Johnny Depp Denies Slapping Amber Heard Over Tattoo Joke
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Giving evidence on the second day of a libel trial at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, Johnny Depp denied slapping his former wife Amber Heard when she laughed at one of his tattoos.
Depp, who is suing the publisher of The Sun newspaper for describing him as a “wife beater,” was being cross-examined Wednesday by defense attorney Sasha Wass.
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Depp had a tattoo that had originally read “Winona Forever,” in honor of his ex-girlfriend actress Winona Ryder. When they split up in 1993, he changed it to read “Wino Forever.” In March 2013, when Depp began to drink heavily again after about 160 days of sobriety, Heard made a joke out of the tattoo, Wass said.
“I don’t recall any conversation,” Depp responded.
Wass alleged the actor then slapped Heard across the face. She added: “You slapped her more than once, because after you slapped her the first time, she didn’t react. She just eyeballed you, she just stared at you, and that made you more angry and you slapped her again.”
Depp said, “That is patently untrue.” Wass then claimed he had slapped her three times. Depp answered: “I’m sorry, but that is not true. You are mistaken.”
Wass quizzed him about another incident in the same month. Heard alleges Depp hit her several times after an argument about a painting by her ex-partner Tasya van Ree, which was hanging in her L.A. home.
Depp had asked Heard to remove the painting “as a courtesy” to him, according to his witness statement. When she didn’t take the painting down, Depp tried to remove it and set fire to it, Wass alleged. Depp denied this.
Wass asked whether Depp would describe himself as jealous. “I am, yes. I can be jealous,” he said.
It was also alleged that Depp had held Heard’s Yorkshire terrier, Pistol, out the window of a fast-moving car. Depp replied: “I can say it’s a very enduring image but it’s absolute, utter falsity. It’s fraudulent. I don’t think hanging a small defenseless dog that weighed three pounds out of the window at speed is my idea of fun, even though my sense of humor is rather unique.”
Another allegation leveled at Depp was that he attacked Heard on a private plane while accusing her of cheating on him with actor James Franco.
“I suggest Ms. Heard moved seats more than once to get away from you and you started by throwing ice cubes at her, and you kicked one of the chairs so hard that it swiveled round and hit her,” Wass said.
“I’ve never seen anyone be able to push an airplane chair so that it could assault someone,” Depp said.
The trial continues.
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