At this point in time, the debacle between star Johnny Depp and his ex-wife actress Amber Heard is probably well known. The two divorced back in 2017, and ever since have accused one another of domestic abuse throughout their short marriage. Now Johnny Depp has finally had the opportunity to stand in court after suing News Group Newspapers, the publisher for the Sun, and their executive editor, Dan Wootton. In 2018, the Sun ran an article which suggested Johnny Depp abused Amber Heard during their marriage, and Depp has since been fighting against those claims. In fact, he’s insisted that Amber Heard has actually been the abusive one towards him.
According to Depp, via the LA Times, Heard “said to the world that she was in fear of her life from me, and I had been this horrible monster if you will. Which was not the case.”
The duo arrived to a courtroom in London with face masks, entering the establishment via separate doors. The trial is intended to last three weeks. On top of this, proceedings have been occurring in several courtrooms in an effort to promote social distancing against the Coronavirus.
The trial’s witnesses will include Johnny Depp’s previous partners Vanessa Paradis and Winona Ryder, who have both agreed to defend him against Heard.
Depp explained during the trial how Heard would hit him:
“As things tended to do, [it] escalated and got physical, ending with a bit of assault. Ms. Heard struck me,” he said.
Johnny Depp also insisted that he would try to de-escalate the situation whenever possible.
“Whenever it would escalate I would try to go to my own corner, as it were … before things got out of hand,” he said.
While Amber Heard isn’t actually on trial, the Sun is using her allegations of 14 incidents of violence as evidence against Depp. Nevertheless, Depp and his legal team insist that she was the abusive one and that all of the allegations against Depp are false.
“She was the abuser, not him,” Depp’s lead lawyer, David Sherborne, said in a written statement.
“She is a highly complex and aggressive individual who suffered extreme mood swings, would provoke endless circular arguments, and fly into violent rages.”
Johnny Depp also acknowledged in the trial, however, that he had taken drugs in the past beginning when he was 11 years old. According to him, he didn’t have “a particularly stable or secure or safe home life.” He said it was “the only way that I found to numb the pain.”
This was a response to questions laid out by the Sun’s lawyer, Sasha Wass. She also tried to say Depp had anger issues and cited a 1989 arrest for assault and a later incident in which he damaged a New York hotel room as examples.
“I was angry, but that doesn’t mean I have an anger problem,” Depp said.
In connection with Depp’s drug use, the Sun’s lawyers tried to have the suit thrown out of court since Johnny Depp failed to disclose text messages where he was trying to acquire “MDMA and other narcotics” while in Australia with Heard in 2015. The date happens to coincide with one of the incidents that Heard accused Depp of having assaulted her while drinking and taking drugs.
Nevertheless, while Judge Andrew Nicol ruled that Depp had breached the court order, he refused to throw out the actor’s claim. He also refused Depp’s attempt to get Heard’s communications with past partners James Franco and Elon Musk disclosed.
According to Depp’s lawyer, Sherborne, he said Depp had brought the case to “clear his reputation.”
“This is not a case about money,” he said. “It is about vindication.”
We’ll be sure to keep you posted on any new developments in the case.