Johnny Depp takes the witness stand for a 3rd day in case against ex-wife Amber Heard
Actor Johnny Depp will be back on the witness stand in a Virginia courtroom on Thursday in his $50 million defamation case against his ex-wife, actress Amber Heard.
Depp has repeatedly denied ever getting physically abusive with Heard.
On Wednesday, he said, "Violence was unnecessary. Why would you hit someone to make them agree with you? I don't think it works."
On Tuesday, he said, "never did I myself reach the point of striking Ms. Heard in any way, nor have I ever struck any woman in my life."
Instead, Depp said, it was Heard who was violent with him. During his testimony Wednesday, he accused her of throwing two bottles of vodka at him after he suggested they get a post-nuptial agreement. The incident severed the tip of one of his fingers and subsequently delayed filming of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie he was working on at the time, Depp said.
The court also heard recordings of the couple arguing.
"I'm sorry that I didn't hit you across the face in a proper slap, but I was hitting you," Heard was heard saying during a separate incident. "I was not punching you. Babe, you're not punched."
Heard's essay about domestic abuse sparked the lawsuit
In December of 2018, Heard wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post voicing her support for the Violence Against Women Act. In it, she drew on her own experiences as a survivor of sexual assault and domestic abuse.
The essay didn't directly refer to Depp by name, but his 2019 court complaint states, "the op-ed plainly was about Ms. Heard's purported victimization after she publicly accused her former husband, Johnny Depp, of domestic abuse in 2016, when she appeared in court with an apparently battered face and obtained a temporary restraining order against Mr. Depp."
Depp is suing Heard for three counts of defamation, citing her op-ed that was published on The Washington Post website and in its print newspaper, as well as Heard's posting a link to the piece via her Twitter account.
Depp is seeking at least $50 million in compensatory damages and a punitive award of at least $350,000, along with attorneys' fees and court costs.
The jury will also consider Heard's countersuit against Depp, which seeks $100 million in damages and alleges that his legal team falsely accused her of fabricating claims against Depp. [Copyright 2022 NPR]
