cross-questioning Depp, Heard’s lawyers pointed to this claim, asking the actor about his previous lawsuit against the British newspaper Sun, which he referred to as a “women’s hitter”. Depp lost this defamation case.
Heard’s attorney, J. Benjamin Rottenborn, also read text messages between Depp and his assistant in which he used vulgar terms to refer to a woman’s sexual organs and said, “I NEED. I WANT. EMPLOYMENT.” . Depp called “ridiculous” the idea he had written if he wanted to have sex with a woman, she was his.
“You can take whatever you want, I’ve never said those words. There’s not enough arrogance in me,” he told Heartd’s lawyer, suggesting the text was tampered with or someone might have picked up his phone. “That’s pretty grotesque.”
Depp is suing Heard in Fairfax County Circuit Court for a December 2018 opinion piece he wrote in The Washington Post describing himself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” His lawyers say he was defamed by the article even though he never mentioned his name.
Depp has denied ever hitting Heard and says she was the aggressor in the relationship. Heard has testified about more than a dozen separate cases of physical abuse he claims to have suffered at the hands of Depp.
Depp also answered Heard’s claim that Depp had nothing to do with getting him a role in the superhero “Aquaman”. When Heard testified, she was clearly offended by a question from Depp’s lawyers hinting that Depp got her the role.
Depp, however, said that after Heard auditioned for the role, he spoke with the studio on her behalf. She was barred from discussing the details of her conversations when Heard’s lawyers objected, but said that “in the end she got the job, so I hope, I guess, I have curbed her worries to some extent.” .
During cross-examination, however, jurors saw a text message sent after Heard filed for divorce in which Depp told his sister, “I want to be replaced in this WB movie (Warner Bros.) “.
However, when Heard’s lawyer asked Depp if he was trying to get Heard fired from “Aquaman,” he denied it. Instead, he said he only felt compelled to let the studio know “that it would end up ugly” if they kept Heard in the film.
Also on Wednesday, supermodel Kate Moss, a former Depp girlfriend, denied that Depp had ever pushed or assaulted her during the course of their relationship.
Model Kate Moss, the ex-girlfriend of actor Johnny Depp, vowed to testify via a video link during Depp’s defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife Amber Heard in Fairfax County Circuit Court in Fairfax, Virginia. May 25, 2022. Evelyn Hockstein / Reuters
Moss also testified as a witness to the reply. Heard, in his testimony, made a reference to Moss and a rumor that Depp had pushed Moss down some stairs when they left.
Moss, in the testimony provided by a video link, said Depp never assaulted her. He said he once slid down a flight of stairs after a rainstorm in a Jamaican resort and that Depp came to his aid.
She testified for less than 5 minutes and was not questioned.
Depp also addressed the indictment in his testimony, saying it happened as Moss said. He said he had told the story about Moss to Heard years ago and “Mrs Heard took the story and turned it into a very ugly incident, all in her mind”.