Johnny Depp was grilled during cross-examination on Thursday about his drug and alcohol use while he was in a relationship with Amber Heard. The actress’s defense team read aloud dozens of text messages from Depp, including some to his famous friends like Marilyn Manson, Paul Bettany and Elton John, in which he talked about his substance issues. In many of those text messages, Depp called Heard explicit names like “ugly c***,” “worthless hooker” and “filthy whore.”
“When I write something, when I write a text, especially if I’m in a particularly impassioned place it’s a canvas, it’s a painting,” Depp said at one point. During his testimony earlier this week, the actor preemptively apologized to the jury for his “dark humor,” knowing these messages would be a sticking point for the defense.
Ben Rottenborn, one of Heard’s lawyers, began the day by grilling Depp about doing drugs with Bettany. Depp admitted to using cocaine and drinking alcohol with the WandaVision star. Rottenborn read text messages from Depp to Bettany.
“I’ll smack the ugly c*** around before I let her in, don’t worry… Did that worthless hooker arrive???” Depp wrote, referring to his ex-wife.
“Lets burn Amber!!!” Depp said in another message to Bettany. “Let’s drown her before we burn her!!! I will f*** her burnt corpse afterwards to make sure she is dead…”
Rottenborn asked Depp about doing drugs with Manson, who is in a swarm of legal trouble of his own amid sexual assault allegations.
“We drank together, we’ve had cocaine together, maybe a couple of times,” Depp replied.
When Rottenborn asked if the two took pills together, Depp replied, “I once gave Marilyn Manson a pill so he would stop talking so much.” The courtroom erupted in laughter. The actor had people laughing again when he was asked whether he drank whiskey in the morning, as implied by a photo taken in March 2013.
“Isn’t happy hour any time?” Depp remarked.
Depp was asked about why he and Vanessa Paradis broke up after 14 years and two kids together. In one message read to the court, the actor referred to his ex as a “French extortionist” and “c***.” He denied his dependency on alcohol contributed to their split.
In one message to Elton John, it appeared Depp thanked the singer for aiding in his sobriety.
“I would’ve been swallowed up by the monster if it wasn’t for you,” Depp wrote. The actor denied it was the “monster” Heard often refers to.
The jury saw photos and heard multiple recordings taken of Depp when he was allegedly intoxicated.
Rottenborn: This is you passed out?#JohnnyDepp: Passed out is an interesting word. I was asleep.
Depp says he’d just worked a 17-hour day. He claims #AmberHeard stuck the ice cream in his hand knowing he was nodding off. “That was a wonderful picture for her to take.” pic.twitter.com/sJv06RKOcy
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) April 21, 2022
Heard is concerned during one of the audio recordings played to the jury, telling Depp, “I thought you would choke in your own vomit” and commenting how he always throws up.
In another recording, Depp is heard loudly moaning. The actress’s team argues it was when he was blacked out; however the actor is steadfast in that he was only dependent on opioid pain pills, which he ultimately detoxed from.
Rottenborn questioned Depp about the 2014 Boston plane incident. Heard has claimed this is one of the 14 times she was abused while Depp says no physical altercation happened. However, it’s the first anyone has heard Depp admit he and the Aquaman star fought about James Franco. (Heard and Franco starred in The Adderall Diaries together.)
Depp was asked if the night before the flight, he and Heard had a “heated discussion” about scenes she was filming with Franco. When Rottenborn asked point-blank if they argued about whether Depp suspected Heard was having an affair with the actor, Depp replied, “Yes.” However, Depp denied that he was “in a blackout” on the flight, which the actor alluded to during a later text to Bettany.
“I’m gonna properly stop the booze thing darling. Drank all night before I picked Amber up to fly to LA. Ugly mate. No food for days. Powders, half a bottle whiskey, thousand red bulls, pills, two bottles of champagne…. I’m admittedly too f***ed in the head to spray my rage at the one I love for little reason as well, I’m too old to be that guy but pills are fine,” Depp wrote to Bettany. He also called himself an “angry agro engine in a blackout.”
This is when Depp compared his texts to being like that of an artist with a canvas.
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