Johnny Depp blasts ex-wife Amber Heard’s abuse claims as UK libel trial begins
- Pirates of the Caribbean star is suing The Sun’s publisher over 2018 article which called him a ‘wife beater’
- Depp calls Heard a ‘calculating narcissist’, saying she had affairs with Elon Musk, James Franco and others
Hollywood star Johnny Depp accused his ex-wife Amber Heard of lying about him beating her up, and told London’s High Court on Tuesday that she had actually struck him.
Depp, the 57-year-old star of the Pirates of the Caribbean films, is suing The Sun’s publisher, News Group Newspapers, and its executive editor, Dan Wootton, for libel over an article Wootton wrote in April 2018 calling him a “wife beater”.
The paper’s lawyers said they would show the claim was true and that he had beaten actress Heard, causing her to fear for her life, during violent rages brought on by alcohol or drugs, sometimes when he had falsely accused her of infidelity.
“For the avoidance of any doubt, I have never abused Ms Heard, or, indeed, any other woman, in my life,” Depp said in a witness statement in which he characterised his ex-wife as a calculating, emotionally dishonest narcissist.
Wearing a dark suit and glasses and speaking in a deep clear tone, Depp gave evidence at the beginning of the case at London’s High Court. Heard, who arrived wearing a red scarf tied around her face, is also due to give evidence.