Depp ‘The Monster’ denies attacking Amber 14 times as his rages took over
JOHNNY Depp slapped his wife Amber Heard three times for laughing at his tattoo of his former love Winona Ryder, the High Court was told yesterday.
He also allegedly hit Miss Heard with the back of his hand after she tried to stop him setting fire to a painting given to her by ‘her former wife’.
The Hollywood star, 57, denies 14 occasions when he is said to have assaulted her during cocaine and booze binges.
On Day Two of a blockbuster libel trial, the court was told he first attacked Miss Heard in 2013 when she mocked the tattoo he had altered following his split from actress Miss Ryder, 48.
The self- confessed booze and drug addict changed ‘Winona forever’ to ‘Wino forever’. He told the court: ‘It seemed fitting.’
But when Miss Heard saw it, she laughed, according to Sasha Wass QC, for The Sun, who said Depp had been disappointed at himself at the time for falling off the wagon and was ‘sensitive’ about it and slapped her three times before breaking down in tears and begging her forgiveness.
‘That is not correct. That’s not true. It did not happen,’ the actor said. ‘I did not hit Miss Heard.’
Miss Wass said Depp then told
Heard for the first time about his dark alter-ego ‘The Monster’. ‘No ma’am,’ he replied.
The Pirates Of The Caribbean star is suing The Sun newspaper for a 2018 article which called him a ‘wife beater’.
Miss Heard, 34, who starred in the movie Aquaman, is the newspaper’s star witness. She met Depp after they starred together in 2011 movie The Rum Diary.
He tried to prevent the actress being in court while he gave evidence but Mr Justice Nichol ruled she could watch from the public gallery ahead of her own turn in the witness box.
The second alleged assault happened in March 2013 when the pair rowed after she refused to take down a painting by her former lover Taysa Van Ree which was hanging in her bedroom.
Depp said: ‘I did ask Miss Heard to remove a painting she had received from her former wife, as a courtesy to me.’
The actor then attempted ‘to set fire to the painting’, said Miss Wass as she cross-examined Depp.
But when Miss Heard intervened, he slapped her with the back of his hand and grabbed her violently by the arm, causing a bruise which she photographed, the court heard.
She claimed it was one of at least 14 attacks he carried out on her
Top: Depp yesterday. Above: Miss Heard’s bruised arm while he was high on drink and drugs during their relationship.
Depp, however, told the court: ‘I did not hit Miss Heard and have never hit Miss Heard.’
In another day of hellraising revelations as Depp spent his second day in the witness box, the star denied that he had gone on a 24-hour cocaine binge with rocker Marilyn Manson after taking his daughter Lily-Rose to school.
He admitted that he had once joked about putting Miss Heard’s dog in a microwave but denied holding the tiny Yorkshire terrier out of a car window and making ‘howling noises’.
The actor was also accused of going ‘ berserk’ after a woman fondled Miss Heard during a drugs trip in a trailer park.
Depp, who was diagnosed by a doctor as being bipolar and suffering from ADHD, depression and chronic substance misuse disorder, denied trashing the trailer they were staying in. He said he had smoothed things over with the manager. Depp said: ‘During the argument I punched the glass light fixture above the bathroom mirror and smashed it.’
Miss Wass replied: ‘The trailer was very badly damaged. There was mess everywhere. You had trashed the trailer.’ He said: ‘No, ma’am.’
In an email Miss Heard never sent to Depp, she described him as a Jekyll and Hyde character, adding: ‘Half of you, I love. Madly. The other half scares me. I can’t take him. You have hit me repeated. Something you should never have done. What a ******* man you are. And NONE of this would be possible without the booze and drugs.’
But Depp accused his ex-wife of ‘building a dossier’ against him – starting from even before they married – which appeared to be an ‘insurance policy for later’. He alleged he was the victim of a ‘hoax’ so the actress could align herself with the #MeToo movement.
The Sun is defending its article by saying it is ‘completely true’ to describe Depp as a wife beater.
The case is expected to last three weeks.
‘I have never hit Miss Heard’