Ex-wife says star ‘pulled out clumps of her hair & headbutted her in face’
JOHNNY Depp headbutted ex-wife Amber Heard and pulled out clumps of her hair in attacks, a court heard.
The Hollywood A-lister also allegedly used a finger he had just lost the tip of to write “I love you” on a mirror in his blood after putting her through a three-day ordeal.
The explosive claims were put to Depp, 57, on his third day on the witness stand in his libel action against The Sun.
He is suing the tabloid newspaper’s publisher, News Group Newspapers, over a 2018 article which labelled him a “wife-beater”.
Photos claim to show bruising to Heard’s face after she was headbutted in December 2015.
Sasha Wass QC, lead counsel for NGN, read a message from a nurse who had spoken with Heard after the alleged incident, saying she had told her Depp was “inebriated and used his forehead to hit her head”.
The barrister asked Depp if he could think of any reason why Heard would give that account if it was not true.
He replied: “It is my belief this is another wonderful thing to put in the kaleidoscope of her dossier that she is building.”
He added: “This injury that she would’ve suffered is not consistent with the photographs that she has given to the court.
“I was walking away from the argument to my office, she was hitting me in the neck, ear, back.
“I turned to cover my head and she was swinging quite wildly so the only thing I could do was run or to try to get hold of her, to get my arms around her to stop her flailing and punching me, so I did so, as I did so it seems there was a collision.”
Depp demonstrated with his arms how he claims he took hold of Heard and said she was “kicking and moving” so there was “very close contact”.
He added: “That is the only collision and the only potential injury Ms Heard could have had, there is no way I did as she said and broke her nose. She immediately said, ‘You headbutted me’, and in that moment when I tried to grab her around her arms and her body to control the violence, she immediately said, ‘You headbutted me’ and screamed and ran away.”
The actor was then quizzed as to why he had not mentioned “accidentally” headbutting Heard in his witness statements to the court. He said: “Had I read the entire statement after the lawyers had drafted it, I would have found that missing piece.”
Depp said he used the word “headbutt” because that was the word Heard used, saying: “I said [to Ms Heard], ‘I headbutted you in the forehead, that doesn’t break a nose’.”
Depp was then asked about an alleged bust-up in their LA penthouse in March 2015.
Wass put it to him that he started “smashing things” after she accused him of an affair. She said: “You grabbed Amber Heard by the hair and hit her in the head.” Depp said: “I did nothing violent ... but possibly tried to protect myself.”
Wass suggested he “grabbed her by the throat and pushed her on the bed, slapped her
across the face saying you were going to kill her”, then “threw all your weight on top of her ... you were actually smothering her”.
Wass alleged that Depp then “pulled out clumps of Heard’s hair” before leaving the apartment. The actor denies all of this. Depp also denied being violent while filming in Australia in 2015 – when he allegedly “destroyed” the house they were staying in. Wass said Heard, 34, alleges there was a “threeday ordeal of assaults, during which you were under the influence of drugs and you were violent”.
Depp said: “I vehemently deny it and would go so far as to say it is pedestrian fiction.” The barrister put it to Depp that he was “drinking regularly” and “taking controlled drugs” at the time. He replied: “I respectfully disagree.”
Wass later said: “I suggest you were angry, you were in a house you had exclusive occupancy of with Ms Heard, a house with a large amount of alcohol in it, and what you described as your ugliness came to the fore in the three days.” Depp said it was not a “three-day ordeal” and claimed there was an argument when Heard “started yelling” about signing a pre-nuptial agreement and threw a bottle at him, severing his fingertip. Wass put it to Depp he subjected Heard to abuse including slapping her and grabbing her by the throat. The actor denied this. Wass said on their last day in Australia, Heard “came downstairs... and the house was destroyed”.
She said: “Everything was broken and shattered, and it was clear at that stage you had very seriously damaged your finger.
“You had written on a mirror. You had written in paint but you had used your injured finger in place of a paintbrush, you had dipped your injured finger in the paint.” Depp said: “At first, I had used my blood.”
The actor said when he realised the top of his finger was missing “and pouring blood profusely and the bone was sticking out, I believe I went into some kind of breakdown”.
The hearing continues.