Johnny Depp accused Amber Heard of sex with James Franco

A court has heard a recording of Johnny Depp appearing to howl ‘like an animal’ after he attacked Amber Heard in a cocaine and alcohol fuelled tirade on a plane over accusations that she cheated on him with ‘rapist’ James Franco.  

On the second day of Mr Depp’s blockbuster libel trial in London, he was asked about ‘the Boston plane incident’ in May 2014, where he is alleged to have attacked Ms Heard on a flight from Boston to LA after consuming cocaine, whisky, pills and champagne before passing out in the plane’s toilet. 

He denied screaming about how Heard ‘liked getting f****d on set’ and making ‘vulgar’ comments while grilling her about sleeping with Adderall Diaries co-star Franco in 2014.

The Sun’s lawyer, Sasha Wass QC, said Mr Depp made ‘vulgar references to [Ms Heard’s] genitalia’ and called her a ‘go-getter sl**’ in front of crew members on a flight from Boston to LA. 

He denied having launched the attack, commenting: ‘That’s quite a stretch of her imagination.’ 

A recording of Mr Depp apparently howling during the flight was also played during the afternoon session. 

Ms Wass QC put it to Mr Depp that it was him in the recording, but the actor replied: ‘I had drunk alcohol prior on the flight but my behaviour was not as alleged … I was drawing art sketches in my notebook.’ 

Afterwards, Ms Wass also read out a text sent by Mr Depp to his friend Paul Bettany on May 30 2014, which read: ‘I’m going to properly stop the booze thing, darling.

‘Drank all night before I picked Amber up to fly to LA this past Sunday. Ugly mate. No food for days. Powders. Half a bottle of whisky. A thousand red bull and vodkas, pills, 2 bottles of champers on plane and what do you get?’

Mr Depp claimed that he had been concerned about Franco because Ms Heard had described him as ‘creepy and rapey’ when they starred alongside one another in stoner comedy, Pineapple Express. 

He appeared to state that Ms Heard had told him she had to ‘run from Franco’s advances’ during filming – claims which Ms Wass branded as ‘made up on the spot.’

Several women have accused Franco of sexual abuse and harrassment, though the actor has denied the allegations. 

In other developments at the trial today: 

• The court was also shown a photograph of Depp’s pint of whisky and four lines of cocaine laid out at lunchtime
• Depp accused Heard of compiling a ‘dossier’ of evidence as an ‘insurance policy’ during their relationship 
• The Sun’s lawyer asked Depp about Heard’s claims that he and Marilyn Manson took his daughter to school and then went on a 24-hour cocaine binge; 
• Court heard how Depp traded ‘joke’ texts with British actor Paul Bettany about ‘f***ing Heard’s burnt corpse afterwards to make sure she’s dead’ and drowning his ‘witch’ ex-wife;
• He admitted that he had joked about putting Heard’s dog in a microwave but denied holding tiny Yorkshire terrier Pistol out of a car window and making ‘howling noises’; 
• He was accused of slapping Heard while trying to torch a painting by her ‘lesbian ex-partner’;
• Depp denied slapping his ex-wife three times after she laughed at his infamous ‘Wino Forever’ tattoo;
• Actor allegedly went ‘berserk’ after a woman fondled Heard during an MDMA trip in a trailer park;
• Heard wrote unsent email to Depp in which she compared living with him to living with ‘Jekyll and Hyde’.

In 2019, two female former students of Franco’s now-closed film and acting school filed a lawsuit against him and his partners alleging the programme ‘was little more than a scheme to provide him and his male collaborators with a pool of young female performers that they could take advantage of.’  

Describing his suspicions that Ms Heard was having an extra-marital affair, Depp said: ‘She told me many things that were very negative about Mr Franco that he had tried to kiss her (after the filming of Pineapple Express) and made sexual advances on her in that film she said he was a creep and a rapist or whatever.’

‘A rapist? She didn’t use that word surely?’ Ms Wass asked.

‘You’ve made an extremely important statement just now. You made that up on the spot didn’t you?’

Depp replied: ‘No it’s just a word that came out to describe what she said to me, him leaning in saying I’m going to kiss you now and she had to run from his advances at one point and he was kind of non-stop and she felt he was creepy and rapey was the word.

‘If I said the word rapist then it’s because rapey was the word she used.’

He added: ‘I suspected Ms Heard was having an affair with Mr Franco and it’s since been confirmed that she was.’

The court heard that Ms Heard had made efforts to prevent Depp watching intimate scenes in her films because he would ‘lose it.’

‘Your concerns about romantic scenes were quite considerable weren’t they?’ Ms Wass asked.

‘Yes I do have concerns,’ Depp said.

‘She was worried you were going to lose it. Can you imagine why she thought you might lose it?’ the lawyer asked.

‘She doesn’t want me to lose it meaning doesn’t want me to get jealous,’ came the reply.

‘You were screaming obscenities on the plane,’ Ms Wass said.

‘I was screaming obscenities at Ms Heard with my security, two pilots… A stewardess? I don’t agree with what you’re saying,’ Depp said.

‘You said she liked getting f***ed on set and you were making vulgar references to her genitals,’ Ms Wass said.

‘That’s quite a stretch of her imagination,’ came the reply.

The Hollywood star was said to have kicked a chair so forcefully that it swivelled and hit Ms Heard before storming into the bathroom and passing out drunk on the floor.

‘I suggest Ms Heard moved seats more than once to get away from you and you started by throwing ice cubes at her and you kicked one of the chairs so hard that it swivelled round and hit her,’ Ms Wass said. 

‘You were in a blind rage, demanding to know how much she liked getting off with James Franco. You were so angry that she wouldn’t engage with you in this discussion that you slapped her.

‘You called her a ‘Go-getter sl** and a wh***. Do you agree?’ the lawyer asked.

‘No ma’am I wouldn’t,’ said Depp.

‘Not under those circumstances I would not. There are possibilities where that kind of thing might come out of my mouth depending on what came out of her mouth prior, but I did not go into a rage on the flight in front of all these people.’

‘And throughout all this you were demanding more alcohol and oxygen from the flight attendant,’ the QC said.

‘I had asked for an oxygen tank just for a lark,’ Depp said.

‘What’s so funny about an oxygen tank?’ Ms Wass asked.

‘When you put the oxygen tank on and you turn the nozzle you are hit with pure oxygen.

‘I wasn’t abusing a drug, I was breathing in oxygen and I was showing them, I flew with the crew before and the pilot and I had done that before,’ the actor replied.

Ms Wass asked: ‘You eventually went to the toilet, the bathroom of the plane, and you passed out.

‘Has your assistant Nathan Holmes ever had to wake you up when you’ve passed out on the toilet?

‘I’ve never passed out on the toilet, not in the act of let’s say relieving oneself, but yes leaning on the toilet or sleeping on the floor,’ came the reply.

The High Court was today shown photographs of Johnny Depp‘s drink and drug-filled lifestyle including an image taken by Amber Heard that shows a pint of whisky, four lines of cocaine and his skull and crossbones ‘pill box’ ready for consumption at 1.37pm.

Heard, 34, took the photo at her LA home in 2013 before the couple had another blazing row about his drug and alcohol use – on the afternoon when he was supposed to be filming a documentary on Rolling Stone Keith Richards.

The court was also shown a picture of Depp passed out beside his bed as the 57-year-old actor was peppered with questions about his extensive drinking and drug use by lawyers acting for The Sun. 

Depp took the stand for a second day today as he sues The Sun for libel after it labelled him a ‘wife beater’ in a trial that is set to take three weeks and feature celebrity witnesses including Vanessa Paradis and Paul Bettany. 

One photograph shows a glass table littered with mountains of alcohol and drugs, with four lines of cocaine cut for use next to his driving licence and a tube. 

A skull and crossbones ‘pill box’ with ‘Property of JD’ written across the top, which Depp said ‘probably’ contained drugs at the time the photograph was taken, is to one side.

There are also two glasses of whisky – one half drunk, the other pint-sized – a packet of tobacco next to a brown rolled-up cigarette, and a Keith Richards CD to hand.

Another picture shows Depp passed out on the floor beside his bed.

The pictures were taken in 2013, on the day Depp was due to be filming a documentary about Keith Richards – shortly before he and Heard rowed about his drug and alcohol use.

Depp was cross examined by The Sun’s lawyer today, who asked Depp if he was carrying cocaine in the ‘pill box’. The actor replied: ‘I would say I probably was.’

Barrister Sasha Wass QC, representing The Sun, said the photograph showed ‘four lines of cocaine next to a credit card with a straw on top of the credit card’.

Ms Wass said that when Heard’s sister Whitney Henriquez arrived at the house ‘she was confronted by the sight of Heard, who had obviously been crying’.

She then suggested that Heard and Ms Henriquez ‘remained with you for about four hours trying to persuade you to go to the film set’ for the Keith Richards documentary.

Depp said: ‘It was a day where Keith Richards and Tom Waits were performing together in the studio.’

But he added that ‘to me, it was more important to try to fix things, patch things up with Ms Heard’.

The court also heard how the Pirates of the Caribbean actor had told screenwriter Stephen Deuters that he thought his ‘Peruvian period’ had upset his former spouse.

He allegedly messaged Mr Deuters: ‘Amber is extremely upset and we’re dying… Do you want to speak with her while we’re there and give her some perspective on me and what I am and what I’m not? She thinks my Peruvian period has made me a monster and that I am ruining the relationship.’

‘So the Peruvian period is a reference to cocaine?’ Ms Wass asked, to which Depp replied: ‘Yes.’

Ms Wass also suggested that, when Depp’s assistant Nathan Holmes arrived, he ‘refused to leave’ and ‘you were snorting more and more lines of cocaine’. 

Depp said he was ‘definitely partaking of the cocaine’ and claimed ‘Whitney was partaking of the cocaine as well’.

He also alleged that Heard would ‘normally’ chop cocaine into lines for him. This was refuted by Ms Wass, who said that had never happened because Heard was ‘extremely disapproving’ of cocaine.

The actor said in court: ‘Well she poured me the whisky and cocaine was visible in front of her, and I have experienced many times with Ms Heard that she would in fact chop the cocaine up for me so that I could do the line and then she would press her finger into it and ingest it orally.

‘I’m not suggesting that she did that in this case (on a particular occasion put to him by Ms Wass), but I am suggesting that it was a normal duty that she felt obligated to do.’

Depp ‘went on a 24-hour cocaine bender with Marilyn Manson in 2014’  

The court also heard that Depp allegedly went on a 24-hour cocaine ‘bender’ with Marilyn Manson while Heard sent concerned messages about his whereabouts to his sister.

She messaged Christi Dembrowski in February 2014 saying: ‘JD is on a bender with Manson’ when he stormed out after another bust-up.

The Hollywood legend said today that he had taken cocaine with Manson ‘three times’ but denied that drugs were involved in his 2014 visit.

He said instead that he and the famous rocker had been taking his daughter Lily-Rose to school and that it was a ‘mystery’ how Ms Heard had thought that he was abusing substances.

The Pirates of the Carribean star claimed that his former spouse was ‘jealous’ and suspected that he had been cheating on her when he disappeared after a row.

Ms Wass said the marriage was characterised by a dysfunctional ‘pattern’ in which Depp would binge and abandon Ms Heard after arguments about drug use.

The lawyer said: ‘And when this syndrome arose, that is to say arguments about drug taking followed by you going on a binge, when the whole thing was over, when the whole explosion was over you would just disappear and go away from her.’

Depp replied: ‘There was a time when I said I’m going to stay in a hotel room.

‘And she became extremely worried as she didn’t know where you were and you were in a state of inebriation or drug consumption and she used to get quite frantic with worry,’ the lawyer said.

‘She would indeed get quite frantic with worry and she would indeed get jealous that I was out cheating on her,’ came the reply.

‘Just going back to 2014 you said you’d taken drugs with Marilyn Manson twice, but years before you were with Ms Heard,’ Ms Wass said.

‘Twice or three times maybe, Depp confirmed. ‘Doing a line of cocaine with Manson was, I believe it was before Ms Heard and I were fully involved, lets say.’

Depp said: ‘She’s speculating that I’m on a binge with Manson for more than 24 hours.

‘Manson and I did in fact take my daughter to school.’

But reading from a text allegedly sent by Ms Heard to Depp’s sister Christi Dembrowski in February 2014, Ms Wass said: ‘JD is on a bender with Manson. Once again he believes it’s about me and us fighting.

‘Once again I don’t know what to do. He’s gonna hurt himself and take us as a couple down with him.

‘I think he’s at Marilyn’s now continuing the rage and coke booze binge. Can you help* We have no reason to fight. He just aims all his anger at me when he’s on it. Don’t know what to do.’

‘Do you believe that you were on a binge (with Manson)?’ the QC asked.

‘I would say that’s what Ms Heard believed. As to how she had exact information about what i was doing with Manson is a mystery to me,’ Depp replied.

Heard’s alleged texts went on: ‘He went to drop Lily-Rose off this morning and hasn’t been back since. I called the guards to make sure at least one of them got here and Sean did.

‘Not sure who dropped her off but I think it was JD and Manson with security.

Asked whether his sister had expressed anxiety about his drug intake at the time, Depp replied: ‘My sister Christi has over many, many years since my youth had a number of worries about my consumption growing up and yes, she talked to me many times over the course of my life. We did speak about it.

‘She and Ms Heard’s ability to speak to one another stopped not long after this.’ 

Heard’s sister Whitney allegedly reached out to him later urging him to make amends with her sibling.

Depp allegedly responded: ‘I’m good just can’t deal anymore, she’s crossed the line again. Always too much.

‘A person needs to think before they go squirrelly. So f***ing sad. I’ve never done anything but love her.’

But even his own daughter Lily-Rose begged him not to give up on his relationship with Heard because she was a ‘good influence’ on his parenting, the court heard.

The then-teenager allegedly praised the ‘positive effect’ the marriage had on his drinking and said he had been a ‘better dad since she’s been around.’

‘Your daughter recognised that ms heard was a good influence on you?’ Ms Wass asked.

‘Yes, she believed that at the time,’ came the reply.

‘Your daughter says to you: ‘You’ve been a better dad to Jack and I since she’s been around and she’s been helping with the alcohol.

”I just see the positive effect she’s had on you. Please don’t write her off right now. She may surprise you.”

‘You say to her: ‘I’m not going back to booze. We’ll see what happens with her.”

Depp ‘joked’ with Paul Bettany about setting Amber Heard on fire and ‘f***ing her burnt corpse to make sure she’s dead’ or drowning her to ‘make sure she’s not a witch’

The court heard that Depp swapped ‘joke’ texts with British actor Paul Bettany about setting Amber Heard on fire and ‘f***ing her burnt corpse afterwards to make sure she’s dead’ or drowning his ‘witch’ ex-wife.

The 57-year-old actor was asked by The Sun’s lawyer about the series of text messages with Bettany and whether he thought they were a ‘respectful’ way to talk about his girlfriend.

He admitted it was not as he was peppered with questions in court about his extensive alcohol and cocaine abuse, and alleged complaints about Heard trying to stop him drinking and taking cocaine.

‘She didn’t like me using alcohol and drugs because she had some delusional idea that they turned me into… this said monster,’ he told The Sun’s barrister Ms Wass.  

Depp said his ‘sense of humour is slightly skewed’ as texts emerged in which he quipped with actor Bettany about ‘shaving Amber Heard’s beaver’ – a reference to a pet beaver they considered buying her.

In an explosive series of messages the pair appear to joke about setting Heard on fire before Depp said: ‘I will f*** her burnt corpse afterwards to make sure she’s dead.’

The court heard how Depp told Bettany to buy Heard a pet beaver and record himself shaving the animal so that they could post the clip online titled: ‘Johnny Depp shaves Amber Heard’s Beaver.’

Reading from the shocking messages exchanged between Depp and Bettany, Ms Wass said: ‘(Depp says) first of all we buy Amber a pet beaver and then we take pictures of you shaving the pet beaver.

‘All this is to create a domain name ‘Johnny Depp Shaves Amber Heard’s Beaver’.

‘Clearly there are many spin-offs. You could poke, joke, punch.

‘Do you think that’s a respectful way of somebody, here Paul Bettany, talking about your girlfriend?’ the lawyer asked, to which Depp replied: ‘It is not a respectful way to talk about Ms Heard.’

Later in June Depp allegedly received a text saying: ‘I’m not sure we should burn Amber. She is delightful company and pleasing on the eye. We could of course do the English course of action and perform a drowning test. Thoughts? You have a swimming pool.’

He is said to have responded saying: ‘Let’s drown her before we burn her!!! I will f*** her burnt corpse afterwards to make sure she’s dead.’

Ms Wass said Bettany replied: ‘My thoughts entirely. Let’s be certain before we pronounce her a witch.’

The actor branded his ex-wife a ‘witch’ simply for trying to help him recover from his addiction, the lawyer said. But he claimed she reacted ‘aggressively’ to his alleged drug abuse and dismissed her claims he became violent while intoxicated as ‘delusional.’

The QC added: ‘This reference to her being a witch was a reference I say to her trying to stop you taking drink and drugs and you resented her for doing that and (she) was the moral police, that sort of thing.’

Depp replied: ‘(Bettany) knew of our arguments and fighting. He knew details. 

‘I was resentful of the fact that Ms Heard was very aggressive and quite insulting about my use of alcohol or, if cocaine came into the picture, she did not like Mr Bettany and I’m afraid she didn’t like me very much either and she was constantly harping on things that didn’t exist.’

‘She didn’t like you when you were constantly high on drugs and alcohol did she?’ Ms Wass said.

‘She didn’t like me using alcohol and drugs because she had some delusional idea that they turned me into… this said monster,’ came the reply.

In a draft email written by Heard and addressed to Depp but never sent, she allegedly lamented the failing relationship and said: ‘I just don’t think I can do this anymore. Half of you I love madly. The other half scares me.

‘The problem is I never really know which one I’m dealing with until it’s too late. The drinking assures me I’m dealing with the abused, scared, insecure, violent little boy…

‘I just can’t tell where the line starts. Also drugs seem to guarantee that I will have to deal with the monster again. Sometimes the hangover the morning after is just as bad as the full on disco bloodbath I’ve come to expect.’

The Texan actor allegedly said in the unsent message that Depp’s friends were ’embarrassed’ about ‘picking up a grown man from his own p*** and vomit.’ 

Depp ‘held Heard’s tiny Yorkshire terrier out of car window in a fit of rage’ 

The Sun’s lawyer Sasha Wass QC referred to text messages between Depp and his friend Paul Bettany about ‘the fact that Ms Heard was trying to wean you off drug taking’. 

Depp said: ‘She was quite adamant that I not drink anymore and she was quite adamant that I should stop any use of cocaine and recreational drugs.’

Ms Wass asked: ‘How does that last statement square with your suggestion that she didn’t support your sobriety?’ 

Depp replied that if someone was helping ‘an alcoholic or somebody who is believed to be addicted to drugs… would then themselves stop drinking in front of that person and stop doing drugs around that person’.

He added: ‘I would say that is full support.’

Ms Wass said Ms Heard would have two or three glasses of wine, prompting Depp to say: ‘Two or three bottles.’

The barrister replied ‘that is complete nonsense’ and referred to an incident where Depp was travelling in a car with Heard, her sister Whitney, her pet Yorkshire terrier, Pistol, a driver, and the actor’s assistant Nathan Holmes.

She said: ‘When you were in the car, you were smoking and you opened the window and you were angry and you were aggressive, rather like you were in that clip we saw yesterday – the monster side of your character.’ 

Depp replied: ‘No ma’am, I was not in that mode at all.’

Ms Wass said: ‘And you took hold of Pistol and you held her out of the window and started making howling noises.’ The actor responded: ‘I can say it is a very endearing image, but it is absolute utter falsity, it is fraudulent.’

The barrister then suggested Depp thought this was funny, to which he responded: ‘No ma’am, I don’t think hanging an animal, a small defenceless dog that weighs three pounds out of a window is fun.’

Ms Wass then asked if Depp had laughed at a suggestion of the dog being put in a microwave, to which he replied that was a ‘running joke’ between himself, Heard and others.

The Hollywood legend added: ‘I wouldn’t say that I was the inventor of that particular joke and also I wasn’t the only one who brought anything like that up.’

Ms Wass also asked Depp about an incident in which the dog ‘had eaten some hash, some cannabis – quite a lot’.

The barrister suggested it was about an ounce of hash, but Depp said: ‘I wouldn’t say it was an ounce.’ He added: ‘The puppy got a hold of a little ball of hashish and just scooped it up before I could get to it.’ 

Depp ‘went berserk after a woman fondled Heard during MDMA trip’

Depp went berserk and trashed his trailer with Heard inside after a woman touched her sexually, the court heard.

The actor threatened a woman named Kelly-Sue after he suspected she was making sexual advances towards Heard at a party in Hicksville in 2013, it was said.

He said he took her arm and asked her to stop before telling her: ‘Don’t take MDMA if you can’t handle it’ but denied being physically aggressive.

Ms Wass said: ‘You eventually said to her ‘Do you know how much pressure it would take to break your wrist?”

‘No,’ came the reply. ‘It was at nightfall… As the girls were congregating Kelly-Sue began to touch Ms Heard in ways that were beyond what one would accept as normal affection.

‘They were quite sexual and they were quite aggressive and she was clearly very high. I remember (Heard) was just sort of looking at her smiling. I thought it was an uncomfortable situation.

‘I removed Kelly-Sue’s hand from Ms Heard’s body and I told her not to do that. First of all that’s my girl, second of all it’s rude and invasive. She was quite glassy-eyed and she seemed pretty unsure of her surroundings… She seemed very stable on her feet.

‘I remember saying to her if you’re going to take this drug MDMA you should know if you’re able to handle it or not. Don’t take it if you can’t handle it.’ 

Heard allegedly blasted Depp over the altercation when they arrived back at his trailer and made him feel like a ‘bummer,’ he said today.

Giving evidence, Depp said: ‘The argument did start because of this incident with Kelly-Sue because when we arrived back to our trailer.

‘Ms Heard began to yell and scream at me that I had ruined everyone’s weekend and that once again I was the bummer and I had ruined everyone’s good time. So I was demeaned for being concerned.

‘I did get very, I was very upset at being treated yet again as the, pardon the expression, turd in the punch bowl.

‘That was undeserved. I didn’t feel I deserved to be screamed at and treated like garbage for doing something I felt was right and correct so during the height of the argument I punched the glass art deco light above the bathroom mirror.’

The court heard the wrecked trailer had been booked by a wedding party the following day and staff told Depp he ‘couldn’t just pay.’

Ms Wass said: ‘Do you remember a wedding party was due to arrive in a couple of hours and the owners were saying you can’t just pay for it, we have people coming in two hours?’

‘They never said that to me but I spoke to the manager and brought him to the trailer and he saw the damage. He said okay. He replaced it, I apologized and he said ‘no problem,” came the reply.

Ms Wass said that when Depp and Heard returned to their trailer that night they had ‘a big argument’, which Mr Depp said was correct.

The barrister said the row was prompted by two things: ‘The fact that you had consumed a lot of alcohol and drugs that night… and secondly that you were jealous’. 

Depp said: ‘When we arrived back at the trailer, Ms Heard began to yell and scream at me that I had ruined everyone’s weekend and that, you know, once again I was the bummer and that I ruined everyone’s good time, so I was demeaned for being concerned.’ 

Ms Wass suggested that the owners of the trailer park were ‘very upset’ the following morning because a wedding party was due to arrive in a few hours.

But Mr Depp said: ‘I spoke to the manager, brought him to the trailer, showed him the damage and then he went to his office and returned with a replacement bulb.’

Ms Wass referred to Depp referring to Heard as a ‘lesbian camp counsellor’, which the actor said he had not said. But the barrister took Depp to text messages between him and Heard in which he used the phrase.

The actor replied: ‘Yes, I used those words … in a text. I used that in a text, but the words were never uttered.’

Ms Wass asked if he agreed that it was a ‘highly offensive reference to her’.

Mr Depp replied: ‘Yes, it is.’ He added: ‘That was a very ugly thing to do.’

Depp ‘slapped Heard while trying to torch painting by her “lesbian lover”‘ 

Depp was also accused of slapping Heard while trying to torch a painting by her ex-partner Tasya van Ree. 

Heard claims that the 57-year-old actor hit her several times after an argument about the artwork, which was hanging in her bedroom, and tried to set it on fire.

The fight is said by The Sun to be the first instance of domestic abuse inflicted by Depp during their relationship.

Ms Wass asked if he remembered arriving at Heard’s home in Los Angeles ‘drunk and having consumed a cocktail of cocaine and cannabis’. Depp replied: ‘Not off hand, no.’

The barrister asked: ‘Would you describe yourself as jealous?’, to which Depp replied: ‘I am, yes. I can be jealous.’

She said: ‘You were very jealous and accusatory of Ms Heard, suggesting that she was having, or continuing, her affair with Tasya van Ree – it became an obsession of yours that night.’ 

Depp said: ‘I remember we had several arguments about Ms van Ree, I won’t elaborate, I will let you…’

The Sun’s lawyer then read out part of Depp’s witness statement in which he said he had asked Heard to remove the painting ‘as a courtesy’ to him.

Ms Wass asked: ‘When you asked her to remove the painting, according to your recollection, what did she say?’

‘Ultimately, no’, the actor replied. He then denied allegations put to him by Ms Wass that he tried to remove the painting and to set fire to it, saying each time they were ‘not true’. 

Depp ‘attacked Heard after she laughed at his infamous “Wino Forever” tattoo’   

The 57-year-old actor was cross examined on the stand by Ms Wass who alleged that he slapped Heard in 2013 after she laughed at the tattoo during a period where he was drinking heavily.

Depp originally got the tattoo reading ‘Winona Forever’ in tribute to his then girlfriend Winona Ryder, and changed it after they broke up in 1993.

Today, Depp was asked by Ms Wass QC if he had taken cocaine at the time of the alleged slapping in March 2013. Depp said it was ‘difficult to recollect’ but it was ‘possible’.

Ms Wass put it to Depp that the actor first hit Heard in early 2013 – one of 14 separate allegations of domestic violence, all denied by Depp, relied on by The Sun in their defence. 

The barrister asked Depp about a tattoo he had done on his arm during his relationship with actress Winona Ryder, which read ‘Winona Forever’ and which he had changed to ‘Wino Forever’ after they split.

Ms Wass asked if he thought it was a joke at the time, to which he replied: ‘Yes, it seemed fitting.’

She then probed the actor further about the alleged incident in March 2013, which Depp agreed was at a time when he had ‘fallen off the wagon’ following about 160 days of sobriety.

The barrister put it to Depp that he had slapped Heard three times after she laughed at the ‘Wino Forever’ tattoo during a period where he was drinking heavily.

Ms Wass said: ‘You have had a tattoo on one of your arms when you were having a relationship with Winona Ryder and after you separated from Winona Ryder and after you separated from Ms Ryder you took the last syllable of her name and it read ‘Wino Forever’. That presumably was a joke at the time.’

She asked: ‘You don’t really like to have your nose rubbed in it that you’ve failed do you?’

Depp said: ‘I suppose the image of having my nose rubbed in something is I would say not a very nice way of dealing with someone who, especially if you think someone has a drink problem, rubbing their nose in it is in my opinion the wrong way to go. That’s what people have done to dogs for years.’ 

Ms Wass continued: ‘It was when Ms Heard laughed at the tattoo that read Wino Forever because at that stage you were in fact acting like a Wino, like an alcoholic, and you were acting very sensitive about it. Do you agree?’

‘I would say I was initially very disappointed in myself that after 160 days having broken my sobriety,’ Depp replied.

She said: ‘Do you accept that Ms Heard was making a joke out of your tattoo, ‘Wino Forever’?’

Depp replied: ‘I don’t recall any conversation.’ 

Ms Wass continued: ‘I suggest that that provoked disappointment, firstly, in you, and then anger in you, but you don’t remember.’ Depp replied: ‘I don’t recall any argument about any of my tattoos.’

Ms Wass said: ‘You then, Mr Depp, slapped Ms Heard across the face.’

The actor responded: ‘That is not correct, it’s untrue. It didn’t happen.’ 

Ms Wass said: ‘You slapped her more than once, because after you slapped her the first time, she didn’t react, she just eyeballed you, she just stared at you, and that made you more angry and you slapped her again.’ 

Depp answered: ‘That is patently untrue.’

Ms Wass then put it to the actor that he slapped his former wife three times in total during the incident, to which he replied: ‘I’m sorry but that is not true, you are mistaken.’

The barrister said Depp told Heard ‘for the first time about the person you have been calling ‘the monster’, your alter ego, the person who took over when you were under the influence of drink and drugs’. 

Depp replied: ‘No, ma’am.’

Ms Wass also told the court that Heard had told Depp ‘that she knew all about addiction because her father and, indeed, also her mother had also been drug users’. 

Depp said that was true and that he became ‘very close’ with Heard’s father and mother. But the actor denied that Heard had said ‘she could help him’ with his drug use.

The actor was read extracts from an exchange of text messages between him and Heard on March 12, 2013, in which he wrote: ‘Just thought you should know, there exists a book entitled Disco Bloodbath. That is all.’

The court heard Heard replied: ‘We need that book… is it about last Friday night by any chance?’ Depp then said: ‘How can you make me smile about such a hideous moment?’

The message ended: ‘I f****** love you, you c***.’

In a written statement about the incident, Depp said: ‘I understand from my solicitors that the defendants also allege that on 8 March 2013, Ms Heard and I were in her home in Los Angeles.

‘They state that I was getting drunk and high on drugs and was angry that Ms Heard had hung up a painting given to her by someone she had formerly dated.

‘Allegedly my team and Ms Heard asked her sister to come over to try to intervene with me, which she did.

‘After Ms Heard’s sister left, they state that I hit Ms Heard so hard that blood from her lip ended on the wall.

‘They state that I subsequently sent Ms Heard a text message referring to that evening as a ‘disco bloodbath’ and a ‘hideous moment’ and that the morning after this incident I tried to set fire to the painting.

‘I cannot remember if I was with Ms Heard at her home on March 8, 2013.

‘I know that at some point around this time I did ask Ms Heard to remove a painting that she had received from her former wife from the bedroom, as a courtesy to me.

‘I do not recall the exact date I asked Ms Heard to do this. I do not remember Ms Heard’s sister being asked to come over either by Ms Heard or by any member of my team when this happened.

‘I certainly did not hit Ms Heard at all, then or ever, and her accusation that I hit her so hard that blood from her lip ended up on the wall is precisely the kind of picturesque but absurd lie she often tells.

‘Insofar as I exchanged texts with Ms Heard on March 12th, 2013 (and I do not remember whether I did or not), my intention in apologising would have been, as always, to placate Ms Heard.

‘The words ‘disco blood bath’ and a ‘hideous moment’ would not have referred to any physical abuse. I also did not try to set fire to the painting in question at any point in time.’ 

Heard wrote Depp an unsent email where she compared living with him to living with ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ 

Ms Wass also read aloud an email written by Heard to Depp, which was never sent to him, in which she said the actor lived ‘in a world full of enablers’.

The email began: ‘I just don’t know if I can do this anymore. It is like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Half of you I love madly, and the other half scares me. I can’t take him. I wish I could, but I can’t. The problem is, I never really know/understand which one I’m dealing with until it’s too late.

‘The drinking assures me that I am dealing with the monster. The abused, scared, insecure, violent little boy. I just can’t tell where the line starts.’

The barrister said: ‘Your answer to Ms Heard’s allegation that you were a serial domestic abuser was that this is a hoax.’

Depp replied: ‘Hoax is probably the best word one could use because the allegations, all of the allegations, are patently untrue.’

He added: ‘From hearing you read out this (email), that was not sent to me, and from some of the information I have garnered from my experience yesterday and having studied the case, I will suggest, ma’am, that it appears to me that Ms Heard was building a dossier very early on that appears to be an insurance policy for later.’

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