Actor Johnny Depp is back on the stand for testimony in his libel lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard, a day after he denied her allegations of domestic abuse
By MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press
20 April 2022, 14:05
• 2 min read
Share to FacebookShare to TwitterEmail this articleFAIRFAX, Va. -- Actor Johnny Depp returned to the stand Wednesday for testimony in his libel lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard, a day after he denied her allegations of domestic abuse.
Depp took the stand in Fairfax County Circuit Court after nearly three hours of testimony on Tuesday.
Most of his Day 1 testimony focused on his descriptions of a difficult childhood, his rise to fame as an actor after an aborted music career and his early relationship with Heard after meeting her on the 2011 film “The Rum Diary.”
He has yet to address in any detail the turbulent years of their brief marriage, and her accusations that he physically and sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions.
Depp sued Heard after she wrote a 2018 op-ed piece in The Washington Post in which she referred to herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.”
She never mentioned Depp by name, but Depp and his lawyers said it was a clear reference to accusations Heard made in 2016 when the couple divorced and she sought a restraining order against him.
Depp said the accusations and the article contributed to an unfairly ruined reputation that made him a Hollywood pariah and cost him his role in the lucrative “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie franchise.
Heard's lawyers say the article is accurate and does not defame him. They say Depp's ruined reputation is the result of his own bad behavior, including drug and alcohol abuse.
On the stand Tuesday, Depp called the accusations of drug addiction “grossly embellished,” though he acknowledged trying every drug known to man and that he started abusing medication at age 11 when he snuck his mother's “nerve pills.”
His testimony Tuesday featured long, stream-of-consciousness responses to his lawyer's questions, often wandering well beyond what he was asked.
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Associated Press writer Ben Finley contributed to this report from Norfolk, Virginia.
