At slander trial, Johnny Depp tells Amber Heard he "hurt her career"
Johnny Depp said his ex-wife Amber Heard made "sick" statements of abuse against him and falsely called him a "monster", when testifying in a UK defamation case that revolves around who the abuser was in the relationship. violent and toxic of the famous couple.
"These sick arguments are totally untrue," Depp said in a written witness statement, adding that Heard's allegations hurt his career and have been "a constant problem" finding work.
The Pirates of the Caribbean star sued British tabloid The Sun over an April 2018 article titled "Potty - How can JK Rowling be 'really happy' casting hitter husband Johnny Depp in the new movie Fantastic Beasts?"
The newspaper's lawyers plan to use Heard's allegations to defend the label of "battering husband."
The actor denies Heard's arguments that he assaulted her during their stormy marriage, and is suing The Sun's editor, News Group Newspapers, and its executive editor, Dan Wootton.
The trial began on Tuesday at the High Court in London. It is one of the first cases to be carried out in person, since Great Britain began to lift its restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Depp, dressed in a dark suit and tie, took the stand and first took the oath and gave his full name: John Christopher Depp II.
He then told the court that Heard had "told the world that he feared for his life, and that I was this horrible monster, so to speak, which is not the case."
The Sun's defense is based on Heard's allegations of 14 incidents of violence by Depp between 2013 and 2016, in Los Angeles, Australia, Japan, the Bahamas and a chartered jet, among other places.
Depp denies all of them and says that Heard, an actress and model, attacked him with a drink can, a cigarette, and other objects. She also alleges that Heard, or one of her friends, defecated in her bed on one occasion.
Depp, 57, and Heard, 34, met on the set of the 2011 sitcom The Rum Diary, and were married in Los Angeles in February 2015. They divorced in 2017, and are now accusing each other of abuse.
Depp and Heard entered the neo-Gothic courthouse through separate doors. Both wore face masks, in a judicial process that was deployed throughout several rooms to allow social distancing.
Johnny Depp has already submitted his testimony, and she has yet to give hers. In addition there will be other witnesses, who are still unknown, but who will also go to court.
The case against The Sun is expected to end in three weeks, and will surely lay the groundwork for litigation to take place in Virginia, United States, where Depp is suing Heard for libel as well.
