Claim put to actor on second day of his evidence in high court libel claim against Sun
The first time Johnny Depp physically assaulted his former partner Amber Heard was when she laughed at a tattoo on his arm that had been altered to read “wino for ever”, the high court in London has been told.
The claim, vigorously denied by Depp, who has admitted to alcohol problems, was put to him on the second day of his evidence in his libel claim against the Sun.
Depp, 57, has repeatedly denied physically assaulting Heard during their four-year relationship and is claiming damages from the paper and its executive editor, Dan Wootton, after it ran a story describing him as a “wife beater”.
Sasha Wass QC, representing the Sun, told the court Depp had a tattoo on his arm that used to read “Winona for ever”, engraved during his previous relationship with Winona Ryder. After their relationship ended, the tattoo was changed to read “wino for ever”, the court heard.
In 2013, Wass said, Depp had “fallen off the wagon” and was taking drugs and alcohol. “Ms Heard laughed at that tattoo,” she said. “You were in fact acting like a wino and an alcoholic and felt very sensitive.”
Depp agreed: “I was dispirited, after 160 days or so I had broken my sobriety.” He did not recall, he added, Heard making a joke about the tattoo and provoking an argument.
Wass put it to him: “You then slapped Ms Heard across the face and that was the first time it happened.” He slapped her three times in all, Wass alleged, because Heard did not respond but just stared at him.
Depp responded: “It’s not true. It didn’t happen … I didn’t hit her.”
Wass told the court Depp then broke down and started crying, promising never to hit her again. He blamed his behaviour on his “illness” and talked for the first time about “the monster, the alter ego that takes over when you are under the influence of drink and drugs”, she said.
Depp, in his written statements, has told the court Heard encouraged him to take alcohol and drugs and did not support him in his efforts to overcome his addictions.
He told the court he had seen Heard, 34, take cocaine: “There were many times in our relationship when not only did she chop the cocaine with a razor blade into lines she also put it on to her finger and rubbed it into her gums … My eyes have seen the action.”
Heard has submitted details of 14 occasions during their relationship when she claims she was assaulted by Depp. He denies ever hitting her.
The second time Depp allegedly hit her, the court was told, was when an argument developed over a painting by Heard’s former lover Tasya van Ree, which was hanging in Heard’s house.
Wass alleged that Depp had tried to set fire to the painting and slapped Heard with the back of his hand, which was very painful because he wore large rings.
“I did not hit Ms Heard and furthermore I have never hit Ms Heard,” he told the court.
Asked whether he was often jealous of partners and suspected them of having affairs with other people, Depp said: “Yes, I can be jealous.”
Depp denied ever hanging Heard’s dog, Pistol, out of a car window but he accepted he may have made jokes about putting it in a microwave. “It was that sort of humour,” he said. “It was a running joke ... Those dogs are so ludicrously tiny. I would not say that I was the one who had invented that particular joke.”
The court was read a series of texts he had exchanged with a friend, the actor Paul Bettany, which, Wass said, reflected his resentment of Heard trying to stop him taking drink and drugs.
In one of them, the court was told, the two men were joking about proving that Heard was a “witch”. In one message, Depp wrote: “Let’s burn Amber”.
Wass suggested the messages, although meant as jokes, were sent because Depp resented Heard acting like the “moral police”.
Depp said he was “resentful of the fact Ms Heard was very aggressive and quite insulting about my use of alcohol”. He also accepted that she “didn’t like me using alcohol and drugs”.
That, Wass pointed out, was at odds with Depp’s previous assertion that Heard had never supported his efforts to give up his addictions.
She then read out an email that Heard had written but never sent to Depp. “I don’t know if I can take this any more,” she wrote. “It’s like there’s a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Half of you I love madly, the other half scares me. I can’t take him. The problem is I never really know which one I’m dealing with until it’s too late.”
Depp has accused Heard of setting up a “hoax” because her allegations were “patently untrue”.
The court was told that some of the cross-examination would be heard in private, which the media will not be able to report.
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