Johnny Depp continued his second day of testimony in his $50 million defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard, as he described the deterioration of their relationship and what he said were physically and and emotional abuse on her part.
On direct questioning from his own attorney, Depp described Heard as attacking him with “a rapid fire, sort of an endless parade of insults and looking at me like i was a fool.”
He said that if their arguments “continued to escalate, if I continued to try to present my version of my side of the story, when you are approached in a kind of, when you are approached with such anger and hatred, it seemed like pure hatred for me, If I stayed to argue that, I was sure that it would escalate into violence, and often times it did. It did.”
Depp’s attorney asked him what he meant by “violence.”
“In her frustration and her anger, she would strike out. “t could begin with a slap, it could begin with a shove, it could begin with throwing a TV remote at my head. It could begin with throwing a glass of wine at my face. All in all, it was constant.” He said that Heard used his personal experiences against him “as weapons, especially when it came to my kids. There was no need for it. Too many lines were crossed, you couldn’t see the lines any more.”
The jury in the Fairfax, Virginia, courtroom will likely hear two versions of the nature of their relationship. Depp filed his defamation lawsuit after Heard wrote a Washington Post op ed in 2018 that described herself as a domestic abuse survivor. Although he was not named, Depp contends that the connection was apparent, given the publicity over an argument two years earlier, in which Heard obtained a restraining order and released photos showing her face badly bruised. Heard, meanwhile, has filed a $100 million counter claim, and her attorneys plan to present testimony of Depp’s physical abuse.
In his Wednesday testimony, Depp described being on a May, 2014 flight from Boston to Los Angeles with Heard. He had taken to Roxycotin pills, amid concerns over his addiction to the opioid.
“I was not feeling any pain and I knew that she was ready for some kind of brawl,” he said. Depp said that during the flight Heard would “poke and pride physically and poke and prod psychological, emotionally,” to the point where he left and hid in the bathroom and fell asleep.
“I found the only way to find any kind of peace was to try to walk away,” Depp said.