Love dramas
It’s been one of Hollywood’s most toxic divorces and last week saw the bitter split between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard played out in public, as the pair came face-toface in a London courtroom.
Actor Johnny, 57, is suing The Sun newspaper over an article published in 2018 that referred to him as a “wife beater”, with Amber called to the High Court to give evidence against him, three years after their divorce.
It has led to one of the most dramatic celebrity court appearances of recent times.
In a stream of explosive evidence, the court has heard stories of drug-taking and allegations of domestic abuse, threatening text messages and gruesome injuries.
DEFECATED
Pirates Of The Caribbean star Johnny strenuously denies ever being violent towards Amber, 34, with his lawyers insisting he was in court “to clear his reputation”, and alleging that Amber had “invented these stories”. As
Closer went to press, the actor was claiming that she was the “abuser” in the relationship – even alleging that she cut the top off of his finger by throwing a glass bottle at him and stubbing a lit cigarette out on his cheek – all of which she has denied.
In his testimony, Johnny also accused Amber of seducing him to advance her own career, and having an affair with tech billionaire Elon Musk. He also claims that she “or one of her friends” defecated in his bed as a “prank”.
On the third day of the trial, Johnny admitted to headbutting Amber in the forehead in 2015, in an accidental “collision” as he tried to “get hold of her” while she was “flailing and punching him”. A text Johnny sent to Amber’s dad apologising for the headbutt, and photos of Amber with black eyes, were used as evidence – but Johnny denied the injuries in the photo were consistent with what happened.
Meanwhile, the Friday Night Lights actress insisted he slapped her, wrote on a wall in blood and drank pints of wine for breakfast. At one point, the court was shown a secret video she had filmed of Johnny smashing a bottle and kicking cupboards while drinking a huge glass of wine. She even claimed Johnny had joked with fellow actor Paul Bettany over text message about “setting her on fire”. She also claimed he attacked her after she laughed at his famous “wino forever” tattoo – which he had done following his break-up from actress Winona Ryder by re-working her name on the inking.
DRUG USAGE
During cross-examination, Johnny talked about his heavy drug and alcohol usage, citing that a difficult childhood and struggles to come to terms with his fame were to blame. He admitted to trying “every drug known to man” by the age of 14.
The actor also revealed how he had achieved sobriety with the help of close friend Elton John, presenting an email he’d written to the pop legend in which Johnny had written, “My dearest Elton, 100 f*****g days of clarity for an old reprobate t**t like me. No-one would ever have believed it possible but for a select few, most importantly you.”
Johnny – who was previously married to make-up artist Lori Anne Allison and had long-term relationships with models
Kate Moss and Vanessa Paradis – and Amber seemed loved-up after meeting on the set of
The Rum Diary in 2009.
They dated for six years, before heading down the aisle in 2015 in a romantic beach wedding in the Bahamas.
While they seemed happy, the couple baffled fans with an awkward apology video after smuggling their dogs Pistol and Boo into Australia from the US, breaking customs regulations.
After their divorce went through in 2017, bisexual Amber went on to date Musk, before moving on with cinematographer Bianca Butti, while Johnny dated Russian dancer Polina Glen for six months last year.
The libel court hearing was expected to last for three weeks.