After four days on the witness stand, Johnny Depp told jurors that he filed a libel lawsuit against his ex-wife because he wanted to get his reputation back.
It was the only time I was able to fight back and use my own voice.
He denied hitting Heard and accused her of throwing things at him. An audio clip of a conversation between Johnny Depp and Heard in which she seems to taunt him and suggests he won't be believed or respected if he were to publicly cast her as an abuser was heard by jurors.
Heard says on the recording that she's a victim of domestic abuse and wants to know how many people think she's right.
If their arguments were allowed to escalate, they heard recordings in which Depp referred to the violence that could occur.
The next move is going to be a bloodbath if I don't walk away.
In other clips, he yelled at his wife and called her a degrading name.
As one of the clips was played, Depp cried on the stand and Heard cried as she listened to the recordings.
He argues that he was defamed because parts of the piece clearly refer to allegations of abuse she made in 2016 when she filed for divorce and obtained a temporary restraining order.
The lengthy cross-examination of Depp began last week and ended Monday morning.
During the cross-examination, Heard's lawyers focused on the relationship between Heard and Depp, as well as their drug use and drinking.
During Monday's cross-examination, he said very little. Heard's lawyer played audio clips or read lewd text messages sent by Depp and asked if he would read them correctly.
During the cross-examination, Depp showed his displeasure with the questions. When Rottenborn asked if the question would be fully answered, Depp responded, "as long as you're happy."
As he read headlines from a series of negative articles written about the actor, Depp expressed disapproval.
These are all hit pieces. "These are dreck," he said.
The articles were introduced to show that the Post article was not the cause of the damage to his reputation.
Most of the trial has focused on ugly details of the couple's brief marriage, while the libel lawsuit is supposed to focus on whether or not he was defamed in the article. Attorneys for Heard say that Depp was drunk and high when he abused her and that his denials lack merit because he was physically and sexually abused her.
On Monday afternoon, he tried to explain some of his language. He said he was often speaking metaphorically or making inside jokes with friends, but he was ashamed that that had to be spread on the world like peanut butter.
He denied that he cut off his own finger during the fight with Heard, even though he told people at the time. Heard threw a bottle at him and he says his finger was severed.
He showed his right hand to the jury and said, "Why would I start lopping off digits in my 50s?"
The jury has seen a lot of text messages between Johnny Depp and his friends, as well as his notes of contrition to Heard and her father.
He acknowledged taking many drugs, but he called the drug addiction accusations against him "grossly embellished."
The Post article made him a Hollywood outcast and cost him his role in the lucrative Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise. Attorneys for Heard say that only Johnny Depp is to blame for his bad career.
We can be reached at letters@time.com.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
