Fear and loathing in London
JOHNNY Depp and Amber Heard will come face-to-face in court within days, a judge ruled yesterday.
The former married couple will both appear at London’s High Court on Tuesday where Depp, 57, is suing The Sun newspaper for libel after it called him a “wife beater”.
The April 2018 article related to Heard’s claims that he was violent to her during their marriage – which he strenuously denies.
Yesterday Mr Justice Andrew Nicol ruled the actress would be allowed in court while Depp gave evidence.
Depp, whose movies include Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, had requested Heard not be present while he was in the witness box. But the judge ruled that would “inhibit the defendants in the conduct of their defence”.
Heard, 34, claims Depp hit and choked her while in the grip of addictions to drugs and booze.
But Depp’s team say her story was an “elaborate hoax” designed to advance her career and allege she assaulted him.
The pre-trial hearing has heard explosive claims including Depp allegedly begging his assistant for “happy pills” and “whitey stuff” – which lawyers claim meant ecstasy and cocaine – days before he allegedly assaulted his wife.
In another claim, Heard is described as a “Gone Girl” – a reference to a 2012 thriller in which a wife goes missing and leaves a trail of faked evidence which frames her husband for her murder.
Depp’s lawyers also claim Heard had “two extra-marital affairs” with Spacex boss Elon Musk and actor James Franco. Musk and Heard both deny the allegations.
Depp and Heard met in 2011 when she was cast as his love interest in the film, The Rum Diary.
They married in February 2015.
In May of the following year, Heard filed a restraining order against her husband, saying she was “extremely afraid” of him. Allegations surfaced that he had hit her, and she appeared in public with a bruised face.
Their divorce became final in early 2017 with Heard receiving a £5.3million settlement out of court, which she donated to charity.
Depp’s former partners Vanessa Paradis and Winona Ryder are both expected to give evidence at the trial, which is estimated to last three weeks.