Johnny Depp’s taste in tattoos was brought up during his defamation trial against his ex-wife Amber Heard as he revealed there’s one in particular she didn’t like.
Mr Depp returned to the witness stand for a second day on Wednesday in Fairfax County, Virginia, where he was asked about Ms Heard’s claims that the first time he struck her was in response to a comment about a tattoo.
The actor said that incident did not happen and reiterated that he never hit Ms Heard or any other woman.
He added that this specific allegation never made sense to him because he would have no reason to strike a woman for making fun of his ink.
Probed further on whether Heard objected to any of his tattoos, he replied that he had “Winona forever” - a reference to his previous relationship with actor Winona Ryder - changed to “Wino forever”. It wasn’t clear which iteration Ms Heard objected to or if she influenced the change.
Mr Depp said Ms Heard encouraged him to get a tattoo about her. Not long after he did so, he said, “everything started going sideways” in their relationship.
“I was doing what he could to bring a smile to her face rather than a frown,” he said.
At another point in Wednesday’s testimony, Mr Depp likened his marriage to Ms Heard to his fraught relationship with his mother, Betty Sue, whom he’d previously told the court abused him as a child.
He recalled how “demeaning name calling”, being “berated” and “made a fool of” by Ms Heard would frequently escalate into full scale arguments.
“If there’s a dialogue between two people, both people need to speak. But there was no way to fit a word in. It was a sort of rapid-fire, endless parade of insults,” he said, adding that he “was not allowed to be right and not allowed to have a voice”.
“You start to slowly realise that you are in a relationship with your mother, in a sense. And I know that sounds perverse and obtuse, but the fact is, some people search for weaknesses in people,” he said.
Mr Depp began his turn on the witness stand on Tuesday by saying he wanted to clear his name and set out the truth about Ms Heard’s allegations of abuse during their marriage.
The actor has accused Ms Heard of defaming him in a December 2018 Washington Post op-ed entitled: “I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change.” His suit seeks $50m in damages, both to his mental health and his career.
Mr Depp said he felt exposed testifying as he has been a private person, wanting to shield his children from “hordes of paparazzi” and that he didn’t want his kids to see their parents as “novelties”.
“I can’t say that I’m embarrassed because I know that I’m doing the right thing,” he added.
