Johnny Depp accused ex-wife Amber Heard of repeatedly belittling him and frequently turning physically violent during their tumultuous marriage as he testified for the second day in a row at his defamation trial against the actress.
Depp asserted Wednesday in the Fairfax, Virginia, courtroom that Heard’s “demeaning comments” and name-calling would often “escalate into a full-scale argument.” He cited multiple alleged instances of violence, including claiming Heard threw a bottle that severed the tip of his right middle finger.
Heard “was unable to be wrong” during their disagreements, Depp said, which left him feeling like he was “not allowed to have a voice.”
“It was sort of a rapid fire, sort of endless parade of insults,” Depp said. “You know, looking at me like I was a fool, and I was having difficulty in my mind, of course, and in my heart dealing with that sort of barrage.”
He would often try to remove himself from the situation when the arguments began, Depp said.
“There were times when I would just go and lock myself in the bathroom or anywhere that she couldn’t get into,” Depp said. “That happened constantly over the years.”
Depp alleged that Heard would sometimes “strike out” in anger or frustration.
“It could begin with a slap,” Depp claimed. “It could begin with a shove. It could begin with throwing a TV remote at my head. It could be throwing a glass of wine in my face.”
The 2015 argument that led to his injured finger, Depp contended, occurred in Australia after Heard saw him drinking alcohol for the first time in a while. He claimed Heard hurled a bottle of vodka that narrowly missed his head, before throwing a larger bottle that struck his hand.
“I was looking directly at my bone sticking out and the meaty portion of the inside of your finger, and blood was just pouring out,” Depp said.
Weeks later, Depp claimed, Heard struck him in the face during another dispute.
He also denied multiple allegations of violence that Heard made against him, detailing an incident in which he says the actress “clobbered” him until he wrapped his arms around her. He said he believes their heads made contact, but denied headbutting her or breaking her nose.
He says Heard claimed shortly afterward that her nose was broken, and showed him a tissue with a red substance on it.
“I pulled the Kleenex out of the trash bin and I inspected it pretty closely, and realized that it was nail polish,” Depp said. “It was nail varnish or polish.”
He then described an April 2016 altercation that allegedly occurred on the night of Heard’s 30th birthday party, which Depp says he arrived late to due to a meeting he was attending.
Heard was angry with him, said Depp, who claims she hit him multiple times after the party ended before he left and spent the night at another home. Depp said he planned to retrieve items the following morning once Heard left for the Coachella music festival, but was told he shouldn’t come by someone at the home who sent him a photo.
“It was a photograph of the bed, our bed, and on my side of the bed was human fecal matter, so I understood why it wasn’t a good time to go down there,” Depp said Wednesday. “My initial response to that was, I mean, I laughed. It was so outside, it was so bizarre, and so grotesque that I could only laugh.”
Depp said about a month went by before he saw Heard again. He claims Heard blamed the fecal matter incident on their dogs, but Depp contends the pets were too small to leave droppings the size of what were in the bed.
Heard filed for divorce in May 2016.
Depp’s comments on Wednesday came a day after the actor began his testimony. He claimed in front of a seven-person jury on Tuesday that Heard’s accusations of domestic violence against him were untrue.
“Never did I, myself, reach the point of striking Ms. Heard in any way, nor have I ever struck any woman in my life,” Depp, 58, said Tuesday.
Also on Tuesday, Depp told the court that he’s “not some maniac that needs to be high or loaded all the time.”
Depp sued Heard for $50 million in 2019 over an op-ed published by the Washington Post, in which Heard wrote she was “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” Heard didn’t name Depp in the piece, but two years earlier had accused him of physical and verbal abuse.
Heard, who will have the opportunity to testify during the trial, was present in court for both days of Depp’s testimony. The trial is expected to last for multiple weeks.
Depp previously lost a libel lawsuit in the United Kingdom against the media company that publishes The Sun over an article that painted him as a “wife beater.” A judge said the claims were “substantially true” in that 2020 ruling, and Depp was later denied a request to appeal the decision.
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