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Model Kate Moss, who dated Johnny Depp from 1994 to 1998, testified briefly from Gloucester, England, Wednesday morning during the sixth and final week of testimony in the controversial trial between Depp and his ex-wife Amber Heard. . He refuted Eard’s earlier testimony, which had referred to a rumor that Depp once pushed Moss down the stairs on a trip to Jamaica.
“There had been a storm. When I left the room, I slipped down the stairs and hurt my back. And I screamed, because I didn’t know what was happening to me and I was in pain,” Moss said during his three-minute testimony. Depp “ran back to help me and took me to my room and got me medical attention.”
“He never pushed me, he didn’t kick me or throw me down any stairs,” he added.
Depp has sued Heard for $ 50 million, alleging defamation of an opinion piece she published in 2018 in The Washington Post in which she referred to herself as a public figure representing domestic abuse. Depp claimed the article damaged his career and has denied allegations of abuse. Heard sued Depp for $ 100 million after Depp’s lawyer, Adam Waldman, made several statements to the media describing his claims as false.
Depp, sometimes wearing sunglasses, went up to the booth for the first time since late April and told the same story as Moss. “Ma’am. Heard took the story and turned it into a very ugly incident, all in his mind,” she said. “There was never a time when I pushed Kate down the stairs.”
He then denied much of the defense’s case, claiming that Heard was abusive to both him and his sister, Whitney, whom he described as a “punching bag or dart board” for Heard. . He called his former business director Joel Mandel, against whom he filed a lawsuit now settled in 2016, a “bitter man who ended up with a lot of money for which I worked hard over the years.” Finally, he stated that he did not see any of Waldman’s statements until Heard filed a lawsuit against him in August 2020 and stated that he did not know where they were published and said they looked like a “salad of words.”
Depp also disputed Heard’s account of the brutal fight they had in Australia in 2015, during which his fingertip was cut off. He dismissed Heard’s claim that he took between eight and ten MDMA pills, saying, “I’m pretty sure he’d be dead. I think one would die, probably pretty quickly.” He also alleged that Heard threw a bottle of vodka at him, which he broke and cut off a “piece” of his finger. “I miss him,” he said with a laugh. The defense has suggested he was injured.
He also claimed that Heard gave him a “shine” during his 2015 honeymoon on the Orient Express, and his lawyer showed the jury two photos in which he appears to have a black eye. (The defense argued that he had a black eye before boarding the train.)
Finally, Depp described Heartd’s testimony as “horrible, ridiculous, humiliating, ridiculous, painful, savage, unimaginably brutal, cruel, and all false.” He added that he stated that “I don’t think anyone likes having to open up and tell the truth, but there are times when it just has to be done, because it’s out of control.”
During cross-examination, Depp made sarcastic remarks and often laughed, apparently frustrated, as Heart’s lawyer, Ben Rottenborn, pointed out inconsistencies in his testimony, such as the fact that he previously mentioned a phone in the area. from the house bar in Australia, but denied it. existence on Wednesday. When presented with a text message about women, “I need, I want, I accept,” the actor suggested that Rottenborn “could have written it last night.”
Later that day, the Hollywood media reported that TMZ filed an emergency motion – which Judge Penney Azcarate denied – to prevent its former employee Morgan Tremaine from testing. The media argued that the identity of a journalist’s source should be protected by Virginia law.
Tremaine worked as a field task manager for TMZ. He sent a camera to a Los Angeles courthouse to capture photos of Heard “leaving court and [of] an alleged bruise on the right side of his face ”after presenting the temporary removal order in May 2016.
He also received a video showing Depp hitting cupboards and pouring a large glass of wine, which TMZ posted and which the defense has put to the test in this trial. Tremaine stated that the video in evidence has been edited from the original to remove a part where Depp’s Heard is seen laughing.
Although Tremaine said he did not know who sent the clip to TMZ, he strongly suggested that it was Heard, explaining that the fastest way for the website to receive the copyright to a video is to get it directly. of the person who recorded it and is the owner: and they posted the video about 15 minutes after receiving it.
Tremaine admitted during the cross-examination that he had seen part of the trial, and made Heard’s lawyer, Elaine Bredehoft, ask, “That will allow you to have 15 minutes of fame, won’t it?”
“I’m actually targeting TMZ, a very controversial organization, and I’m not looking for 15 minutes here.” Tremaine replied. “Although you’re welcome to speculate. I could say the same, taking Amber Heard as a customer, for you.”
Jurors spent the rest of the day listening to the testimony of an expert, including a psychologist called to refute the opinion of a defense expert that Heard suffered from post-traumatic stress caused by the couple’s violence; and an expert in digital forensics called to suggest that the photos of Heard’s injuries had probably been executed using a photo editing program, although he could not definitively state that the photos were altered.
The testimony is scheduled to conclude on Thursday, and the closing arguments will begin Friday morning.