Depp says wife punched him when he lost R10.9bn
LONDON: Movie star Johnny Depp concluded five days of testimony in his libel case against Britain’s
Sun newspaper on Monday, saying his ex-wife Amber Heard threw a “haymaker” punch at him on the night he found out he had lost $650 million (R10.9 billion).
The 57-year-old star of Pirates of the Caribbean is suing the Sun’s publisher, News Group Newspapers, at London’s High Court after the tabloid labelled him a “wife beater” in a 2018 article.
The court has heard evidence from the paper’s lawyer that Depp violently attacked his former wife on at least 14 occasions over three years from 2013, when enraged by jealously and having consumed large amounts of alcohol or drugs.
The actor would become, according to Heard, 34, and by his own account, “the monster”, the Sun’s lawyer Sasha Wass has told the court.
Depp rejects all the allegations that he attacked his wife and says Heard was lying, making up a choreographed hoax as part of an “insurance policy” dossier, and that she attacked him.
The court was told that one incident occurred after Heard’s 30th birthday party in 2016 which Depp was late for following a meeting with his business advisers.
At that meeting, he was told his previous managers lost $650m he had made from films, a “ludicrous” sum, he said, and that he owed $100m because he had not paid tax for 17 years.
He told the court Heard accused him of making her look foolish in front of her friends and had attacked him while he was reading in bed, throwing a “haymaker” wild, swinging punch at him.
The court has been shown a number of pictures Heard took of herself with injuries she says
Depp inflicted. She will start giving evidence on Friday.