LAST UPDATE | 10 Jul 2020
JOHNNY DEPP HAS claimed that “all hell would break loose” if he failed to follow his ex-wife Amber Heard’s “rules”.
On his fourth day in the witness box, the Hollywood star gave an insight into the couple’s tempestuous relationship, and told the High Court no other woman had ever accused him of hitting them.
The Pirates Of The Caribbean actor has been giving evidence in his libel action against The Sun newspaper over allegations he was violent towards Heard, 34.
He is suing The Sun’s publisher News Group Newspapers (NGN), and its executive editor Dan Wootton, over an April 2018 article which labelled him a “wife-beater”.
Speaking about his relationship with Heard, Depp told the court it was “normal” for the couple to have dinner in front of the television, and to lay or sit on the couch together.
He said: “But on occasion, out of nowhere, if my hand wasn’t holding Ms Heard’s hand or I didn’t have my arm around her or whatever, she would reach over and grab my hand and put it on her thigh, so that I was then feeding the attention that she wanted.
“It was almost as if there were rules, she has a routine and if that routine isn’t met to her standards then there was going to be a problem.”
Depp’s barrister, David Sherborne, asked what would happen if Depp broke his ex-wife’s “rules”, to which he replied: “An argument would ensue and all hell would break loose.”
Sherborne earlier asked Depp if, other than Heard, “any woman ever accused you of hitting them in your 57 years?”
Depp replied: “No, sir.”
The barrister read out medical notes on Heard, which referred to her “history of substance abuse, including addiction to cocaine and liquor” as well as the actress having had “severe outbursts of anger and rage”.
Asked by Sherborne: “Does this accord with how you experienced Ms Heard or not?”, Mr Depp replied: “Yes.”
Depp, 57, was questioned about Heard’s 30th birthday party at the Eastern Columbia Building in Los Angeles in April 2016, and a “defecation incident”.
He told the court he thought the April 2016 incident was “a fitting end to the relationship”.
Earlier, Sasha Wass, lead counsel for NGN suggested Boo, one of the couple’s two Yorkshire terriers, “had problems with her toilet habits”, to which the actor said the dogs “were very well trained”, but that “Boo was not as trained as Pistol”, their other dog.
Wass said to Depp that “it came to your attention the following, that was the day of Amber’s actual birthday, that the cleaner had found faeces in the bed”.
She suggested Depp was later sent photographs of the faeces, which the actor found “hilarious” and that “there were jokes like ‘Amber Turd’, ‘Amber in the dumps’ going on.”
Depp replied: “It was one of the most absurd, unexpected statements that I have ever witnessed in my life so, yes, initially I did laugh because it was so strange.”
He told the court it was “a mystery” who defecated in the bed “and it was not left by a three or four-pound dog”.
Depp added: “I was convinced that it was either Heard herself or one of her cohort involved in leaving human faeces on the bed.”
The court briefing went into private today to consider evidence relating to Heard’s allegations of sexual violence.
The exact nature of the allegations was not disclosed to the press or public and remains unknown.
The actor’s case against NGN and Wootton arises out of the publication of an article on The Sun’s website on April 27 2018 with the headline: “Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be ‘genuinely happy’ casting wife-beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?”
NGN is defending the article as true and says Depp was “controlling and verbally and physically abusive towards Ms Heard, particularly when he was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs” between early 2013 and May 2016, when the couple split.
The pair met in 2011 and began living together in 2012 before marrying in Los Angeles in February 2015.
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