Amber Heard’s stylist claims she ‘never saw any marks or bruises’
Amber Heard claims Johnny Depp gave her ‘two black eyes’ day before she posed for selfies on the Late, Late Show with James Corden – but make-up artist who styled her on set says she didn’t see a single injury
- Stylist Samantha McMillen says she could ‘see clearly’ Heard had no cuts or bruises on December 16, 2015
- Depp was allegedly violent towards Heard in a row at their LA penthouse the day before, which he denies
- In a separate alleged incident in May 2016, Ms McMillen claimed Heard did not have any injuries on her face
- That was despite the actress claiming the Pirates of the Caribbean star had attacked her three days before
- Depp is suing The Sun over 2018 article which labelled him a ‘wife beater’ and case at High Court continues
Published: 10:58 EDT, 14 July 2020 | Updated: 12:13 EDT, 14 July 2020
Amber Heard claimed Johnny Depp gave her ‘two black eyes’ the day before she appeared on The Late, Late Show with James Corden – but the stylist who did her make-up told a court today that she had ‘no visible’ injuries.
Samantha McMillen said she spent ‘much of the afternoon and early evening’ with Heard on December 16, 2015 as she prepared to appear on James Corden’s show – and could ‘see clearly’ that Heard had no marks, cuts or bruises.
Depp is alleged to have been violent towards Heard in an argument at their Los Angeles penthouse the day before, which he denies. The Hollywood star is suing The Sun over an April 2018 article which labelled him a ‘wife beater’.
Ms McMillen said she saw Heard ‘in good light, at close range, wearing no makeup’ on December 16, and that she ‘could see clearly that Ms Heard did not have any visible marks, bruises, cuts, or injuries’ to any part of her body.
In a witness statement to the High Court in London revealed today, Ms McMillen claimed that after Heard’s appearance on the US programme, Heard said to her: ‘Can you believe I just did that show with two black eyes?’
The stylist, who has worked for Depp since 2002 and was Heard’s stylist during the couple’s relationship, said: ‘Ms Heard did not have any black eyes, and had been visibly uninjured throughout the day and at that moment.’
Ms McMillen, who has also styled Brie Larson and Ryan Gosling, added: ‘I later learned that Ms Heard had accused Mr Depp, in court filings and the media, of violently abusing her the previous night, December 15, 2015.’
As Ms McMillen was leaving Heard’s company on December 16 she claimed to have overheard her say to her friend Raquel Pennington, who came to the show with her, ‘make sure to get those pictures onto my computer’.
But the stylist added that she ‘did not know to what photos she was referring’. Photographs were later issued by Heard’s legal team of her with injuries to her face around the time of the alleged attack.
On another day of bombshell evidence at the Royal Courts of Justice in London today, further claims included:
- Depp claimed Heard had put a cigarette out on his face while in Australia, a month into their marriage in 2015;
- The actor was ‘in emotional distress and panicking’ after his finger was severed, according to his bodyguard;
- Heard took off her wedding ring and threw it during another row with Depp in 2015, but it was later found;
- Heard’s stylist said she had ‘no visible’ injuries the day after the actress alleges Depp was violent towards her;
- Depp’s head of security Jerry Judge previously warned the actor was ‘not well’ and ‘we need to help him out’.
Meanwhile, in a separate alleged incident the following year in May 2016, Ms McMillen also claimed Heard did not have any injuries on her face despite the actress claiming Depp had attacked her three days before.
Amber Heard claimed that Johnny Depp physically abused her one day before she was on The Late, Late Show with James Corden on on December 16, 2015 (above) – and said after her appearance that she ‘just did that show with two black eyes’
Heard is pictured while appearing on the US chat programme The Late, Late Show on December 16, 2015
Heard poses with guests Luke Bracey and Wanda Skyes on the Late, Late Show with James Corden on December 16, 2015
Heard is pictured in a publicity photograph for the Late, Late Show on December 16, 2015, issued as part of legal proceedings
Ms McMillen said she met a tearful Heard at Depp’s house in West Hollywood on May 24, 2016 but could not see any ‘marks, bruises, cuts, or injuries’ to any part of her body.
Three days later Ms McMillen read in the media that Heard had gone to court with ‘prominent injuries visible on her face’, claiming that Depp had inflicted them on her.
But the stylist said Depp had left Los Angeles on May 22 and therefore ‘could not have caused those marks that Ms Heard appeared with in court on May 27, 2016’.
Ms McMillen was called to give evidence from the US by videolink in Depp’s libel claim against The Sun newspaper over an April 2018 article which labelled him a ‘wife beater’.
Sasha Wass, for the The Sun’s publishers News Group Newspapers (NGN), said Ms McMillen had been asked to give evidence about two dates – December 16, 2015 and May 24, 2016 – when she saw Ms Heard.
The barrister showed Ms McMillen a number of photos from around the time of December 16, 2015 which are said to show Ms Heard with marks and ‘bruising’ on her face.
After being shown a photo taken on December 15, which apparently shows Heard with a mark on her face, Ms McMillen said: ‘That’s not how I remember her looking on that day.’
Photographs were issued by Heard’s legal team of her with injuries to her face around the time of the alleged attack on December 15, 2015, showing bruising across the bridge of her nose and under her eyes after Depp allegedly headbutted her
Photographs after the alleged incident in December 2015 show bruising to Heard’s face after Depp is claimed to have headbutted her. These two pictures above were also released by Heard’s legal team
Samantha McMillen (left) and Amber Heard (right) pose together at an event in Los Angeles on December 10, 2015
Ms Wass asked: ‘Would you agree that shows that she has got bruising coming up underneath both eyes?’ Ms McMillen replied: ‘It’s not a clear picture, but it does look like there is dark around her eyes.’
Johnny Depp’s housekeeper was left ‘disgusted’ to find faeces in the bed the actor shared with Amber Heard
Johnny Depp’s housekeeper has said she was ‘horrified and disgusted’ to find ‘a large pile of faeces’ in the bed the actor shared with ex-wife Amber Heard.
In a witness statement submitted to the High Court in the Hollywood actor’s libel action against The Sun newspaper, Hilda Vargas claimed it was ‘clear’ that the excrement was human, saying she knew they could not have come from the couple’s two small dogs.
The court has previously heard that faeces were found in the bed at the couple’s Los Angeles penthouse at the Eastern Columbia Building the day after Ms Heard’s 30th birthday party in April 2016.
Heard, 34, claims that one of the two small Yorkshire terriers, Pistol and Boo, were responsible.
A picture taken from the witness statement of Hilda Vargas, housekeeper for Depp at his LA properties, which contains an image of faeces on his and Heard’s marital bed from April 2016
Depp, 57, has told the court it was ‘a mystery’ who defecated in the bed, adding he was ‘convinced’ Ms Heard ‘or one of her cohort’ was involved in the so-called ‘defecation incident’.
In her written statement, Ms Vargas, who has worked for Mr Depp for more than 30 years, said she arrived at the apartment at around 3pm on April 22, 2016, and had just finishing washing dishes and vacuuming when she heard another cleaning lady call out and she joined her in the master bedroom.
‘She was pointing to the bed and told me that she couldn’t believe what she had found,’ Ms Vargas said.
‘I pulled back the top sheet on the bed and saw a large pile of faeces. I was horrified and disgusted. It was clear to me that this was human faeces. I knew that the faeces could not have come from either of Mr Depp’s or Ms Heard’s two small dogs.
‘I have cleaned up after those dogs many times and their faeces are much smaller. Further, I have never known those dogs to defecate in the bed.’
Ms Vargas said in her statement that she took photos of the faeces in the bed, before washing and changing the sheets.
She later told Mr Depp’s estate manager, Kevin Murphy what she had found because she was ‘so angry’.
Ms Vargas said that on May 24, 2016, she was working at Depp’s West Hollywood home when Heard arrived with her friend Raquel Pennington.
The housekeeper claimed Heard called her over and told her the photos she had taken of the faeces in the bed ‘had destroyed her marriage’.
Ms Vargas said: ‘I was very nervous and so I apologised, even I did not believe that their marital problems were my fault or that I had done anything wrong.
‘I also told Ms Heard that the faeces were there, that there was nothing I could do. Ms Heard argued with me saying that there were no faeces in the bed.
‘I, again, said that the faeces were there, that they were large and smelled awful. Ms Heard continued to disagree with me, but I wanted to end the conversation as quickly as possible.’
In her statement, Ms Vargas also said she had ‘often’ heard Ms Heard ‘yell at Mr Depp and at other people’.
She alleged: ‘She has a bad temper in my opinion, and I did not want her to yell at me.
‘On the contrary, in the over 30 years I have worked for Mr Depp, I have never seen Mr Depp be physical with or yell at anyone.’
Ms Wass said: ‘Your evidence is that you never saw any of these injuries on the afternoon or the night of December 16 when you were with Ms Heard.’ Ms McMillen said: ‘That’s correct.’
Ms Wass continued: ‘Ms Heard told a number of people on the 15th and 16th about these injuries. How close would you say you were to Ms Heard?’ Ms McMillen replied: ‘We had a good working relationship.’
Asked if Heard would ‘confide’ in her, Ms McMillen said: ‘I wouldn’t say so, no. I wouldn’t be on her speed dial.’
Ms Wass referred to a message sent by Heard in December 2015, which read: ‘Johnny did a number on me tonight.’ The barrister asked: ‘Did Ms Heard ever say to you that Johnny ‘did a number on her’?’
Ms McMillen said: ‘She never said anything about that to me.’
Ms Wass then asked: ‘Do you consider that your loyalties are more with Mr Depp than with Ms Heard? You have a long-standing relationship with Mr Depp … he’s a big figure in Hollywood.
‘If there was a conflict of loyalties between Mr Depp, your loyalties to Mr Depp on the one hand, and any loyalty you might have to Ms Heard … who would take priority?’
Ms McMillen said: ‘I was close with her at the time. I don’t know what you are insinuating but I would not perjure myself for anyone. I’m obviously loyal because he’s kind and loyal back, but without any other reason than that.’
Ms Wass asked why Ms Heard would make allegations of domestic violence against Mr Depp ‘unless it was true’.
Ms McMillen replied: ‘I don’t know the answer to that.’
Ms McMillen told the court that Ms Heard said to her after taping the James Corden show on December 16 2015: ‘Can you believe I just did that show with two black eyes?’
The witness was asked: ‘As far as you could see, did Ms Heard have two black eyes?’
Ms McMillen replied: ‘I never noticed anything like that when I saw her. I never noticed her having two black eyes.’
Ms Wass asked: ‘If you didn’t see any black eyes, did you not ask her what on earth she was talking about?’
Ms McMillen said: ‘I didn’t. We were leaving at the end of the show and we were going our separate ways. We were saying goodbye.
‘I was confused by it and I think I said something like, ‘I don’t know what to say’.
‘I didn’t see the black eyes, but also I don’t want to, you know, raise any sort of – I just wanted to go home.’
Ms McMillen was then asked about an email sent by Ms Heard to her publicist, Jodi Gottlieb, in the early hours of December 16 which said: ‘I’m really bruised or might have a black eye or two tomorrow … I might not be fit for tomorrow but I won’t know how bad the bruise is until the morning.’
Ms Wass asked if there was ‘any reason’ Ms Heard would send that email ‘unless she actually had what she thought might develop into two black eyes’. Ms McMillen replied: ‘I can’t think of why she would do that.’
Ms Wass asked: ‘After she said to you, ‘can you believe I just did that show with two black eyes?’, did not you not think to offer her some sort of support or make some sort of inquiry rather than just quickly leave?’ Ms McMillen said: ‘I gave her a hug.’
Ms Wass suggested Ms Heard’s make-up artist, Melanie Inglessis, said she was ‘going to put a really bright red lipstick on Ms Heard to try and cover the mark on her lip’. Ms McMillen said: ‘I don’t remember that conversation.’
Ms Wass asked: ‘Do you remember Ms Inglessis putting particularly heavy make-up on Ms Heard that night to cover the injuries?’ Ms McMillen replied: ‘I didn’t notice it being any heavier than usual.’
Ms Wass asked Ms McMillen if, having seen photos of Heard apparently with marks, ‘do you still maintain that there is nothing on her face on the 24th?’ Ms McMillen replied: ‘When I saw her on the 24th (of May 2016) I noticed nothing but her beautiful skin.’
Ms Wass suggested: ‘You are being less than frank with the court … and you have come to this court to help Johnny Depp, who is a person who is very important to your career.’ Ms McMillen said: ‘I’m telling the truth.’
Mr Depp’s barrister David Sherborne referred Ms McMillen to what she said in her witness statement about when she saw Ms Heard on December 16 2015, asking: ‘If you had seen Ms Heard’s face looking like it did in the photos you were shown, would you have given the evidence that you gave?’ Ms McMillen replied: ‘No, I would not.’
Mr Sherborne referred to a visit to Ms Heard by her nurse Erin Boerum, who later noted: ‘The client also states her head is bruised and she lost clumps of hair in the altercation. The registered nurse (Ms Boerum) briefly looked at Ms Heard’s scalp but was unable to visualise the hematomas (bruises) that the client had described.’
He asked Ms McMillen: ‘Can you think of any reason why Nurse Boerum, who says she didn’t see these bruises, would lie about not seeing those bruises?’ She replied: ‘I can’t think of any reason why she would do that.’
Mr Sherborne then asked about when Ms McMillen saw Ms Heard at Mr Depp’s house in LA on May 24, 2016. Ms McMillen said she met her ‘by chance’ and had been at the house before Ms Heard arrived.
Mr Sherborne said: ‘You are in Mr Depp’s house in West Hollywood and Ms Heard turns up. She doesn’t know you are going to be there … and you say that when she turned up, not knowing you were going to be there, she was not wearing make-up.’ Ms McMillen said: ‘That’s correct.’
Amber Heard leaves Los Angeles Superior Court on May 27, 2016 with visible facial injuries
Heard leaves the court in Los Angeles on May 27, 2016, with an apparent bruise on her cheek
Heard claimed at the court in LA on May 27, 2016 that Depp had inflicted the injuries on her
Mr Sherborne asked: ‘And, without the benefit of make-up, you said that she had her usual beautiful skin?’ Ms McMillen said: ‘That’s correct.’
Mr Sherborne asked: ‘Did she (Ms Heard) tell you that she had been beaten up by Mr Depp?’ Ms McMillen replied: ‘She said nothing like that.’
Ms McMillen was asked by Mr Mr Sherborne how Ms Heard’s face appeared in a photograph taken shortly before the filming of the James Corden show.
The stylist said Ms Heard’s skin looked ‘beautiful’, adding: ‘That is how I remember her looking once her make-up had been done.’
Mr Sherborne said: ‘You were asked (by Ms Wass)… if you had a conflict between your loyalty to Mr Depp or your loyalty to Ms Heard, which would win. But can I ask you a different question?
‘Where there was a conflict between your loyalty to Mr Depp and you having to lie to this court, which would win?’ Ms McMillen replied: ‘I would not commit perjury for any reason, for anyone – friends or family or anyone.’
Also today, the court heard Depp said Heard was ‘as full of s**t as a Christmas goose’ and blasted her ‘constant insults’ after claiming his wife smashed his hand with a vodka bottle and ‘cut my f***ing finger off’.
Ms McMillen in New York on September 24, 2015 (left) and Hollywood on April 2, 2017 (right)
Depp, 57, and Heard, 34, met on the set of the 2011 comedy ‘The Rum Diary’ and married in Los Angeles in February 2015. They are pictured at the film’s premiere in London in November 2011
The Pirates of the Caribbean star sent a series of texts slamming Heard to his doctor after his finger was severed in Australia in March 2015, and accused her of marrying him because she was ‘so desperate for success and fame’.
He told Dr David Kipper that Heard had said he was a ‘sad old man’ and ‘has been’ and blasted her ‘hideously and purposely hurtful tirades and her goddamn shocking treatment of the man she was meant to love’.
The actor’s libel trial also heard today from the property manager at his Bahamas home, who said Heard had told Depp during a row in December 2015 that his ‘career is over’, he would die a lonely man’ and called him ‘fat’.
In the texts to Dr Kipper, Depp wrote: ‘I just cannot live like this… She is as full of s**t as a Christmas goose. I’m done. NO MORE…!!! The constant insults, the demeaning, belittling, most heartbreaking spew that is only released from a malicious, evil and vindictive c**t!!!!! But, you know what… ??
‘FAR MORE hurtful than her venomous and degrading, endless ‘educational’ ranting…??? Is her hideously and purposely hurtful tirades and her goddam shocking treatment of the man she was meant to love, above all…
‘Here’s the real deal, mate… Her obsession with herself..?? Is far more important… She is SO F***IN’ AMBITIOUS!!! She’s so desperate for success and fame… That’s probably why I was acquired, mate…!! Although, she has hammered me with what a sad old man, has been I am…
‘Cowan (Dr Connell Cowan, another doctor) has done me the most cruel of favors… I’m so very sad… I cut the top of my middle finger off… What should I do!?? Except, of course, go to a hospital… I’m so embarrassed for jumping into anything with her…’
A mock-up of the text messages sent by Depp to his private doctor Dr David Kipper after the Australia incident in 2015
Johnny Depp (left) and Amber Heard (right) arrive separately at the Royal Courts of Justice in London this morning
Heard leaves Ham Yard Hotel in London’s Soho this morning ahead of legal proceedings continuing at the High Court
Tara Roberts, Depp’s estate manager on his island in the Bahamas, was also called to give evidence in the libel case against The Sun newspaper today.
Sasha Wass QC, for the Sun owner’s News Group Newspapers, suggested Ms Roberts was ‘totally dependent on Mr Depp for your livelihood’, to which she replied: ‘No… I have other sources of income.’
The barrister asked about a passage in her witness statement in which Ms Roberts said: ‘I never saw Johnny, who is an unusually kind man, be violent or aggressive with Amber or anyone else.’
‘You’re fat and you’ll die a lonely man’: Amber Heard screamed abuse at Johnny Depp after confronting him at his estate manager’s office in the Bahamas – where she asked for help finding her wedding ring after taking it of and throwing it away
Amber Heard told Johnny Depp that his ‘career is over’ and he will ‘die a lonely man’ during a blazing row, according to the property manager at Depp’s Bahamas home.
Tara Roberts said she overheard Heard ‘insulting’ the star, calling him names including ‘fat’ and saying ‘no one is going to hire you’ and ‘you’re washed up’.
Ms Roberts said the incident happened on December 29, 2015 when Depp drove to her office alone and said he ‘just needed to get away from Amber’, before the actress then showed up.
She said Heard was pleading with Depp to return to their home, but he started his car and she started screaming at him while stood in front of it.
Ms Roberts said Heard was ‘apparently not letting him get away by blocking his path’, and she called Depp’s sister Christi Dembrowski because she was ‘unsure how far this would go’.
Ms Roberts wrote in her court statement: While I could not hear what caused the fight, Amber repeatedly berated him with increasing ferocity.
‘She was insulting him, calling him names, and in the middle of this onslaught I heard her say specifically ‘your career is over,’ ‘no one is going to hire you,’ ‘you’re washed up,’ ‘fat,’ ‘you will die a lonely man,’ and also screaming things that were incomprehensible.’
Depp responded to the abuse by telling Heard to ‘go away’ and ‘just leave me alone’, but Heard’s rage ‘continued to escalate’, according to Ms Roberts.
She continued: ‘I saw Amber lunge at Johnny, clawing, tugging and aggressively pulling him. He continued to stand there yelling at her to stop and leave him alone.
‘When he stepped back to leave, her onslaught would start again. During this entire incident, I never saw Johnny hit Amber, or push her back, nor did he physically react to the attacks.
‘She would calm down and hug and apologize. Then he would say he needs to leave and it would start again.
‘Finally, I stepped between them. She continued to reach for him but maybe my presence stopped it.’
Ms Roberts added that Heard had ‘removed her wedding ring and thrown it and had asked for help finding it as they were leaving that afternoon’.
The ring was found and returned to her.
Depp is seen pacing around a room, swearing and kicking a cabinet
Ms Wass then played a video of Depp, which has previously been played to the court, which shows the actor pacing around a room, swearing and kicking a cabinet.
The barrister asked Ms Roberts: ‘Would you agree it shows a different side of his character from the one you speak of in your witness statement?’ To which Ms Roberts replied: ‘No’.
Responding to questions from Ms Wass about a detox trip to Depp’s private island in the Bahamas in August 2014, Ms Roberts confirmed that she had spoken to the actor’s doctor Dr Kipper and nurse Debbie Lloyd.
She told the court that neither of them had a discussion with her about the actor’s medical affairs.
Ms Wass then read out part of the actor’s medical records from September 2014, which said Depp was ‘sitting in the kitchen with scraped and bloodied knuckles’ and said he had punched a whiteboard in the kitchen after a fight.
The barrister said: ‘It would appear that Dr Kipper saw a different aspect of Mr Depp than you did, would you agree?’ Ms Roberts replied: ‘Yes.’
Ms Wass then asked Ms Roberts about the former couple’s stay in the Bahamas for Christmas 2015, and the estate manager confirmed that she was not aware Depp and Heard’s relationship was very difficult at that point.
Heard was ‘the most violent’ in their relationship, says Depp’s estate manager
The barrister said: ‘As far as you were concerned, you have suggested that it was Ms Heard who was the most violent, is that right?’ Ms Roberts replied: ‘Correct.’
She then described seeing Depp with a ‘gash’ on the bridge of his nose, which she said wasn’t bleeding, and confirmed the actor had never suggested that she should photograph it.
Ms Wass then put it to Ms Roberts that Heard had the remains of a bruise or a mark on her right cheek, to which Roberts responded: ‘It wasn’t visible to me.’
The estate manager confirmed the fight between the couple took place on December 29 and she was then shown a photograph from around that time of Heard with bruising on her face.
However, she again said she had not seen this bruising when she saw the couple after the argument.
During an exchange with Depp’s barrister David Sherborne, Ms Roberts confirmed that she had never seen the video clip before it was played in court and that she did not see the actor be violent to Heard in that clip.
She also said that she ‘never saw’ Mr Depp being violent or aggressive towards Ms Heard on the island, and never saw him hit her.
Mr Sherborne then said Ms Roberts explained in her witness statement that Ms Heard wasn’t wearing make-up on the island, which the estate manager said was ‘correct’.
The barrister asked: ‘Did you ever see that bruising on her when she was on the island?’ To which Ms Roberts replied: ‘No.’
He then asked if Ms Roberts would have seen if Ms Heard had bruising to her face at that time, to which she answered: ‘If she had then I would have seen it.’
Mr Sherborne said it was suggested by Ms Wass that Ms Roberts depended on Depp for her livelihood, and she told the court her additional income came from a family business in the Bahamas, which includes a law firm and a car dealership.
The barrister said: ‘Ms Wass is suggesting to you that you are not telling the truth because you are scared of losing a job that you love, livelihood, you need your home on the island.
Depp’s former bodyguard Malcolm Connolly (pictured today), who has worked for Depp and his family for about 16 years, said the actor was ‘in emotional distress and panicking’ after his finger was severed in Australia
‘Are you lying because you are worried about those things Ms Roberts?’ The estate manager replied: ‘No I’m not lying. I’m not lying.’
‘I’m done. No more!’: Texts sent by Johnny Depp to private doctor
Texts sent by Johnny Depp to his private doctor, Dr David Kipper, after he claimed Amber Heard cut off part of his finger in Australia in March 2015:
‘F***ed, man… Had another one… I just cannot live like this… She is as full of s**t as a Christmas goose. I’m done. NO MORE…!!!
‘The constant insults, the demeaning, belittling, most heartbreaking spew that is only released from a malicious, evil and vindictive c**t!!!!! But, you know what… ?? FAR MORE hurtful than her venomous and degrading, endless ‘educational’ ranting…???
‘Is her hideously and purposely hurtful tirades and her goddam shocking treatment of the man she was meant to love, above all… Here’s the real deal, mate… Her obsession with herself..?? Is far more important…
‘She is SO F***IN’ AMBITIOUS!!! She’s so desperate for success and fame… That’s probably why I was acquired, mate…!! Although, she has hammered me with what a sad old man, has been I am…
‘Cowan has done me the most cruel of favors… I’m so very sad… I cut the top of my middle finger off… What should I do!?? Except, of course, go to a hospital… I’m so embarrassed for jumping into anything with her…’
Calls for Depp’s accountant to give more evidence about actor’s accounts amid claims Heard was a ‘gold digger’
Shortly before lunch, the court heard legal argument about whether Depp’s accountant, Edward White – who gave evidence by video link from the US on Monday – could be asked to provide further information about Depp’s accounts during the period of his marriage to Heard.
Ms Wass QC, said that ‘one of the criticisms that has been made of Ms Heard… is that she is a gold digger’. Ms Wass said it had been suggested that that was the ‘motivation’ for her ‘elaborate hoax in order to trick, somehow trick Mr Depp’.
She added: ‘The position is that Ms Heard was given a settlement of $7million (£5.5million) when the divorce came through on August 15 2016.’
Ms Wass continued that if it was true that Heard was ‘entitled to half the income accrued by Mr Depp during the course of their marriage… and the settlement was considerably less than what she was entitled to, which we say is the position, it considerably emasculates the claimant’s case.’
She told the court that Depp’s income between February 2015 and May 2016 was ‘quite considerable’ and that the information NGN wanted Mr White to give ‘strikes at the heart of the claimant’s case’.
Depp’s barrister David Sherborne said that ‘it was not suggested by Mr Depp that it had anything to do with being a gold digger’.
But Ms Wass referred to Depp’s witness statement in which he said that he eventually believed that Ms Heard had ‘an agenda, namely to get married to me in order to progress her own career and/or to benefit financially’.
She also referred to a text sent by Depp shortly after the couple split which referred to Heard as ‘gold-digging, low-level (and) dime-a-dozen’, adding: ‘Gold-digging is top of the list.’
Ms Wass said she was ‘asking Mr White to confirm the accounts for the relevant year, the year of the marriage, which he is in a position to do.’
Heard arrives wearing a face covering at the Royal Courts of Justice this morning as legal proceedings continue
Heard (left) arrives at the High Court today for her ex-husband Depp’s (right, also today) libel case to continue
Mr Justice Nicol said: ‘I’m not inclined to ask Mr White to give us further information about the income that Mr Depp earned during the course of the marriage and their relationship.’
But the judge added: ‘Mr White should be asked to give whatever information he is able to give about the settlement that was reach with Ms Heard as part of the divorce agreement.’
Depp was ‘in emotional distress’ after his finger was severed in Australia and allegedly had a cigarette stubbed on his face
Earlier, Depp’s former bodyguard claimed in court today that Depp said Heard had ‘cut my f***ing finger off’ after smashing his hand with a vodka bottle and stubbing a cigarette on his face during a blazing row.
Malcolm Connolly, who has worked for Depp and his family for about 16 years, said the actor was ‘in emotional distress and panicking’ after his finger was severed in Australia.
The incident is one of 14 allegations of violent behaviour Heard has made against her former husband which are at the centre of his libel claim against The Sun newspaper being heard at the High Court in London.
Mr Connolly said in a witness statement that when he and another security guard arrived at the property, Depp told him: ‘Look at my finger. She’s cut my f***ing finger off. She’s smashed my hand with a vodka bottle.’
Following the Australia incident, Mr Connolly said the actor also told him Heard had put a cigarette out on his face, and he saw a mark. It took place just one month after Heard and Depp had married in Las Vegas in February 2015.
The security officer said Heard’s account of the incident bore ‘no resemblance’ to his recollection and that when he arrived at the house, the actress ‘did not have any marks on her face or arms’.
He said he got to the property at about 1.30pm after receiving an urgent call from the head of Mr Depp’s security team Jerry Judge, now deceased, who told him: ‘Malcolm, get in the car, extract the boss from the situation.’
Mr Connolly said: ‘I could hear the ruckus inside. I opened the door, which wasn’t locked, and saw Johnny in the foyer area of the house. He and Amber were screaming at each other.
‘She was wearing a sort of green silk night thing, you might call it a slip. I shouted at Johnny words to the effect of ‘Come with me, you are coming with me’.
‘I then took his arm trying to move him out, but he broke away. I said again words to the effect of ‘Johnny, come with me’. It wasn’t easy but I did get him outside.
‘I had the car door open and when we were outside Johnny said to me words to the effect of ‘Look at my finger. She’s cut my f***ing finger off. She’s smashed my hand with a vodka bottle’. I saw his finger and it was a mess.’
Mr Connolly’s statement continued: ‘Amber appeared at the door and then came close to the car, screaming and crying, calling out words along the lines of ‘Are you just going to leave it like this, you f***ing coward?’
‘Then she was saying ‘I love you, I love you. Is this how you are going to end this?’. She was not making a lot of sense – one second she was begging Johnny not to leave the house and then she was screaming at him for running away.
‘She was absolutely hysterical. I was worried that she might start throwing objects at Johnny, or at myself, as I had seen her throw objects before.
‘For example, I had seen her lob a fork in Johnny’s general direction once; another time I recall she threw a lighter at him, another time a can of coke. I knew that we needed to get out of there as soon as possible.’
Depp’s bodyguard claims Heard ‘did not have any marks on her face or arms’
Mr Connolly said he could see Heard’s face ‘very clearly’, adding: ‘She did not have any marks on her face or arms. She didn’t look in any physical distress.
‘I was much more concerned about Johnny. He was obviously in emotional distress and panicking. He wasn’t that drunk or out of it though and was easily standing on his own and having a conversation.’
The security guard said the team knew the true cause of Depp’s injury would ‘create extremely bad publicity’ and that Mr Judge suggested they should say at hospital that the actor had injured his finger while slicing onions.
Mr Connolly said: ‘I thought it was fairly obvious that this was not true given the severity of the injury and suggested we say he jammed it into a car door. However we went with the onion cover story. The specialist didn’t believe us for one second.’
He said Depp did not go back to the house over the next few days and stayed at Mr Connolly’s apartment with him instead.
Frantic response saw Depp’s security team say they ‘have got to get over to his house urgently’
Sasha Wass QC, representing The Sun’s publisher News Group Newspapers, asked Mr Connolly about the incident in Australia.
She said Mr Connolly was told by Jerry Judge, then Depp’s head of security, that they ‘have got to get over to Mr Depp’s house urgently’. Mr Connolly said that when he arrived at the house ‘there was an argument ongoing’.
Ms Wass asked if Mr Connolly could ‘understand what Mr Depp was saying during the course of that argument’.
He replied: ‘No, because I was outside… I could hear a ruckus, but I couldn’t understand the actual words being said.’ Ms Wass asked: ‘Was there a time when you did get inside the house?’ Mr Connolly replied: ‘Yes.’
Pirates of the Caribbean star Depp is pictured outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London this morning
Depp has claimed that allegations of domestic violence made by Heard (pictured today) ‘mirrored’ her abuse towards him=
Ms Wass asked ‘what sort of state’ Depp was in, to which Mr Connolly said the actor was ‘distraught’. She then asked if Depp was ‘coherent’ or if he ‘appeared as if he had been drinking’.
Johnny Depp’s security guard recalls actor’s ‘distress’ after his finger was severed
One of Johnny Depp’s security team has told the High Court the actor was ‘in emotional distress and panicking’ after his finger was severed during an incident in Australia.
The episode, in March 2015, is one of 14 allegations of violent behaviour Amber Heard has made against her former husband which are at the centre of his libel claim against The Sun newspaper.
Malcolm Connolly, who has worked for Mr Depp and his family for about 16 years, said in a witness statement that when he and another security guard arrived at the property, the Hollywood star told him: ‘Look at my finger.
‘She’s cut my f***ing finger off. She’s smashed my hand with a vodka bottle.’
Mr Connolly said the actor also told him Ms Heard had put a cigarette out on his face, and he saw a mark.
The security officer said Ms Heard’s account of the incident bore ‘no resemblance’ to his recollection and that when he arrived at the house, the actress ‘did not have any marks on her face or arms’.
He said he got to the property at about 1.30pm after receiving an urgent call from the head of Mr Depp’s security team Jerry Judge, now deceased, who told him: ‘Malcolm, get in the car, extract the boss from the situation.’
Mr Connolly said: ‘I could hear the ruckus inside. I opened the door, which wasn’t locked, and saw Johnny in the foyer area of the house.
‘He and Amber were screaming at each other. She was wearing a sort of green silk night thing, you might call it a slip.
‘I shouted at Johnny words to the effect of ‘Come with me, you are coming with me’.
‘I then took his arm trying to move him out, but he broke away. I said again words to the effect of ‘Johnny, come with me’. It wasn’t easy but I did get him outside.
‘I had the car door open and when we were outside Johnny said to me words to the effect of ‘Look at my finger. She’s cut my f***ing finger off. She’s smashed my hand with a vodka bottle’. I saw his finger and it was a mess.’
Mr Connolly’s statement continued: ‘Amber appeared at the door and then came close to the car, screaming and crying, calling out words along the lines of ‘Are you just going to leave it like this, you f***ing coward?’
‘Then she was saying ‘I love you, I love you. Is this how you are going to end this?’.
‘She was not making a lot of sense – one second she was begging Johnny not to leave the house and then she was screaming at him for running away.
‘She was absolutely hysterical. I was worried that she might start throwing objects at Johnny, or at myself, as I had seen her throw objects before.
‘For example, I had seen her lob a fork in Johnny’s general direction once; another time I recall she threw a lighter at him, another time a can of coke.
‘I knew that we needed to get out of there as soon as possible.’
Mr Connolly said he could see Ms Heard’s face ‘very clearly’, adding: ‘She did not have any marks on her face or arms. She didn’t look in any physical distress.
‘I was much more concerned about Johnny. He was obviously in emotional distress and panicking. He wasn’t that drunk or out of it though and was easily standing on his own and having a conversation.’
The security guard said the team knew the true cause of Mr Depp’s injury would ‘create extremely bad publicity’ and that Mr Judge suggested they should say at hospital that the actor had injured his finger while slicing onions.
Mr Connolly said: ‘I thought it was fairly obvious that this was not true given the severity of the injury and suggested we say he jammed it into a car door.
‘However we went with the onion cover story. The specialist didn’t believe us for one second.’
He said Mr Depp did not go back to the house over the next few days and stayed at Mr Connolly’s apartment with him instead.
Mr Connolly said: ‘It’s hard to tell with Johnny because it takes some amount of volume of alcohol.’ He added: ‘He didn’t appear that drunk to me.’
Mr Connolly said that after he arrived at the house in Australia in March 2015, Depp was ‘having a conversation with me, straight as a die’.
Ms Wass asked if Depp appeared to be rational, to which the personal security guard said: ‘I don’t know about rational because he was in shock.’
The barrister then asked if Depp appeared to have taken drugs, and whether Mr Connolly was ‘familiar with what he was like when he took drugs’. Mr Connolly said: ‘I’m never privy to that sort of behaviour… I have never seen it.’
Bodyguard denies claims that Depp was ‘covered in blood and paint and dirt and he was dishevelled’
Ms Wass suggested: ‘He was absolutely filthy, wasn’t he? Untidy… covered in blood and paint and dirt and he was dishevelled and didn’t appear as if he had washed. He was properly filthy?’ Mr Connolly said that was not the case.
Ms Wass suggested to Mr Connolly that his evidence in his witness statement – that Mr Depp told him, ‘she’s cut my f****** finger off. She’s smashed my hand with a vodka bottle’ – was not true. Mr Connolly replied: ‘I can only say I was there, I witnessed it.’
Ms Wass said Depp had ‘come up with a variety of potential explanations to give to other people about how his finger was damaged’. Mr Connolly said that those explanations were ‘only to protect Amber’.
He added that the story that Depp had trapped the finger in the ‘accordion doors’ in the house was ‘my story’.
Ms Wass asked: ‘You cooked up that lie, did you?’ Mr Connolly said: ‘Yes.’
Ms Wass then took Mr Connolly to a text sent by Depp to his private doctor, David Kipper, shortly after he lost the tip of his finger which read: ‘F*****, man. Had another one. I just cannot live like this. She is as full of s**t as a Christmas goose!!!
‘I’m done. NO MORE!!! The constant insults, the demeaning, belittling, most heartbreaking spew that is only released from a malicious, evil and vindictive c***!!!!!’
The message added: ‘I cut the top of my middle finger off… What should I do!?? Except, of course, go to a hospital…’
Ms Wass asked: ‘Would you agree it appears that Mr Depp was accepting that he cut the top of his finger off in that text?’
Mr Connolly said: ‘Yes, it’s how it’s worded.’
Depp asked his assistant for ‘more whitey stuff’
Ms Wass then read out a text sent by Depp to his assistant Nathan Holmes, just five minutes later, which read: ‘Need more whitey stuff ASAP, brotherman. And the E business.’
Mr Connolly said the reference to ‘whitey stuff’ was ‘probably cocaine’ and that ‘E business’ was a reference to ecstasy.
Ms Wass then suggested that the house was ‘completely wrecked’, but Mr Connolly said: ‘I never saw the house completely wrecked. I only got as far as the front foyer.’
The barrister asked: ‘You couldn’t see paint that had been graffitied all over the house? You couldn’t see damage?’ Mr Connolly said: ‘No.’
He also said he did not see any broken windows at the property. Ms Wass then said: ‘As far as you were concerned, Ms Heard was uninjured.’ Mr Connolly replied: ‘That’s correct, yes.’
Ms Wass asked: ‘What opportunity did you have to look at Ms Heard to say that?’ Mr Connolly said that when he was ‘trying to get Johnny in the car, Amber came to the front door screaming and shouting’.
Ms Wass asked if he was ‘absolutely sure’ he did not see any scratches on Heard’s arms, to which Mr Connolly said he was.
She also asked if Mr Connolly saw a ‘bruise on her (Heard’s) face’, to which he said he had not.
Ms Wass asked Mr Connolly about an audio recording, part of which was played to the court, which was made during the incident in Australia in March 2015.
The court heard a male voice, which Mr Connolly said he recognised as Depp’s voice, shouting unintelligibly, and the security guard said the actor was ‘in shock’ at that point.
Ms Wass said the recording was made over five hours and included various conversations, with Depp, his doctor and Mr Judge, all heard on the full audio.
Johnny Depp being taken to hospital with a severed finger, following the incident in Australia in March 2015
Johnny Depp’s severed finger, following the incident in Australia in March 2015, which was released in court proceedings
Mr Connolly told the court: ‘It appeared to me at the time that Amber was completely unharmed.’ Ms Wass asked if it was possible, given the circumstances of the situation, that he must have missed something, to which Mr Connolly responded ‘no’.
The 14 times Johnny Depp is accused of attacking Amber Heard
1. Early 2013
Heard says Depp was completely sober until early 2013, and around that time he allegedly hit her for the first time when they were in Los Angeles.
She claims Depp later cried and apologised, telling her that he sometimes turns into ‘the monster’ when he snaps.
Depp has ‘expressly denied’ hitting Heard and said that, around early 2013, he had ‘confined himself to drinking wine and using marijuana, having been sober from around December 2011 to August 2012’.
2. March 8, 2013
Heard claims Depp was angry she had hung up a painting by her ex-partner Tasya Van Ree by her bed in her LA home, then tried to set the painting on fire and hit her ‘so hard that blood from her lip ended up on the wall’.
Depp, however, says he simply asked Heard to move the painting from the bedroom ‘as a courtesy’ and that she had an ‘extreme reaction’.
He also says a text he later sent describing the evening as a ‘disco bloodbath’ was to ‘placate Ms Heard’ and not an apology for alleged violence.
3. June 2013
Heard and Depp were in Hicksville, US with a group of people including Heard’s sister Whitney and Depp’s assistant Nathan Holmes.
Heard says Depp, who was ‘taking drugs’, became ‘enraged’ and ‘jealous’ when one of her friends touched her, and he then threw glasses at her, ripped her dress and damaged the cabin they were staying in.
Depp says he drank and took magic mushrooms, as did Heard and her friends who also took MDMA.
He claims Heard’s friend touched Heard in an ‘extremely sexual manner’ and he spoke to her to ask her to stop.
4. May 24, 2014
The pair took a private plan from Boston to LA: Heard says that during the flight Depp, who had been drinking heavily, threw objects at her, pushed a chair at her, slapped her and kicked her in the back before passing out in the toilet.
Depp says Heard ‘began to harangue him’ as he was sketching in a notebook, he then tried to ‘playfully tap her on the bottom with his foot’, at which Heard took ‘great offence’ and ‘continued to verbally berate’ him.
5. August 17, 2014
The couple went to the Bahamas, Depp says to ‘cure his dependence on painkillers’, although Heard claims he was trying to give up other drugs too.
Heard says Depp had ‘several manic episodes’ and his private doctor had to be flown over to help. She alleges that he slapped, kicked and grabbed by the hair during an attack.
Depp alleges Heard stopped a nurse from giving him treatment while he was going through withdrawal.
6. December 17, 2014
Heard says Depp was ‘violent towards’ her in LA, and later texted calling himself a ‘f****** savage’ and a ‘lunatic’. Depp denies any allegation of violence and says NGN has ‘failed to provide any particulars of the alleged violence’.
7. January 25, 2015
While the couple were in Tokyo, Japan, Heard claims Depp shoved and slapped her and grabbed her by the hair, before standing over her and shouting while she was on the floor – which Mr Depp denies.
8. Around March 3-5, 2015
Depp is said to have repeatedly assaulted Heard after an argument over his alleged use of MDMA during a three-day trip to Australia. She says he stayed up all night, taking pills and drinking, and then attacked her again the next morning.
Heard says, the following night, Depp pushed her into a table tennis table, tore off her nightgown and attacked her, before smashing a telephone into a wall and severing the top of his middle finger.
She also claims he had written messages to her around the house in a mixture of paint and blood from his finger, which Depp admits doing while ‘in shock’, as well as having ‘urinated all over the house in an attempt to write messages’, which he denies.
Depp says Heard was in ‘a prolonged and extreme rage’ following an argument over a post-nuptial agreement. He says he then ‘broke my sobriety’ with several glass of vodka, before Heard threw a bottle at him, severing the top of his finger, and stubbed a cigarette out on his cheek.
9. March 2015
Heard says Depp became ‘enraged’ when they were in LA with her sister and began destroying things in the house before hitting her ‘hard and repeatedly’. She also claims he tried to push her sister down the stairs before hitting Heard again.
Depp, however, says Heard was ‘berating him in a rage’ as he tried to leave, threw a can of Red Bull at him and punched him in the face before he finally left.
10. August 2015
While they were on the Eastern and Oriental Express in south east Asia, Heard alleges Depp ‘picked a fight’ with her, hit her and pushed her against a wall by the throat, ‘causing her to fear for her life’ – which is denied by Depp.
11. November 26, 2015
In LA, Depp is alleged to have ripped Heard’s shirt and ‘threw her around the room’, also throwing a wine glass and a ‘heavy glass decanter’ at her, as well as pushing her over a chair which caused her to bang her head against a wall. Depp says they were in LA for Thanksgiving, but denies any allegation of abuse.
12. December 15, 2015
Heard claims Depp threw a decanter at her in their penthouse in LA, then slapped her and dragged her through the apartment by her hair, allegedly pulling ‘large chunks of hair’ from Heard’s scalp.
She says he then followed her upstairs and pushed her to the floor while shouting ‘you think you’re a f****** tough guy’ before headbutting her.
Heard says that when she told Depp she wanted to leave him he grabbed her and screamed: ‘I f****** will kill you – I’ll f****** kill you, you hear me?’
Depp, though, says ‘Ms Heard fabricated the alleged violence’, falsely claiming that ‘blonde hair on the floor was her hair’.
He also claims that ‘the only violence committed on that date was by Ms Heard’, who allegedly ‘violently attacked’ him.
13. April 21, 2016
Heard says Depp arrived at her birthday party at their LA home late, ‘drunk and high on drugs’ and they had an argument after the guests had left.
She claims he threw a bottle of champagne at her and shoved her to the floor several times before leaving a note reading: ‘Happy F****** Birthday.’
Depp says he arrived at the party around two hours late following a meeting with his new business manager and accountants, and that he was not on drugs but ‘shocked from what he had learnt at the meeting about his business affairs’.
He claims Heard had been ‘drinking heavily’ and attacked him while he was reading in bed, punching him in the face four times before he grabbed her arms to stop her.
Depp says the next day Heard or one of her friends ‘defecated in Mr Depp’s and Ms Heard’s bed’, and that Heard later told the building manager Kevin Murphy that it was ‘just a harmless prank’ – at which he point he ‘then resolved to divorce Ms Heard’.
14. May 21, 2016
Depp arrived at their LA apartment, allegedly ‘drunk and high’ while Heard was there with friends.
Heard said Depp became ‘very angry’, throwing her phone at her and hitting her in the eye before smashing ‘everything he could’ with a magnum of champagne.
He says he went to the apartment with two security guards to collect his belongings after Heard and her sister ‘repeatedly’ tried to contact him.
Depp claims his two security guards entered the room when they heard Heard shouting, and saw her ‘repeatedly screaming, ‘stop hitting me, Johnny” while he was 20 feet away in the kitchen.
He also says that two police officers who attended the apartment after the incident ‘saw no injuries or bruising or swelling’.
She said: ‘And you are trying to be fair to both parties – it’s not a question of you simply coming here to support your boss?’ Mr Connolly replied: ‘Not at all, no.’
Security team told how Depp was ‘not well’ and needed help
Ms Wass said that, during part of the recorded conversation, Mr Judge could be heard to say: ‘He is not well, we need to help him out in every way we possibly can.’
Mr Connolly confirmed he agreed with Mr Judge’s remark that the actor was not well.
Ms Wass said Mr Judge could also be heard to say: ‘He basically completely cut the top of his finger off on a broken bottle and we found the piece and we had to put it on ice.’
Mr Connolly said he didn’t remember that and his recollection was Depp telling him that Heard had cut his finger off with a broken bottle.
Ms Wass then asked Mr Connolly about a train trip in South East Asia, which was Depp and Heard’s honeymoon in July 2015.
She read out a diary note written by Heard which said: ‘We finally fell asleep with one another smashed together in desperate, childlike anger, fear and love.’
Heard recounted ‘terrible’ fight in a diary note
The note continued: ‘Our fight was terrible. Johnny… at one point found himself with his shirt wrapped around my neck. Amazing to think about (the) precision, co-ordination that required considering the close circumstances…
‘I don’t even know how I wound up with this huge, rather annoying knot on the back of my head. F***, I hate that.’ The note concluded: ‘Where are my lines, do I have any left?’
Ms Wass asked where Mr Connolly was on the train, and he said he was ‘about three or four doors down’ from the couple.
The barrister asked: ‘So, if a fight had taken place at 3.30 in the morning, do you think you would necessarily have known about it?’
Mr Connolly replied: ‘I would never have known about it.’
David Sherborne, representing Depp, then asked Mr Connolly: ‘Did you ever see any injuries to Ms Heard on the trip on the South East Asia train?’
The security guard said, ‘no, never’, before confirming that Ms Heard had not told him she had received any injuries, nor that Mr Depp had hit her.
Mr Sherborne then asked: ‘If she had suffered injuries, would you or would you not have seen them?’
Mr Connolly replied: ‘I would have seen them.’
Depp was ‘in a lot of pain, a lot of distress and shock’ after the finger incident
Mr Sherborne then asked about the incident in Australia in March 2015, and referred to the recording Mr Connolly had been played which the barrister said was taped by Heard. Mr Connolly said Depp was ‘in a lot of pain, a lot of distress and shock’.
He said the first thing Depp said to him when he tried to remove him from the house was ‘give me a f****** minute’. Mr Connolly said the actor then ‘stood in the driveway holding his hand and he said ‘she just cut my f****** finger off”.
Mr Sherborne said Mr Connolly was ‘dealing with a difficult situation’, and asked what experience he had of similar situations. Mr Connolly said: ‘I’m an ex-prison officer for HMP Pentonville.’
He explained that he was ‘trained in extraction, I’m trained in pacifying… spotting bruising patterns’. Mr Connolly added that he was trained ‘by the establishment, by the Home Office’.
Mr Sherborne referred to the ‘other explanations’ for how Depp lost the top of his finger and asked Mr Connolly why they were devised.
Mr Connolly said they were ‘to protect the production’ Depp was involved in at the time, as well as Heard.
He added that he had ‘seen it in prison’ that ‘the usual victim pattern is to protect the abuser for some reason, you know the psychological bullying… they fit the same criteria, they never come forward with the information’.
Mr Sherborne asked about the ‘cigarette burn’ on Depp’s cheek after the incident, which Mr Connolly said he saw on the actor’s face.
The barrister then turned to the transcript of the recording Heard apparently made, on which Mr Judge can be heard to say ‘she hit him, she slapped him yesterday’.
Mr Sherborne asked: ‘Ms Heard hitting or slapping Mr Depp, is that something you have heard before?’ Mr Connolly replied: ‘I’ve heard it before, yes.’
Mr Sherborne asked if it was a ‘one-off’, to which Mr Connolly said it had happened ‘in Australia and in Los Angeles’.
He also asked Mr Connolly about a text message, which was sent on an unknown date, sent to him by Mr Depp which read: ‘Please get me out of this room now, she struck me about 10 times. Can’t take anymore.’
Mr Sherborne asked: ‘In your experience, Mr Connolly, of dealing with Ms Heard and Mr Depp over a number of years, was this a one-off type of text or conversation with Mr Depp?’ Mr Connolly said: ‘No.’
Mr Sherborne asked Mr Connolly: ‘Did you ever witness Mr Depp physically attack or hit Ms Heard at any time?’
Mr Connolly said: ‘No – and I wouldn’t tolerate any man striking a woman. No matter who he was, I just wouldn’t tolerate that.’ Mr Sherborne asked: ‘Not even if it was your boss?’
Mr Connolly replied: ‘Not even if he’s my boss. I don’t care if he’s the Pope.’ Mr Sherborne then asked: ‘Not even if your livelihood depended on it?’
Mr Connolly said: ‘I work for Johnny … only three days ago, I was offered a job in Peru. I don’t depend on Johnny for my income.’
Mr Sherborne asked him about the suggestion that ‘you had been pressured to lie and come on Johnny’s side’, and whether that was true. Mr Connolly said: ‘Absolutely untrue.’
Mr Connolly’s evidence came on day six of the trial of the actor’s libel claim against The Sun newspaper over an April 2018 article which labelled him a ‘wife beater’.
Today’s evidence comes one day after Depp finally finished giving evidence and claimed that allegations of domestic violence made by Heard, 34, ‘mirrored’ her abuse towards him.
On the final day of his evidence at the Royal Courts of Justice in London yesterday during his libel case against The Sun, Depp said: ‘It seemed like everything she would accuse me of was something she had done to me.’
The actor also accused Heard of throwing a ‘haymaker’ punch at him during a row after her 30th birthday party, just hours after he had learned during a ‘bad’ business meeting that he had lost $650million (£514million).
Yesterday, the High Court also heard that Depp has a ‘remarkable’ ability to not get drunk despite drinking ‘a lot of alcohol’, that cocaine simply ‘brought him to a normal level which normal people might operate at’.
Depp is suing The Sun’s publisher News Group Newspapers (NGN) and its executive editor Dan Wootton over an article in April 2018 which labelled him a ‘wife beater’.
His barrister David Sherborne referred yesterday to a ‘secret recording’ of the former couple in San Francisco in July 2016, after they had split and Heard had obtained a restraining order against the actor.
In the recording, Heard can be heard to say it was ‘unbelievable to imagine’ that she had either been ‘in a secret fight club’ or ‘plotting to do this for three years … just saving it up for the right time’ when she was not asking for any money, adding ‘no-one is going to believe that’.
Depp described Heard’s words as ‘a reverse confession’, adding: ‘It seemed like everything she would accuse me of was something that she had done to me, so I started to see this kind of pattern, a mirroring, and when she said that, I was real taken aback, for sure.’
Mr Sherborne said Depp can also be heard to say ‘you f****** haymakered me, man’ in the recording – which is said to refer to an incident after Heard’s 30th birthday party at the couple’s LA penthouse on April 21 2016.
The actor is accused of throwing a bottle of champagne at Heard, grabbing her by the hair, and pushing her during a row, after he arrived home late for the party. Depp denies the allegations.
The actor said that, at a business meeting on the day of Heard’s party, he was ‘in the early stages’ of finding out from a new business manager that ‘the former business managers had (taken) quite a lot of my money’.
Amber Heard photographed Johnny Depp with ice cream spilled on his legs during a private flight from Boston to Los Angeles in May 2014 before showing it to him the next day and saying: ‘Look at what you’ve become’, the court heard yesterday
Depp is alleged to have trashed a penthouse in Los Angeles, California, which Heard used as a colossal closet
Depp admitted to leaving graffiti on a bathroom mirror after the fight with Heard, which resulted in his finger being severed
Depp’s island in the Bahamas is pictured. Depp’s trial heard today from the property manager at his Bahamas home, who said Heard had told Depp during a row in December 2015 that his ‘career is over’, he would die a lonely man’ and called him ‘fat’
Asked how much had been taken, Depp said: ‘It was put to me this way, because I had no idea about money or amounts of money.
Johnny Depp v The Sun: Key issues in libel trial
Hollywood star Johnny Depp’s libel claim against The Sun enters its second week on Monday. These are the key issues the trial judge, Mr Justice Nicol, has to determine.
– Whether the April 2018 article by the tabloid’s executive editor Dan Wootton was defamatory of Depp. Under the Defamation Act 2013, a statement is not defamatory unless its publication causes ‘serious harm to the reputation of the claimant’.
– The Sun’s publisher, News Group Newspapers (NGN), is defending the claim and relying on a defence of truth. It is for the publisher to prove that the allegations made in the article are ‘substantially true’.
– The meaning of the article, which is defined as what it would mean to the ‘reasonable reader’, will have to be determined by the judge. But NGN’s lawyers say the differences between the rival meanings contended by each side are ‘not significant’ and the outcome of the case will therefore not turn on meaning.
– Depp’s case is that the article bore the meaning that he was ‘guilty, on overwhelming evidence, of serious domestic violence against his then wife, causing significant injury and leading to her fearing for her life, for which he was constrained to pay no less than £5 million to compensate her, and which resulted in him being subjected to a continuing court restraining order; and for that reason is not fit to work in the film industry’. He strenuously denies the allegations and claims he ‘has never hit or committed any acts of physical violence against Ms Heard’.
– The meaning which NGN will seek to prove is true is that the Claimant beat his wife Amber Heard, causing her to suffer significant injury and on occasion leading her to fearing for her life. They rely on 14 separate allegations of violence and allege more generally that Depp was ‘controlling and verbally and physically abusive’ towards Ms Heard, particularly when he was under the influence of alcohol and or drugs, throughout their relationship. NGN’s lawyers say an important issue for the judge to decide will be what substances Depp was using during the relationship. They contend that he frequently lost control of himself, partly because of his heavy drug and alcohol use, and also that his memory has been impaired by his heavy use of drugs.
– If Depp wins his case, the judge will have to decide what level of compensation he should receive for the harm to his reputation and for the ‘distress, hurt and humiliation caused’. There is an upper limit on general damages for libel of £300,000 to £325,000. However, if he succeeds, Depp may also be entitled to aggravated damages. The actor is also asking for a final injunction against NGN, who his legal team say ‘have retained the article on their website and maintained their allegation to the bitter end’.
‘Since Pirates (Of The Caribbean) 2 and 3, I had – and this is ludicrous to have to state, it’s quite embarrassing – apparently I had made $650million and when I sacked them, for the right reasons, I had not only lost $650million, but I was $100million (£79 million) in the hole because they (the previous business managers) had not paid the government my taxes for 17 years.’
Depp was also shown a photograph, apparently taken by his ex-wife, which showed him in August 2014 with ‘ice cream spilled all over my leg’ shortly before he was due to go to the Bahamas for a detox.
The actor said the picture was taken at a time when he had been working 17-hour days and was ‘very tired, falling asleep’.
The court also heard evidence from Depp’s former personal assistant, Stephen Deuters, who alleged Heard ‘was the abuser in the relationship’.
Mr Deuters, who is now European president of Depp’s production company, Infinitum Nihil, said that during the period in which Depp is alleged to have been abusive towards Heard, he saw her ‘on many occasions’ and ‘at no point’ did she ‘ever mention any physical abuse’.
He told that court that he was ‘extremely surprised and outraged’ when it became public that Heard had filed for a restraining order.
Mr Deuters described the couple’s tempestuous relationship as ‘not great’, saying: ‘I think they were two people that were in love with each other that shouldn’t have been together.’
The front desk supervisor at Depp’s LA penthouse building also gave evidence that she saw ‘no visible injuries whatsoever to Heard’s face’ three days after Mr Depp allegedly hit his ex-wife in the face with her own mobile phone on May 21 2016.
Trinity Esparza said the first time she saw any marks on Heard’s face that week was on May 27, the day the Aquaman actress appeared in court to obtain a restraining order against Depp, which ‘disturbed’ Ms Esparza.
Ms Esparza, who owns the company that provided concierge services at the Eastern Columbia building where Depp previously owned five apartments, said in her witness statement that she ‘saw and interacted with Heard on May 23, May 24 and May 25 with a clear and unmarked face’.
Sasha Wass QC, representing NGN, said to Ms Esparza: ‘Isn’t it more accurate to say you saw her earlier in the week and you didn’t notice it?’ Ms Esparza replied: ‘That is not accurate, I saw her very clearly.’
Ms Esparza also told the court that she saw ‘a number of marks on Ms Heard’s body’ – including bruises on her neck, plasters on her arm and a mark below her left eye – on a day in June or July 2016, shortly after Tesla founder Elon Musk left the building at around 9am looking ‘like he had just woken up with messy hair’.
Depp is suing NGN and Mr Wootton over the publication of an article on April 27 2018 with the headline: ‘Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be ‘genuinely happy’ casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?’NGN is defending the article as true, and says Depp was ‘controlling and verbally and physically abusive towards Heard, particularly when he was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs’.
