Presented as a violent husband towards his ex-wife Amber Heard in the columns of the Sun , Johnny Depp pursues the British tabloid in defamation during a trial which opens this Tuesday in London with a list of witnesses worthy of a casting of stars.
The 57-year-old actor, who played the Jack Sparrow in the Pirate of the Caribbean saga , accuses the British newspaper and its owner "News Group Newspapers" (NGN) of having presented as a proven fact, in an article published in April 2018, that he hit his ex-wife, American actress Amber Heard. Johnny Depp and Amber Heard met on the set of Rhum Express in 2011 before getting married in February 2015 in Los Angeles.
The couple divorced with a bang in early 2017, after just over a year of marriage. The 34-year-old actress then spoke of "years" of "physical and psychological" violence, accusations strongly contested by Johnny Depp.
“A kind, attentive, generous and non-violent man and father”
In the divorce proceedings, Amber Heard had withdrawn her complaint and Johnny Depp had paid her seven million dollars, which the actress had paid to associations. In addition to the two former spouses, who announced their presence at the trial which should last three weeks before the High Court in London, the French singer and actress Vanessa Paradis and the American actress Winona Ryder should testify by video conference in favor of Johnny Depp. Originally scheduled for mid-March, the trial has been postponed due to the new coronavirus pandemic.
In written testimony to the proceedings, Vanessa Paradis, who had been in a relationship with Johnny Depp for 14 years, portrayed him as "a nice, attentive, generous and non-violent man and father". Johnny Depp's lawyers also rely on the testimony of Winona Ryder, who had a relationship with Johnny Depp in the 1990s. "He was never violent with me," she said.
The defense of the Sun is based on 14 accusations of violence against the actor between early 2013 and May 2016. It tried until the last moment to dismiss the defamation complaint, arguing in particular that Johnny Depp had contravened a court order instructing him to send them a series of text messages in which he allegedly asked his assistant for drugs.
Another defamation proceeding against Amber Heard
These messages were sent in late February-early March 2015 by the Hollywood star when she was staying in Australia for a shoot, shortly before an alleged incident that Amber Heard described as "a three-day ordeal of physical assault". Johnny Depp spoke of "happy pills" and a "white thing", apparent references to MDMA pills and cocaine, according to the defense of NGN.
After finding on Monday that the order to reveal these messages had not been respected, Judge Andrew Nicol overruled last Thursday, allowing the trial to be held. The judge, however, rejected Thursday Johnny Depp's request that "all communications" be published between Amber Heard and two men whom he suspects of having had connections with his ex-wife. It would be, according to the actor, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX Elon Musk (appearing in contacts like Rocketman ) and the other is the actor James Franco.
Johnny Depp has also initiated another defamation proceeding against Amber Heard in the United States.
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