Gruesome texts about Amber Heard allegedly sent by Johnny Depp to a friend, in which he hoped his former wife’s body was ‘decomposing’ in the back of a car, have been read in court as part of the actor’s defamation trial.
The actor, 58, is suing Heard, 35, for libel over a 2018 article she wrote in The Washington Post, titled ‘I spoke up against sexual violence – and faced our culture’s wrath’, in which she discussed her experiences of domestic abuse.
Depp’s lawyers say the article falsely implies Aquaman star Heard was physically and sexually abused by the Pirates Of The Caribbean actor when they were married and is seeking $50million (£39m) in damages.
In Wednesday’s cross-examination, Isaac Baruch, an artist who has known Depp for 40 years, gave evidence at the US trial and was asked about texts he exchanged with Depp in October 2016.
Heard’s lawyer Elaine Bredehoft asked Baruch: ‘Do you recall Mr. Depp ever telling you that he, in base terms, hoped that Amber’s rotting corpse is decomposing in the f**king trunk of a Honda Civic?’
Baruch replied: ‘Yeah, I’m seeing it here so obviously yeah it was said. It was written.’
He was also asked whether he recalled Depp calling Heard a ‘c**t and saying it was her fault?’, to which he replied: ‘It’s written there I see that.’
Baruch read a part of a message from Depp which read: ‘That c**t ruined such a f**king cool life we had for a while.’
The court heard that the messages were sent a few weeks before Baruch moved out of the penthouse Depp owned in the Eastern Columbia Building in Los Angeles, where Baruch had lived from 2013.
Elsewhere, Baruch told the court he was ‘tired’ of the drawn-out proceedings and that Heard should ‘take her responsibility, heal, and move on’.
Asked whether he was angry at the Aquaman star and her allegations, Baruch said: ‘Yeah, that kind of got me confused and frustrated and angry, upset.
‘It’s (been) six years… am I angry? What I am is tired and I want this all to end.
‘So many people have been affected by this malicious lie that she started and she created and it’s gone out the door and around the world.
‘I’m not angry at anybody. I want the best for (Ms Heard), I want her to take her responsibility, heal, and move on.’
Becoming visibly upset, he added: ‘For Johnny, his family has been completely wrecked by all of this stuff and it’s not fair.
‘It’s not right what she did and what happened for so many people to get affected from this, it’s insane how this happened.’
Depp originally filed the $50million (£38m) lawsuit in March 2019, however it was postponed due to the Covid pandemic.
Lawyers for Heard – who married Depp in 2015, before their divorce was finalised in January 2017 – say that, although her article is protected by the first amendment of the US constitution, there is also evidence that Depp abused her physically on multiple occasions.
Depp’s lawyers say the allegations of abuse are false and the actress had been ‘preparing to give the performance of a lifetime’ during the proceedings.
The case is being brought in Virginia rather than in California, where the actors live, because The Washington Post’s online editions are published through servers located in Fairfax County.
Other high-profile celebrities are listed as witnesses in the trial, including actors James Franco and Paul Bettany, and Tesla founder Elon Musk.
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