Cut finger, insulting text messages, humiliating photos: the six weeks of debates during the trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard gave rise to a great unpacking on the private life of the couple of actors, between honeymoon and violent arguments against a backdrop of alcohol and drugs.
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Here are the highlights, as the jury at the court in Fairfax, near Washington, retired to deliberate Friday on the actor’s libel suit against his ex-wife.
Amber Heard recounted, for the first time, an argument followed by a rape in March 2015, during the couple’s stay in Australia where Johnny Depp was filming the fifth episode of the Pirates of the Caribbean saga.
The actor had the end of his right middle finger severed and was hospitalized.
Johnny Depp claims that it was the splinter of a vodka bottle thrown by Amber Heard, which broke near his hand, which injured him.
The actress assures that he injured himself, perhaps by smashing a wall telephone.
He then used his blood to inscribe insulting messages on the walls, mirrors and lampshades of their rental house.
As in a previous trial in the UK, other bizarre details emerged, including when Johnny Depp said he saw a photo of “human faeces” on the couple’s bed after an argument with his wife who was celebrating her birthday. 30th anniversary in April 2016.
Amber Heard denied being behind this staging, saying it was the actor’s Yorkshire Terrier who had defecated.
Expected, the billionaire Elon Musk, ex-boyfriend of Amber Heard, or the actor James Franco, who toured with her, were not finally called to the bar.
British supermodel Kate Moss has denied an old rumor that the actor pushed her down the stairs when they were a couple in the 1990s.
American actress Ellen Barkin, another former girlfriend of Depp’s in the late 1990s, claimed he was jealous, possessive and “drunk almost all the time”. He also, according to her, threw a bottle of wine in her direction, without aiming at her, during a fit of anger.
The jury also heard from security guards, artistic agents, financial advisers and experts, psychiatrists, doctors, relatives of the two actors, as well as the doorman of the luxurious building where the couple lived in Los Angeles.
Alejandro Romero probably summed up the sentiment of many witnesses by saying, “I’m too stressed, I don’t want to have to meddle in this anymore.”
Photos, audio and video recordings and text messages were presented to the jury.
In a video, filmed in secret by Amber Heard, Johnny Depp angrily bangs the glass door of a kitchen cupboard and pours himself a huge glass of wine.
The two actors produced photos showing, according to them, their swollen faces after arguments.
Amber Heard also photographed her companion in humiliating positions when he was, according to her, knocked out by drugs and alcohol.
Text messages with crude and violent language to the actress sent by Johnny Depp show, according to Amber Heard’s lawyers, that the actor was prone to violence. But for his lawyers, Johnny Depp has an inventive way of writing, similar to the style of journalist Hunter S. Thompson whom he admired.
Hundreds of Johnny Depp fans lined up outside the courthouse in Fairfax, near Washington, each day to try to gain access to the courtroom.
Despite a partisan audience, the serenity of the debates was only disturbed once, during Amber Heard’s second testimony.
Judge Penney Azcarate then threatened to clear the room and continue the trial behind closed doors.
On social media, Johnny Depp also had the advantage with the campaign
Amber Heard claimed to have received “thousands” of death threat messages during the trial.
Both actors claimed their Hollywood careers were ruined by the affair.
Despite the worldwide success of Aquaman, Amber Heard says she had to struggle to find her role in the second episode, accusing Johnny Depp of having plotted to oust her from the production.
According to her lawyers, she lost 40 to 50 million dollars in stamps and promotional campaigns.
Johnny Depp also lost nearly $50 million in fees after being “erased from Hollywood” because of the charges, according to his lawyers, almost half of it for the 6th installment of “Pirates.”
But for his former agent, Tracey Jacobs, there had been no official agreement for him to return to his role. According to her, the actor’s “star” had withered since 2010 because of drugs and alcohol, and his “unprofessional attitude” on film sets.
