Johnny Depp Horribly Confuses His Own Claims During Defamation Trial
Johnny didn't have a good trial day yesterday.
This article is more than 2 years old
Amber Heard‘s side seemed to score a big win in the defamation case against the Aquaman actress yesterday. Or, to be more precise, it seemed like Johnny Depp unintentionally handed them the big win. Under cross examination from Heard’s lawyer, Ben Rottenborn, Deep seemed confused and antagonistic, including seemingly confusing the timeline of his own claims.
Perhaps the biggest win for Heard’s side is how Rottenborn managed to get Johnny Depp floundered regarding the question of whether or not it was his ex-wife’s 2018 Washington Post op-ed piece which got him ousted from the lucrative Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise. The impact the op-ed piece had on Depp’s career is the crux of his case against his ex-wife, and Rottenborn pointed to a Daily Mail story published two months before Heard’s op-ed, which claimed that Depp had already been booted from Pirates due to his “personal dramas” and the disappointing box office performance of 2017’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. As reported by Deadline, Depp’s response to Rottenborn was meandering and confusing. First he pointed to his character Jack Sparrow still being a part of things like theme parks and merchandising. He said he thought “Disney was trying cut ties to be safe,” and also confirmed that he wouldn’t agree to work on another Pirates move “for $300 million and a million alpacas,” as Rottenborn put it.
Heard’s lawyer also questioned Depp about why he didn’t sue his ex-wife in 2016, when she allegedly violated the terms of their divorce settlement by pledging her $7 million from the settlement to the Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles and the ACLU specifically for their work against violence toward women. Johnny Depp has since claimed that this was meant as a false accusation against him, but told Rottenborn his lawyers at the time advised him against taking Heard to court over it. It’s since been unearthed that the donations were never made, which Heard’s lawyers claim is because she needed the money to fight Depp’s lawsuits.
Rottenborn also seemed to get Johnny Depp to say that he doesn’t know if one of the supposedly damaging impacts of his ex-wife’s alleged defamation is true. In other words, Heard’s lawyer got Depp to admit he doesn’t actually know whether or not Disney plans to make another Pirates of the Caribbean movie. He also admitted that his name is not specifically mentioned in the op-ed piece in question.
Earlier in the day, Johnny Depp testified to his claims that — despite Heard’s accusations — he had never intentionally hit Heard. He testified that the only violence from his side of things was “some accidental contact” while trying to hold Heard back from allegedly attacking him. He claimed that, among other things, there were incidents when his then wife would allegedly claim Depp was hitting her while she was on the phone with friends, while in reality Depp was physically nowhere near her. He claimed that in another example, Heard allegedly used red nail varnish on a tissue to fake a broken nose.
Johnny Depp is expected to take the stand again today, and no doubt will be hoping to perform better under pressure. Amber Heard is also expected to take the stand, though it isn’t yet known when that will happen.
