Johnny Depp to Face more Questions from ex-wife’s Lawyers in Defamation Case

In front of a jury that will resolve the actors’ dueling defamation claims, Hollywood star Johnny Depp returns to the witness stand on Monday to answer further questions from counsel for ex-wife Amber Heard.

Depp, 58, issued Heard, 36, for $50 million, alleging that he abused her before and throughout their two-year marriage. Heard was the one who grew violent in the relationship, according to the “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor.

As per Reuters, Heard, who has appeared in films such as “Aquaman” and “Justice League,” has filed a countersuit for $100 million, alleging that Depp defamed her by calling her a liar.

Heard’s lawyers produced emails and text messages written by Depp to Heard, friends, family, and associates last week, which were frequently packed with expletives and vulgar descriptions.

Writing to actor Paul Bettany in 2013, Depp said: “Let’s drown her before we burn her” and “I will fuck her burnt corpse afterward to make sure she is dead.”

Depp said he was “not proud of any of the language he used in anger.”

Earlier, the actor claimed that it was Heard who would slap or shove him during arguments. According to Heard, he allegedly threw a vodka bottle at Depp’s hand, severing the top of his right middle finger.

Heard denied throwing a bottle and severing Depp’s finger in a separate legal case in the United Kingdom. She claimed she only threw objects to get out from him while he was beating her, and that she once attacked him because she was afraid he might shove her sister down the stairs.

Depp claimed he never hit Heard or any other woman. He claims Heard defamed him in a December 2018 opinion post in the Washington Post on her experience as a domestic abuse survivor.

Although Depp was not addressed by name in the piece, his lawyer told jurors that it was apparent that Heard was referring to him. In 2017, the couple’s divorce was finalized.

Heard’s charges cost Depp “everything,” according to Depp, who was previously one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Depp was withdrawn from the “Fantastic Beasts” film franchise, a “Harry Potter” spinoff, and a new “Pirates” film was placed on hold.

Heard’s lawyers have contended that she told the truth and that her viewpoint was allowed free speech under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. In their opening statements, Heard’s lawyers claimed that Depp assaulted her physically and sexually while abusing drugs and alcohol.

The trial is being overseen by a state court judge in Fairfax County, Virginia, and is likely to go until late May.

Depp lost a libel action against The Sun, a British tabloid, for calling him a “wife-beater” less than two years ago. Heard was repeatedly assaulted, according to a London High Court judge.

The United States complaint was brought in Fairfax County, Virginia, outside of Washington, D.C., according to Depp’s lawyers, because the Washington Post is printed there. The newspaper is not a party in the case.