Allegations ‘mirror’ Heard’s actions, Depp claims
JOHNNY DEPP has said Amber Heard’s allegations of domestic violence “mirrored” what he claims was her abuse towards him.
The Pirates Of The Caribbean star told the High Court that “it seemed like everything she would accuse me of was something she had done to me”.
Depp, 57, also accused Ms Heard, 34, of throwing a “haymaker” punch at him during a row after her 30th birthday party, hours after he had learned during a “bad” business meeting that he had lost $650m (£514m).
The Hollywood actor made the claims yesterday during his fifth day of evidence in his libel action against The Sun newspaper.
He is suing the tabloid’s publisher News Group Newspapers (NGN) and its executive editor Dan Wootton over an April 2018 article which labelled him a “wife beater”.
During his final morning in the witness box, Mr Depp’s barrister David Sherborne referred to a recording of the former couple discussing matters in San Francisco in July 2016, after they had split and Ms Heard had obtained a restraining order against the actor.
He told the court that in the recording, Ms Heard said it was “unbelievable to imagine” that she had either been “in a secret fight club” or “plotting to do this for three years ... just saving it up for the right time” when she was not asking for any money, adding “no-one is going to believe that”.
Mr Depp said he had no idea what “secret fight club” referred to as he had never heard the term.
The actor said: “I thought it meant a couple of scenarios, the secret fight club I didn’t understand.
“I thought it was a very odd alternative to the secret fight club and it seemed to me in a strange way ... it was almost as if it was a reverse confession, if you will.
“It seemed like everything she would accuse me of was something that she had done to me, so I started to see this kind of pattern, a mirroring, and when she said that, I was real taken aback, for sure.”
Mr Sherborne also asked Mr Depp about an argument after Ms Heard’s 30th birthday party at the couple’s LA penthouse on April 21, 2016.
The actor is accused of throwing a bottle of champagne at
Ms Heard, grabbing her by the hair, and pushing her during a row, after he arrived home late for the party. Mr Depp denies the allegations. He previously told the court he went straight to bed and was reading when he arrived home as he was trying to avoid a confrontation with Ms Heard.
Yesterday, the court heard that in the “secret recording” of the couple’s San Francisco meeting, Mr Depp can be heard to say “you f ****** haymakered me, man”.
The actor also says to Ms Heard that “you came around the bed to f ****** start punching on me”, the court heard.
Mr Sherborne asked what a “haymaker” was, to which Mr
Depp replied: “It’s just a type of wild swinging... kind of a roundhouse punch, as it were. It’s a bit of a wild swing, but effective if it reaches the target.”
The barrister said it had been suggested to Mr Depp by Sasha Wass QC, NGN’s lead counsel, that by going to bed and reading on her birthday, he had made her angry.
Mr Sherborne asked: “Mr Depp, did you deserve to be punched because you were reading in bed on her birthday?”
Mr Depp replied: “Under the circumstances of being harangued and forced into some argument or altercation, I didn’t think that it was the wrong thing to do.
“I thought it was best to remove myself from the argument because it seemed ridiculous to me.”
The actor is suing NGN and Mr Wootton over the publication of an article on April 27, 2018 with the headline: “Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be ‘genuinely happy’ casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?” NGN is defending the article as true, and says Mr Depp was “controlling and verbally and
physically abusive towards Ms Heard, particularly when he was under the influence of alcohol and/ or drugs”.
The hearing continues.