** COURT IS CURRENTLY ON BREAK UNTIL 2 PM ET **
Johnny Depp‘s testimony continued Wednesday as he took the stand for a second day to testify against ex-wife Amber Heard, whom he has accused of ruining his reputation and career with false accusations of domestic violence.
On Wednesday, Depp testified about the details of his relationship with Heard, claiming she used his personal weaknesses as “ammunition.”
“It seemed like pure hatred for me,” he said, claiming Heard would would name-call and escalate misunderstandings into “full-scale arguments.”
“In all of these situations, my main goal was to retreat,” he claimed.
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When asked why Depp stayed with Heard given her alleged behaviour, he said it was “complicated.” He hypothesized the answer had to do with his own mother’s abuse against his father.
Depp also claimed Heard had threatened suicide in the past. “Many times when I would try to leave, she would stop me at the elevator with the security guards, crying and screaming, ‘I cant live without you, I’m going to die.’”
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During his testimony, Depp told the court about his former opioid addiction and challenging recovery. He spoke about how difficult withdrawal was, calling his detox “the lowest moment of my life.” According to Depp, Heard denied him his medication while he was trying to recover.
The actor claimed he is not and never has been an alcoholic.
He also testified he had witnessed Heard use several drugs on various occasions, including MDMA (ecstasy), magic mushrooms and a drug comparable to speed.
Depp told the court the couple did not sign a prenuptial agreement when they married. In 2015, during a now-infamous trip to Australia, Depp claimed he asked Heard to sign a postnuptial agreement.
Heard, according to Depp, rejected the idea of a postnuptial contract. Depp claimed this caused an argument that spiralled into “madness” and “violence.”
He said he tried to remove himself from the situation, “but to no avail.”
At this point, Depp said he was sober for “many, many months” with the exception of marijuana. He said after the fight with Heard, he was a “wreck” and “didn’t understand why all of this was happening.”
Depp testified this argument caused him to “pour myself two or three stiff shots of vodka.”
“She walked up to me and grabbed the bottle of vodka,” he said. He claimed Heard “hurled” the bottle of vodka at him, which passed his head and smashed behind him.
Depp said he then grabbed another bottle of vodka and continued to drink. He alleged again Heard threw the second bottle of alcohol at him.
“She threw the large bottle and it made contact [with my finger] and shattered everywhere.”
“I didn’t feel the pain at first,” he said. “I looked down and realized the tip of my finger had been severed and I was looking directly at my bones sticking out.”
“No one should have to go through this,” he testified.
Depp said in the middle of his “nervous breakdown” he started to write “little reminders from our past” on the walls, including “little lies I had caught her in.”
Afterward, Depp said he texted his doctor that his finger had been cut off.
He said he initially lied about the how he severed his finger because he “didn’t want to get Ms. Heard in trouble.”
Depp also accused Heard of extinguishing a lit cigarette on his right cheek after severing his finger.
His legal team admitted multiple photos as evidence, including one picture of Depp in hospital lying on a gurney and the other an up-close, graphic shot of his injured finger.
Depp appeared on the stand for the first time Tuesday, detailing his troubled childhood at the hands of an abusive mother, sharing the history and frequency of his drug and alcohol use, and providing details about the beginning of his relationship with Heard.
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In Depp’s testimony on Tuesday, the actor said he wants the public to know his side of the story. It’s the first time he’s publicly addressed the fallout and the claims Heard has levelled against him.
Actor Johnny Depp testifies during a hearing at the Fairfax County Circuit Court in Fairfax, Va., Tuesday, April 19, 2022. (Jim Watson/Pool Photo via AP).
“I had to wait for my opportunity to address the charges, which were criminal charges. They just weren’t true,” he said.
Speaking frequently of the impact the case and its details have had on his children, Depp said he’s also suffered from a personal fall-from-grace.
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“One day you’re Cinderella, so to speak, and then in 0.6 seconds you’re Quasimodo.”
U.S. actor Johnny Depp during a hearing at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse in Fairfax, Va., on April 19, 2022.
Jim Watson / Pool via Getty Images
The fully televised legal battle of the divorced couple has captured the attention of spectators around the globe, with both Heard, 35, and Depp, 58, claiming to be victims of violence. The initial court case began when Depp filed a $50-million defamation lawsuit over a Washington Post op-ed penned by Heard in late 2018 about domestic abuse.
Heard did not mention Depp by name in the article, though in court documents he alleges his reputation and career were still “devastated” as a result.
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When questioned about his childhood Monday, Depp described in detail the “violent” and “cruel” abuse he and his siblings suffered at the hands of his mother, Betty Sue Palmer.
He recounted times when his mother threw an ashtray or beat him with a high-heeled shoe.
Johnny Depp steps outside court during the eighth day of his civil trial at Fairfax County Circuit Court on April 19, 2022, in Fairfax, Va.
Paul Morigi / Getty Images
“In our house, we were never exposed to any type of safety or security. The only thing that one could do, really, was to stay out of the line of fire.”
He said that in the early days of their relationship Heard seemed “too good to be true,” but things began to deteriorate after about a year when Depp said Heard began to show signs of controlling behaviour.
He also testified that the details Heard has shared about his alleged drug and alcohol addictions are “grossly embellished” and “plainly false.”
U.S. actress Amber Heard attends trial at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse in Fairfax, Va., on April 19, 2022.
Jim Watson / Pool via Getty Images
He said that while he did dabble in his mother’s “nerve pills” at a young age, and was addicted to an opiate for four to five years, he has also had months-long stints of sobriety and that when he did use substances, he “never appeared loaded or high, or any of that.”
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“Even if I felt a little spinny no one would have ever known,” Depp told the court.
Depp’s lawyers have already called on several witnesses, including friends, the couple’s therapist, and the doctor and nurse who claim they treated the Pirates of the Caribbean actor for substance abuse issues.
In opening statements delivered by the former spouses’ legal teams last week, Depp’s lawyers claim Heard is “choosing to lie about him for her own personal benefit.”
Heard’s lawyers argued the opposite, claiming freedom of speech allowed the Aquaman actor to pen the Washington Post op-ed.
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