Depp ‘dangled Heard’s pet dog out of speeding car’
Hollywood star denies striking former wife Heard during libel action against ‘The Sun’ newspaper
JOHNNY DEPP dangled his former wife’s pet dog out of a speeding car window during a furious row in which he physically assaulted her, a court has been told.
During an argument early in their relationship in March 2013, the Hollywood actor grew so angry with Amber Heard that he also allegedly tried to set fire to a painting she owned, accusing her of having an affair with its painter, the female artist Tasya van Ree.
The High Court in London heard yesterday that as the row continued on the way to a film set the next morning, Depp – alleged to have still been high on cocaine and whiskey – held the actress’s tiny terrier Pistol out of the car window and howled.
A few weeks later he allegedly sent a series of texts to his friend Paul Bettany, the British actor, in which he talked about killing Heard.
The claims were made during a libel case the actor has been pursuing against NGN, publishers of ‘The Sun’ newspaper, after it described him in April 2018 as a “wife beater”.
In court, Depp repeatedly denied hitting Heard and accused her of creating a “hoax” about his behaviour.
Sasha Wass, ‘The Sun’s defence barrister, laid out allegations surrounding the attack by Depp in March 2013, which she said had been sparked by Heard laughing at one of his tattoos.
Depp had modified a tattoo that had spelt out “Winona Forever” – a reference to his former partner, Winona Ryder – to read “Wino Forever”, something Heard had mocked after he allegedly resumed drinking and taking drugs.
Addressing Depp in the witness box, Ms Wass said: “You then slapped Ms Heard across the face, the first time you used violence against her.”
Ms Wass accused him of striking Heard a second time during the argument at her LA home, this time with the back of his hand.
Depp said: “That’s patently untrue. That didn’t happen... I did not hit Ms Heard.”
The court was shown a picture of lines of cocaine and alcohol said to have been consumed by Depp during the argument.
It was claimed the next morning he continued drinking whiskey and taking cocaine to such an extent that he was late seeing Keith Richards, the Rolling Stones guitarist, about a documentary.
Ms Wass said when Heard and some of Depp’s entourage finally managed to get him into a car to drive to the film set, he held her pet dog Pistol out of the window and made howling noises.
Depp said: “I can say it’s an enduring image but it’s an absolute, utter falsity, it’s fraudulent. I don’t think hanging a small defenceless dog that weighed three pounds out of the window at speed is my idea of fun, even though my sense of humour is rather unique.”
The actor admitted joking about putting Pistol in a microwave, but said this was a running joke within the Heard family because of its size.
Weeks later, matters allegedly took a darker turn when Depp sent a text to Bettany, described in court as his “drug buddy”, saying: “Let’s burn Amber.”
In another text, Depp is said to have written: “Let’s drown her before we burn her. I will f*** her burnt corpse after we’ve burnt her to make sure she’s dead.” Depp explained the text by saying he felt “resentful” at Heard telling him to cut his drug and alcohol consumption.
Extracts were also read out from an email Heard wrote to Depp, but did not send, in which she described him as a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde character. She wrote: “Half of you, I love. Madly. The other half scares me. I can’t take him. I wish I could, but I can’t.”
Depp dismissed her accusations as a hoax. “It appears to me that Ms Heard was building a dossier very early on that appears to be an insurance policy,” he said.
The hearing continues.