Depp ‘warned Amber in row: If I don’t walk away it will be a bloodbath’
JOHNNY Depp winced in court yesterday as recordings of him warning ex-wife Amber Heard of a ‘bloodbath’ were played to a jury.
The former couple sat through an uncomfortable day as audio clips of them arguing viciously were aired at their $100million defamation trial.
As the Pirates of the Caribbean star, 58, shifted in his seat at the sound of the fighting, Miss Heard, 36, appeared to fight back tears. The clips were played on Depp’s fourth and final day in the witness stand during the case which has shone a light on the pair’s tempestuous and allegedly violent five years together.
It was not clear who recorded the rows but in one Depp was heard telling fellow film star Miss Heard: ‘Walking away is necessary, especially between you and I. It’s of utmost importance.
‘The next move, if I don’t walk away... it’s going to be a bloodbath.
‘It’s not worth it. Why be miserable? Can we just have some understanding?’
In reply, Miss Heard said, given a choice between a bloodbath and walking away, ‘obviously’ she will choose the latter. He responded: ‘Then why has it [bloodbath] been chosen so many times?’ The court in Fairfax, Virginia, heard another recording in which Miss Heard said: ‘Put your f ****** cigarette out on somebody else.’ Depp replied: ‘Shut up, fat a**.’ Asked about it in court, Depp said: ‘I think that was another grossly exaggerated moment of Miss Heard. I didn’t put a cigarette out on her.’
Among other disturbing evidence was a text Depp sent to his agent Christian Carino saying Miss Heard will ‘hit the wall hard’ and he hoped ‘karma takes the gift of breath from her’.
Depp is suing Miss Heard for $50million (£39million). He claims that he lost the role of Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean series after Miss Heard wrote a piece in 2018 in the Washington Post claiming she was a survivor of domestic abuse. She is countersuing for $100million, claiming that Depp is an ‘obsessed ex-husband hell-bent on revenge’.
Miss Heard’s lawyer Benjamin Rottenborn played the jury audio recordings and read out texts including messages between Depp and Mr Carino from August 2016, two months after Miss Heard filed for divorce following 15 months of marriage. In one message Depp said of her: ‘She will hit the wall hard !!!! I can only hope that karma kicks in and takes the gift of breath from her.’
The court heard that the couple had an emotional meeting a month earlier in which Depp asked her to cut him with a knife and said: ‘You’ve taken everything. You want my blood? Take it.’
Depp told the court that Miss Heard asked him to meet him at a hotel in San Francisco
The court previously heard an unsettling recording of the incident in which Depp repeatedly tells her to cut him, saying in a low voice: ‘You f ****** hate me.’
Asked about the incident, Depp said: ‘I thought Miss Heard had brought me to San Francisco, it was clear, under false pretenses. I don’t know what she was after.
‘I had a knife in my pocket. I took the knife out and said “Here – cut me”.’ Recounting their conversation, Depp said he told her: ‘That’s what you want to do. You’ve taken everything. You want my blood? Take it. She said “No, no”.’ The jury also heard a dramatic phone call between the couple in which Miss Heard said: ‘Tell the world “I, Johnny Depp – a man – am a victim of domestic violence” and see how many people believe or side with you.”’
Under questioning from his lawyer Camille Vasquez, Depp sought to downplay messages he swapped with his friend, the British actor Paul Bettany, in which they joked about drowning and burning Miss Heard. Depp said: ‘It’s directly from Monty Python in the sketch about burning witches and drowning witches. This is a film we’d all watched when we were ten. It’s just irreverent and abstract humour.’
Depp lost a similar case at the High Court in London in 2020. The current trial continues and is due to last until late May.
‘She will hit the wall hard’