Depp ‘lied about finger to protect former wife’
Johnny Depp lied about how he lost the top of his middle finger “only to protect” his exwife Amber Heard, one of the actor’s security guards told the High Court on the sixth day of his blockbuster libel case against The Sun.
Malcolm Connolly, who has worked for Mr Depp and his family for about 16 years, said the 57-year-old Hollywood star was “in emotional distress and panicking” after his finger was severed during an incident in Australia in March 2015.
Giving evidence at the Royal Courts of Justice in London yesterday, Mr Connolly said that when he and another security guard arrived at the property, Mr Depp told him: “She’s cut my f ****** finger off. She’s smashed my hand with a vodka bottle.”
The episode in Australia is one of 14 allegations of violent behaviour Ms Heard, 34, has made against Mr Depp which The Sun relies on in its defence of the claim that he was a “wife beater”, made in an April 2018 article.
Ms Heard claims that Mr Depp lost the top of his finger while slamming a telephone against a wall, but the actor says his ex-wife threw a vodka bottle at him which smashed and severed his finger.
The security officer said Ms Heard’s account of the incident bore “no resemblance” to his recollection and that, when he arrived at the house, the actress “did not have any marks on her face or arms”.
He also said that Ms Heard was “absolutely hysterical” and shouted at Mr Depp: “Are you just going to leave it like this, you f ****** coward?”
Sasha Wass QC, representing the tabloid’s publisher News Group Newspapers (NGN), said Mr Depp had “come up with a variety of potential explanations to give to other people about how his finger was damaged”.
Mr Connolly said that those explanations were “only to protect Amber”, adding: “The usual victim pattern is to protect the abuser for some reason.”
The former prison officer also claimed that “Ms Heard hitting or slapping Mr Depp” was not a “one-off ”, saying that it had happened “in Australia and in Los Angeles”.
Mr Depp’s barrister David Sherborne asked Mr Connolly: “Did you ever witness Mr Depp physically attack or hit Ms Heard at any time?”
Mr Connolly said: “No - and I wouldn’t tolerate any man striking a woman. No matter who he was, I just wouldn’t tolerate that.”
Mr Sherborne asked: “Not even if it was your boss?” Mr Connolly replied: “Not even if he’s my boss. I don’t care if he’s the pope.”
The court also heard evidence from Tara Roberts, Mr Depp’s estate manager on his island in the Bahamas, who said in her witness statement: “I never saw Johnny, who is an unusually kind man, be violent or aggressive with Amber or anyone else.”
Ms Roberts said that “it was Ms Heard who was the most violent” and described seeing Mr Depp with a “red, swelling gash” on the bridge of his nose after Ms Heard had apparently thrown a can of lacquer thinner at his face. She also claimed that Ms Heard hurled insults at Mr Depp, calling him “washed up” and “fat”, and was aggressive towards the actor during a Christmas visit to the Bahamas in 2015.