Johnny Depp threw phone at wife then smashed 'everything he could' with magnum of wine at LA apartment, court hears

Johnny Depp threw a phone at his wife, hitting her in the face, before smashing "everything he could" with a magnum of wine at their LA apartment, a court has been told.

The Hollywood star is accused of launching the assault after going to the penthouse with two security guards in May 2016 to collect his belongings after deciding to divorce her.

Still furious at an incident in which he blamed Amber Heard and her friends for defecating in his bed after her 30th birthday party a few weeks earlier, Mr Depp is said to have wound his arm back like a baseball pitcher and throwing the phone at Heard, hitting her below the eye.

The shocking account came during the fourth day of a libel case being brought by Mr Depp against NGN, the publisher of The Sun newspaper and its executive editor Dan Wootton at the High Court in London.

The Pirates of the Caribbean star accuses the paper of causing serious harm to his reputation by describing him, in an online story from April 2018, as “wife beater” who was violently abusive towards his wife.

As part of its defence NGN accuses Mr Depp of subjecting Ms Heard to a catalogue of violence during their two-year marriage, culminating in the assault at their East Columbia Buildings home in LA.

NGN’s barrister Sasha Wass QC told the court that Mr Depp had arrived at the penthouse in a rage, “ranting and raving” and screaming insults at Ms Heard, in part about the defecation incident.

Addressing Mr Depp she said: “You grabbed the phone for a second time and threw it, winding your arm round in the manner of a baseball thrower and threw the phone at Ms Heard’s face and it made contact with the right side of her face?”

Mr Depp replied: “No ma’am.

Ms Wass continued: “Then you asked her how she’d like it if you pulled her hair back?”

Mr Depp again replied: “No ma’am.”

The court was shown a photograph of Ms Heard taken later that day showing day of the beginnings of a bruise beneath her eye.

The photograph, and another showing the bruise worsening, were presented to an LA court a few days later as part of Ms Heard’s request for a restraining order against Mr Depp.

After throwing the phone Mr Depp allegedly picked up a magnum of wine and began “smashing things with the bottle”.

It is claimed this was the second time in just a few days he had used a magnum bottle to terrify Ms Heard.

After arriving several hours late to her 30th birthday party a few days earlier the actor is said to have thrown a magnum of champagne at Ms Heard, although it missed her, before grabbing her by the hair and pushing her onto her bed.

Mr Depp claims Ms 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.

He denied that he had grabbed or pushed Ms Heard and said he had texted his security team, who were outside the penthouse, and said "gotta go, got to get out of here".

Ms Wass asked if Mr Depp left Ms Heard a note which read "happy f****** birthday".

He replied: "I don't know that I did, but it is very, very possible."

Mr Depp admitted he had been under severe stress during that period after being told his financial affairs were in a poor state and, following the birthday party, that his mother had fallen into a coma and was close to death.

He told the court: "There was quite a lot going on aside from the fact I was in a very bad financial state as my business manager and lawyers had conspired to steal a lot of my money.

"My mom was in a coma, she then passed away, Amber and I were on the outs and it was looking like forever on the outs, but I tried to maintain a good relationship with Ms Heard, a friendly relationship."

Ms Wass then suggested to Mr Depp that he dealt with the stress of all that by hitting drink and controlled drugs.

He replied: "My answer to that, is that is not the case. There was so much to deal with on such profoundly important and sensitive levels that I could not escape into any drug, liquor, pain-free setting.

"I did not inebriate myself to the point of numbness, I had too much to deal with and I had to be on the ball."

The actor has been accused by NGN of a catalogue of 14 incidents of physical and verbal abuse against Ms Heard as part of its defence against the libel claim.

The actor denies all the accusations, maintaining they are part of a “hoax” perpetrated by Ms Heard against him in order to depict him as a “savage” and a “monster”.

Asking him about this alleged hoax Ms Wass QC said: "As I understand it, she has put her heads together with various other people to make it look as if you were a wife beater, when the reality is that you weren't."

Mr Depp replied: “That’s correct.”

The court was also shown a text in which Mr Depp allegedly threatened to cut off Elon Musk's penis, claiming Ms Heard was having an affair with the SpaceX and Tesla billionaire.

In the text exchange between Mr Depp and Lady Gaga's ex-fiancee Christian Carino, the actor said: 'I'll show him things he's never seen before like the other side of his d**k when I slice it off.'

He also said: 'She's begging for global humiliation. She's gonna get it. I'm gonna need your texts about San Francisco brother...I'm sorry to even ask... But she sucked Mollusk's [ a reference to Elon Musk] crooked d*** and he gave her some sh***y lawyers.'

The Hollywood star said in another message: 'I want her off that WB film' - a reference to Ms Heard's role in Aquaman from which there was later a petition garnering 400,000 signatures to have her removed.

The hearing continues.