A Virginia court filing that serves as a response to Johnny Depp’s $50 million defamation lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard contains absolutely horrifying details about Depp’s alleged domestic violence during their relationship.
In a 2018 op-ed for The Washington Post, Heard wrote about her experience with domestic violence without naming Depp. In March 2019, Depp filed a defamation lawsuit against Heard. In her response to the new lawsuit, Heard alleges that Depp ripped out her hair, punched her, and threatened to kill her on multiple occasions when he became delusional and violent after abusing drugs and alcohol. During one such instance, Heard claims that Depp was up for three days straight on an MDMA bender, during which time, she says:
“Johnny grabbed me by the neck and collarbone and slammed me against the countertop. I struggled to stand up as he strangled me, but my arms and feet kept slipping and sliding on to the spilled alcohol and were dragged against the broken glass on the countertop and floor, which repeatedly slashed my feet and arms. Scared for my life, I told Johnny, ‘You are hurting me and cutting me.’ Johnny ignored me, continuing to hit me with the back of one closed hand, and slamming a hard plastic phone against a wall with his other until it was smashed into smithereens. While he was smashing the phone, Johnny severely injured his finger, cutting off the tip of it. . . . Once I was able to get away, I barricaded myself in an upstairs bedroom.”
Heard claims that she later came downstairs to find that Depp had scrawled messages to her on the walls in a combination of oil paint and his own blood, along with urinating “all over the house.” Another time, Heard says that Depp grabbed her by the hair, slapping her face and repeating, “I fucking will kill you. I’ll fucking kill you, you hear me?”
During the time Heard alleges the abuse was taking place, Depp was surrounded by a team that she claims stood by and did nothing, including a incident on a private plane when she says Depp kicked her to the ground and screamed at her over a love scene she’d recently filmed with James Franco. The next day, “Depp’s assistant Stephen Deuters also messaged her, saying Johnny ‘was appalled. When I told him he kicked you, he cried.’ Deuters adds, ‘He’s a little lost boy. And needs all the help he can get.’”
Depp and Heard settled their divorce out of court in 2017, and Heard was awarded a $7 million settlement, which she donated to charity. She is now asking that the defamation suit be thrown out.
“Johnny Depp physically and verbally abused Amber Heard,” Heard’s attorney Eric George said in a statement. “Since their divorce, Mr. Depp has continued to publicly harass Ms. Heard and attempted to gaslight the world by denying his abuse. It is long past time for Mr. Depp’s despicable conduct to end.”