On the fourth and final day of Johnny Depp’s cross-examination in his defamation case against his ex-wife Amber Heard, jurors were presented with audio recordings in which the Pirates of the Caribbean actor appears to warn Hurd of violence if his arguments escalate.
“The next move, if I don’t leave, will be a bloodbath, as it was on the island,” Depp told the court record.
The 58-year-old actor could also be recognized shouting “Shut up, fat bitch **” after Hurd told him to put out someone else’s cigarettes! Hell, you have consequences for your actions! ”
But in other exchanges in Alexandria’s Virginia courtroom on Monday, Depp wrote to his ex-wife’s mother, describing himself as a “poor old drug addict” dependent on his wife and her family.
“What you should Know [is] that your daughter has risen far above the nightmarish task of caring for this poor old addict. Not a second passed that she did not take care of me, to look at me to make sure that I am well, “he wrote, the court heard.
“She has the strength of a thousand men,” Depp added in the note.
The exchange was nearing the end of Hurd’s lawyers, with Depp on the witness stand, portraying the actor as a violent domestic abuser whose behavior was an integral part of his drug and alcohol addiction.
The actor described allegations of substance abuse as “grossly embellished” and claimed that Hurd had escalated their battles to violence.
Interrogated by his own lawyers, Depp was asked how he felt about Hurd’s article for the Washington Post, which described himself as a “public figure representing domestic violence” two years after she received a restraining order against him for throwing cell. phone.
“It’s been a good two solid years since the accusations were planted on my back,” Depp said. “I couldn’t believe it,” it was clear that the more blows came at me, the clearer the persecution of Mrs. Hurd against me continued.
“Something had to be done,” he said, referring to a defamation complaint in Virginia. “I couldn’t take it anymore.”
Depp said he felt unable to answer the charges against him, and by then Disney had kicked him out of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise. “It hurts as if someone hit me in the head with two by four. Even if I tried to do an interview to explain it, it became a hit. “
But Hurd’s lawyer, Ben Rothenborn, showed Depp negative news articles that he said would show that the actor’s poor press preceded the Washington Post’s 2018 article at the center of the case.
“I’ve been in the Hollywood River since 1984.… Of course, people write negative stories,” Depp said.
Depp also explained that his texts to Paul Bethany, in which he suggested drowning and burning his wife, were references to a sketch by Monty Python. The actor told the jury that when he used the term “monster”, it was his term to describe himself when he came out again after recovering from addiction or failed to achieve sobriety.
In his argument with Hurd, he said that when the tone of the exchange was reduced to blatant obscenities, “the monster to me was just a man who is stupid enough to take part in disputes that will ultimately lead nowhere.”
For both the plaintiff and the defendant, much of the legal trail is concerned with establishing the likelihood that their account makes the alleged defamation seem more feasible or unlikely.
Much of what has been heard is not directly related to the alleged defamation, but is offered as a background that may ultimately decide the fate and reputation of the parties. The case continues.
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