Actor Hurd’s lawyers tried to undermine Johnny Depp’s defamation case against her on Thursday by spending hours in court focusing on the actor’s drinking, drug use and messages he sent to friends – including one about wanting to kill and defiled his then wife.
Hurd’s lawyers cite Depp’s story of demolishing hotel rooms and smashing bathroom fixtures during a dispute with Hurd. Depp is also facing a lawsuit filed by a film crew member who claims he was attacked in 2018.
Lawyers are trying to thwart Depp’s defamation lawsuit against Hurd, alleging that she falsely portrayed him as a domestic abuser and ruined his lucrative acting career. They claim that Depp did abuse Hurd, both physically and sexually, and claim that Depp cannot deny this because he was often drunk and addicted to drugs to the point of eclipse.
“Of course, I pushed and showed Amber’s ugly colors during a recent trip,” Depp said in a text message to a friend, actor Paul Bethany, in July 2013, which was shown to jurors.
“I’m a crazy person and I’m not so fair after too much drinking,” Depp continued. “Herbs, pills … Okay !!! Drinking ??? My capacity is too big and I won’t stop … Ugly and sad … Oh, how I love him.”
Lawyer Heard J. Benjamin Rottenborn also focused on another exchange that year between Depp and Bethany, in which Depp wrote, “Let’s burn Amber !!!”
Actor Johnny Depp listens as he testifies in the courtroom at Fairfax County Court in Fairfax, Virginia, Thursday, April 21, 2022. Jim Lo Scalzo / AP
Bethany replied, “After thinking about it, I don’t think we should burn Amber.”
Depp sent a message: “Let’s drown her before we burn her !!! I will (desecrate) her burnt corpse afterwards to make sure she is dead. “
Earlier, Depp apologized to the jury for the vulgar language in the texts and said that “in the midst of the pain I was feeling, I went to dark places.”
Rothenborn also showed the jury one of Depp do Bethany’s texts in 2014, in which he mentions whiskey, pills and cocaine.
The lyrics were sent at a time when Depp said he had stopped drinking. And they were sent around the time of a private flight from Boston to Los Angeles, during which Hurd had said that Depp was poisoned while intoxicated and attacked her.
Rottenborn presented texts that Depp sent to Bethany, saying he had been drinking “all night before I took Amber to fly to LA last Sunday… Ugly, friend… No food for days… Powders… Half a bottle of whiskey , a thousand rows of bulls and vodkas, pills, 2 bottles of Champers on the plane… “
Depp previously testified that he took two oxycodone pills – an opiate he admits he was addicted to at the time – and locked himself in the plane’s bathroom and fell asleep to avoid the poison. He also disputed that he was drunk during the flight, saying he drank only a glass of champagne while boarding the plane.
But Rothenborn also showed the jury expressions of Depp’s remorse after the flight.
“I find myself in a place of shame and regret again,” Depp wrote to Hurd. “Of course I’m sorry. I really don’t know why or what happened. But I will never do it again… My illness somehow crawled and grabbed me… I have to get better. And I’ll do it. For both of us. From today. I love you. Again, I’m so sorry. So sorry.”
Actress Amber Heard arrives in the defamation courtroom at Fairfax County Court in Fairfax, Virginia, April 20, 2022. EVELYN HOCKSTEIN / POOL / AFP via Getty Images
To further cast doubt on Depp’s claim that he was not a problem drinker at the time, Hurd’s lawyer then showed jurors a text Depp sent to musician Patti Smith about visiting New York in 2014. in which he tells of a battle with Hurd. , getting drunk and being “so disappointed in myself”.
Depp has been on the stand at Fairfax County Court since Tuesday afternoon. The actor has spent much of that time describing the couple’s unstable relationship and denying that he ever abused Hurd.
Depp said Hurd often attacked him by force. And he claims that his film career suffered after she wrote a 2018 article in The Washington Post, which sparked his defamation lawsuit against Hurd.
Hurd never mentioned Depp by name in the article, but Depp’s lawyers said it was a clear reference to the accusations made by Hurd when she asked for a restraining order against him in 2016.
Depp said the allegations and the article contributed to an unjustly ruined reputation that turned him into a Hollywood exile and cost him his role in the lucrative Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise.
When the cross-examination began late Wednesday afternoon, Rothenborn provided evidence that Disney had made that decision months before the article was published.
Hurd’s lawyers claim that Hurd’s opinion is correct and does not slander him. They said Depp’s ruined reputation was due to his own bad behavior.
At the booth on Tuesday, Depp called the drug addiction allegations “grossly embellished,” although he admitted to taking many drugs. He said his drug use began at the age of 11 when he secretly took his mother’s “nerve pills”.
Add Comment