Depp defends lawsuit as a way to ‘fight back’

Johnny Depp concluded a grueling four days on the witness stand Monday, telling jurors in a calm voice that he filed his libel lawsuit against his ex-wife because it was his best chance to reclaim his reputation, just hours after they heard audio clips of him berating his wife with coarse vulgarities.

“It was the only time I was able to fight back and use my own voice,” Depp said of his decision to sue Amber Heard for a 2018 op-ed piece in The Washington Post in which she refers to herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.”

He continued to deny that he ever hit Heard, and accused her of hitting him and throwing items at him. And jurors heard an audio clip of a conversation between Depp and Heard in which she seems to taunt him and suggests he won’t be believed or respected if he were to publicly cast her as an abuser. “Tell them, I, Johnny Depp, I’m a victim of domestic abuse ... and see how many people believe or side with you,” Heard says on the recording.

Earlier Monday, though, they heard recordings in which Depp referred to the violence that could ensue if their arguments were allowed to escalate.

Depp winced on the stand as one of the clips was played; Heard appeared to fight back tears at several points as she listened to the recordings. AP