London - Hollywood star Johnny Depp wrote
on a wall with blood from his severed fingertip during a long
and violent confrontation with his ex-wife Amber Heard, London's
High Court heard on Thursday during his libel case against a British
tabloid.
Depp told the court he suffered "some species of nervous
breakdown" during a row with actress Heard, but denied he had
violently attacked her and accused her of cutting his finger by
throwing a bottle at him.
The revelations came on the third day of Depp's appearance
in the witness stand as he sues the publisher of Britain's Sun
tabloid, News Group Newspapers, over an article in which it
labelled the actor a "wife beater".
Throughout the case, Depp has rejected all accusations that
he was violent towards his former wife, saying that they were
part of hoax created by Heard as an insurance policy.
"She was building a wonderful dossier, an insurance policy
for when we did break up," he said.
The court heard that Depp was in Australia in March 2015 to
film "Pirates of the Caribbean" a month after the couple
married. Heard had flown to join him from London, where she had
been making a movie with co-star Billy Bob Thornton.
The Sun's lawyer Sasha Wass said Heard suffered a three-day
ordeal at Depp's hands in the rented house where the actor was
staying after she became angry at him because he had been
drinking to excess and taking drugs.
Consumed with jealousy about Heard and Thornton, Depp
attacked her, constantly swigging from a bottle, Wass said.
He slapped Heard across the face, smashed her head against a
fridge, and she barricaded herself in her bedroom to escape him,
the court was told. Wass said Depp spat in her face, grabbed her
by the throat and told her it would be easy to crush her neck.
"Fabricated and vicious," Depp replied, rejecting all the
accusations. "I vehemently deny it and go as far as to say it
was pedestrian fiction."
He agreed the couple had a row on the final day that began
because he wanted Heard to sign a post-nuptial agreement, and he
had not been drinking until that point.
'NERVOUS BREAKDOWN'
Depp said Heard threw two vodka bottles at him, the second
of which "severed my finger and crushed my bones".
"That is when I began what I feel was perhaps some species
of a nervous breakdown," he told the court.
He said he began to write messages on the wall in blood with
his severed finger, before then using paint. One message on a
mirror said: "Starring Billy Bob, Easy Amber".
Wass said the house was a scene of "carnage" with paint
everywhere, and windows and the television smashed. It caused
$100,000-150,000 of damage, according to Depp's assistant, the
lawyer said.
By December 2015, Depp was regularly using violence against
Heard, according to Wass. He replied the problem was that he ran
away from fights.
At their LA penthouse, Wass said when Heard stood up to
Depp, he chased her, saying "you think you are a fucking tough
guy?", slapped, then headbutted her in "an uncontrollable rage",
pulled out clumps of her hair and said he was going to kill her.
"It's a lie," Depp said.
Shown pictures of Heard with two black eyes, Depp said he
had tried to grab her eyes while defending himself and he could
have headbutted her accidentally.
Earlier Depp denied attacking Heard while trying to ease
himself off prescription drugs on his private island in the
Bahamas in August 2014, the "lowest point of my life", he said.
He accused Heard of withholding medication that would ease
the process, calling it "one of the cruellest things that she
has ever done", the court was told.
However, Wass said Heard, 34, was following instructions
from Depp's medical team which led Depp to push and hit her.
"I did not push Miss Heard or attack her in any way," Depp
said. "I was not in a condition to do so in any case."