Johnny Depp finger

Johnny Depp claims he lost the tip of his finger when Amber Heard threw a vodka bottle at him but a recording played in court appears to support her version ...

Depp also has denied all allegations of wrongdoing, testifying on Thursday that Heard broke her nose after their head collided—and that it was an accident. Depp previously testified that he had to undergo surgery after Heard hurled a bottle of vodka at him during an argument in Australia—but jurors were shown a message and heard audio that suggests that the actor may have actually chopped off his own finger. The injury is among several instances of abuse Depp testified Heard inflicted upon him during their short-lived union that ended in 2016.

Mr. Depp was questioned on the stand by lawyers for his ex-wife Amber Heard, whom he is suing for defamation.

In the text, Mr. Depp rattled off an exaggerated list of the drugs and alcohol he had ingested and said they left him “screaming obscenities and insulting” anyone who got near. He was angry, she said, about a romantic scene she had been filming with the actor James Franco. She said he then locked himself in the plane’s bathroom and passed out, according to court papers. In court papers, Ms. Heard has said he severed his own finger when smashing a phone “to smithereens” amid a bout of physical violence against her. Mr. Depp has testified that he never struck Ms. Heard during their relationship and accused her of being the aggressor. “You choose your colors.” In the courtroom. But the trial testimony has gone well beyond an analysis of what Ms. Heard wrote. Mr. Rottenborn questioned Mr. Depp on the drugs he used and with whom, prompting the actor to say — in a comment that drew laughs from the courtroom — “I once gave Marilyn Manson a pill so that he would stop talking so much.” Mr. Depp testified on Wednesday that he had taken opioids and had perhaps had a glass of champagne on that flight, adding that he had locked himself in the bathroom because Ms. Heard had been “actively searching for a way to instigate a fight with me.” Ms. Heard has said in court papers that she has never struck Mr. Depp except in self-defense or in defense of her sister. Mr. Rottenborn questioned Mr. Depp about a particular incident in 2014 on which the actor’s account diverges from Ms. Heard’s. She has written in court papers that Mr. Depp had been “drinking heavily” on a private flight and threw objects at her, screamed obscenities and kicked her in the back. Mr. Depp testified on Tuesday that Ms. Heard’s depiction of his drug and alcohol use was “grossly embellished” and that he was once addicted to an opioid but had successfully detoxed. Mr. Depp said on the stand Thursday that he vehemently disagreed that he had head-butted Ms. Heard that night, saying that he was only trying to restrain her and that it was “not impossible for them to bump.”

Actor continues testimony on his life and marriage with Amber Heard, including events that marked the end of their relationship.

Depp said he had hidden in a bathroom, and was later taken to a hospital where he told doctors the digit had been caught in large accordion doors. Depp testified that Heard had become enraged when he had started drinking in Australia during the filming of one of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise films and had thrown a bottle of vodka at him, severing the top of his finger. After two days on the stand in a $50m defamation case brought by Johnny Depp against his former wife, the actor concluded his narrative of their marriage by testifying on Wednesday that accusations of domestic violence brought by Amber Heard had destroyed his career.

Amber Heard's lawyer spent Thursday cross-examining Johnny Depp, bringing up his past vulgar texts and drug and alcohol use.

Rottenborn asked repeatedly whether Depp got “blackout” drunk on the flight — he played audio of Depp moaning, sounding like “an animal in pain” — as he had testified to in the U.K. trial, though Depp disagreed with this description now. Rottenborn then showed a picture of Depp “passed out” (the actor called that phrasing “obscene,” saying he was merely asleep) with ice cream all over him. Rottenborn asked whether Depp remembered testifying he had abused alcohol at one point, though Depp disputed that now, saying he didn’t think he was drinking heavily. There was a somewhat tense back-and-forth about the aforementioned flight from Boston to Los Angeles, which has come up several times during the trial. The attorney asked whether Depp remembered Heard’s concerns about his substance use and referenced the 2020 British libel case that Depp lost against the Sun, which called him a “wife beater” in a headline. Depp said Heard gave him the ice cream knowing what would happen and criticized her for taking the photo in the first place, saying it was after 17 hours of filming and he was struggling with an opiate addiction at the time. Depp said in court that he was in shock from his injury and having a “nervous breakdown” when he started writing the words. Depp acknowledged sending a text to Heard’s father around the same time, writing, he “went too far in our fight. Rottenborn also pushed back on Depp’s description of an incident in December 2015, in which Heard alleged he head-butted her; Depp vehemently denied this during his earlier testimony, saying she initiated a physical altercation and that any contact occurred while he was trying to restrain her. I am an insane person.” Depp later confirmed he had also done drugs with rock singer Marilyn Manson. Throughout the day, Rottenborn spotlighted Depp’s drug and alcohol use, which the lawyer has argued was what impacted Depp’s career, not Heard’s allegations. The actor acknowledged that he did not mention Heard in such correspondence but, in at least one instance, framed the omission as a way of getting straight to the point.

Johnny Depp kept making jokes during the trial when asked about text messages with Marilyn Manson, Paul Bettany, and Elton John in his $50 million lawsuit ...

(Observers could hear smashing noises in the background but not see what was causing them in the video.) “I did assault a couple of cabinets, but I did not assault Ms. Heard,” Depp said. We’ve had cocaine together maybe a couple of times,” Depp responded plainly. While Depp looked stern at times, he responded to some of the questions with wry one-liners. Heard did not mention Depp’s name, but he sued her in May 2019, claiming he was the clear target of her piece and that her implications had ruined his career. Many of the text messages in question — including those exchanged with Paul Bettany, in which Depp suggested he wanted to “burn” Heard — have been made public, but these missives were new to jurors. Heard had accused Depp of abuse in 2016, and she wrote generally of abuse in a Washington Post op-ed in 2018.