Johnny Depp was back on the stand on Wednesday, May 25 in his lawsuit against his ex-wife Amber Heard. Depp testified that all of Heard’s allegations of abuse against him were “unimaginably brutal, cruel and all false.” The testimony marks the falling action of a trial that has captivated the nation for a month now.
Depp testified in April when this trial first began, and he was called back to the stand by his own legal team on Wednesday. He emphatically denied all of Heard’s accusations against him — both in the 2018 op-ed that he is suing her over and in the courtroom since. He said: “No human being is perfect, certainly not, none of us. But I have never in my life committed sexual battery, physical abuse… So this is not easy for any of us, I know that. But no matter what happens, I did get here and I did tell the truth and I have spoken up for what I have been carrying on my back reluctantly for six years.”
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Depp slipped some of his infamous sarcasm and irreverence into his testimony as well. For example, when his attorney asked him how it felt when Heard took out a restraining order against him in May of 2016, he said: “It changed everything.” Heard’s lawyer then raised an objection for “relevance,” and Depp quipped: “Oh, it didn’t change everything?” The judge admonished Depp for the outburst, and he said: “I’m sorry. Tourette’s.”
Depp also addressed Heard’s counterclaim against him for $100 million, which is based on remarks made by Depp’s attorney Adam Waldman. In a 2020 interview with The Daily Mail, Waldman said that Heard had fabricated her claims of domestic abuse. Depp’s team tried to have that counterclaim dismissed, but Judge Penney Azcarate denied them. On Wednesday, Depp said that he had not even heard of Waldman’s comments until he saw Heard’s counterclaim.
“It just seemed like a lot of word salad to me,” the actor said. “I didn’t know where they came from, where they ended up.” Finally, Depp addressed the testimony of his former business manager Josh Mandel, who testified about Depp’s character earlier in the trial. Depp reminded the court that he had sued Mandel for embezzling money from him, and although Mandel denied the allegations they settled out of court. He called Mandel “a very bitter man who ended up with a lot of money I worked hard for over the years.”
This may be the last time Depp testifies in his trial against Heard, which is scheduled to conclude on Friday, May 27. After that, the jury will deliberate until they can agree on a verdict in this case.
