“It was a complete shock, it just didn’t have to go in that direction as none of that ever happened,” Depp told the Fairfax County courthouse, his voice cracking with no small degree of affectation. “There were arguments and things of that nature, but I never got to the point of hitting Ms. Heard in any way, nor have I ever hit anyone in my life,” he added.
“I felt like it was my responsibility to defend myself not only for myself in that case, but also for my children,” Depp testified, speaking very pointedly on the witness stand. “I thought it was diabolical that my kids had to go to school and were approached by their friends or people from school with the infamous People magazine cover featuring Mrs. Heard with a dark bruise on her face.”
Depp said the accusations against him were “pretty egregious and disturbing” and “not based on any kind of truth”.
“It’s very strange when one day you’re Cinderella and in 0.6 seconds you’re Quasimodo,” he said.
During his testimony Depp launched into a vivid description of his own childhood and the turmoil and violence he experienced growing up. That story has been a vital element of Depp’s legal team’s strategy even before he began his trial last week.
He also talked about the beginning of his relationship with Heard, saying “it was like she was too good to be true.”
“She was attentive. She was affectionate. She was smart. She was kind. She was funny. She was understanding,” she said. She added that they shared a common interest in blues music and that Heard often took off his boots when she returned home. But within a year and a half, she said, “it was as if she had become almost another person.”
Watching her litigating ex-husband testify, Heard sat nearby in the courtroom as she has every day since the long-delayed trial began on April 11.
The Aquaman star is scheduled to take the stand herself later in the process. Both Depp and Heard testified at the late 2020 UK libel trial in which the actor unsuccessfully moved to refute The Sun tabloid’s claim that Depp is a “wife beater”. While this trial is not officially allowed to be widely referenced in the United States, the British affair looms over the Virginia proceedings, at least in the court of public opinion.
Depp will be on the stand tomorrow for cross-examination. The trial is scheduled to last five weeks. However, he will hit the pause button from May 9-12 as Judge Penney S. Azcarate has a pre-scheduled conference commitment.
Other big names scheduled to testify during the trial include James Francothe star of the Avengers, Paul Bettany Y Elon Musk.
The already harsh and often explicit legal confrontation between Depp and Heard, who divorced in 2016 amid restraining orders, began when the actor sued his co-star for Rum Diary in March 2019 in Virginia for an op-ed by the Washington Post of late 2018 on domestic abuse and the potential consequences for victims. The article written by Heard never actually mentioned Depp by name, but in his subsequent introduction, the actor stated that the piece cost him lucrative roles and “devastated” his career.
Since then, while the two have engaged in a bitter legal battle, Heard has repeatedly and unsuccessfully tried to have the case dismissed or transferred to California. If not, she countersued her ex-husband for $100 million in the summer of 2020.
In addition to the direct issue at hand, Depp is trying to refocus the conventional impression that has been generated about his behavior. That impression had been solidified in the minds of many by his defeat in the UK in November 2020 in a libel action against the tabloid The Sun by Rupert Murdoch. Depp has been unsuccessful in appeal efforts in that damning case across the Atlantic.
With Depp and Heard in the courtroom yesterday, the jury heard more video testimony from Dr. David Kipperwho was hired in 2014 to treat Depp for an opioid addiction.
Kipper said that he never saw Depp abuse Heard or Heard physically attack Depp. He also served as Depp’s internist and said he determined Depp was experiencing a dopamine imbalance and diagnosed him with bipolar disorder, chronic substance use disorder, ADHD, depression, insomnia and chronic reflux. The testimony also featured highly charged text message exchanges between Depp and Kipper, where the actor discussed his “freak” and other aggressive statements about Heard and his relationship.
As he did on April 14, Kipper, who still counts Depp as a patient, recounted more details of the aftermath of a March 2015 incident in Australia in which the tip of Depp’s finger was severed. Debbie LloydDepp’s private nurse who worked with Kipper, testified that she arrived at Depp-Heard’s rental house to find it “a mess.”
“I remember there was writing on the wall and I remember a smashed TV,” he said. But he acknowledged hearing conflicting accounts of how Depp cut his finger. “I heard that Amber threw a bottle of vodka at him, I heard that he hit her with a phone,” she said.
In notes, Lloyd also told the court about a visit to Depp’s home in 2014, where the actor “sat down with bloody knuckles” after allegedly banging on a blackboard in frustration. The nurse’s notes also stated that on a set visit in October 2014, Depp was “verbally aggressive towards another person on set, for which there is no apparent reason”.
Lloyd told the court via video on Monday that he believed Depp and Heard’s arguments during their marriage were an “emotional trigger for him.”
Source: Ambito
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