(CNN) — Actor Johnny Depp resumed his testimony in a court in Fairfax, Virginia, in his defamation case once morest his ex-wife Amber Heard on Wednesday.
Depp spoke regarding the changing nature of his relationship with Heard. She accused Heard of insulting and making demeaning comments regarding him at times in their relationship that would turn into arguments.
“I wasn’t allowed to be right, I wasn’t allowed to have a voice,” Depp said.
An argument between the former couple in 2015 ended when Johnny Depp sought medical attention for a severed finger following he said Heard threw a bottle of vodka at him.
Johnny Depp testifying Wednesday in his libel case once morest Amber Heard.
“She threw the big bottle and it made contact [con su mano] and it shattered everywhere,” Depp testified. “Then I looked down and realized the tip of my finger had been cut off.”
“I don’t know what a nervous breakdown feels like,” Depp added. “But that’s probably as close as I’ve ever come.”
Heard has denied the allegation.
Johnny Depp: ‘I wanted to try to make it work’
In her roughly three-hour testimony Tuesday, the Oscar-nominated star spoke in detail regarding Heard’s domestic abuse allegations, her history of substance abuse and her experiences growing up with an abusive mother.
“Little by little you realize that you’re in a relationship with your mother, in a sense,” Depp testified Wednesday of his dynamic with Heard, comparing the abuse he says he experienced from his mother to Heard’s alleged abuse. .
Johnny Depp’s lawyer asked him why he stayed with Heard while their relationship deteriorated.
“I wanted to try to make it work,” he said.
“Mrs. Heard had talked regarding suicide on a couple of occasions, so that becomes a factor as well, that’s something that lives in the back of your brain,” Depp said.
The actor, known for his work on the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, is suing Heard for $50 million over a 2018 Washington Post op-ed in which she wrote regarding her experience with domestic abuse. She did not name Depp in the article, but he claims it cost him a lucrative film job.
Asked on the stand Wednesday what he had lost in light of the allegations, Depp replied: “Nothing short of everything.”
“When the accusations were made, when the accusations quickly went around the world, telling people that I was a drunk cocaine-fueled menace who suddenly hit a woman in my 50s, it was over,” he said. “You are done”.
Johnny Depp has maintained his innocence and testified that although he and Heard argued during their relationship, he never “hit a woman”.
In his long second day of testimony, Depp opened up regarding his tattoos, telling the court that Heard made fun of some of them, which he likened to keeping a diary of his life.
He referenced a “Winona forever” tattoo, which Depp said he got for his ex-girlfriend, actress Winona Ryder, but changed to “Wino forever” following they split. He said Heard didn’t like it.
“I took out the last two letters and said ‘Wino forever,'” Depp said, adding: “I thought through pain comes humor. Humor has to go into pain and that’s how it develops in the mind. .so I changed it to ‘Wino forever.'”
He said that Heard wanted him to get a tattoo of his own name, which he eventually did.
“And ironically, it wasn’t long following that everything started to go wrong,” Depp said.
“I was doing my best to bring a smile to her face instead of a frown and then the rush of problems she was experiencing,” she said. “I was trying to wake her up with laughter, singing stupid songs in her ear. Usually she was just trying to keep her mood up. Sometimes it worked, a lot of times it didn’t. But I tried.”
Johnny Depp elaborated on his use of oxycodone during his time with Heard and the withdrawal symptoms he would experience while going through detox.
Cross-examination by Heard’s attorney, Ben Rottenborn, began near the end of the day’s session and will continue Thursday. Heard has yet to take the stand in the trial that is expected to last six weeks.
A controversial separation
Amber Heard and Johnny Depp in 2015.
Johnny Depp and Amber Heard met on the set of “The Rum Diary” in 2009, married in 2015, and controversially split, with misconduct charges filed by both parties.
The couple settled their divorce in August 2016, releasing a joint statement that read in part: “Our relationship was intensely passionate and at times volatile, but always bound together by love.”
Heard had been unsuccessful in her attempts to have the lawsuit dismissed. She filed a $100 million defamation countersuit once morest Depp in 2020, which is ongoing.
In 2020, Depp lost a UK libel case once morest News Group Newspapers and Dan Wootton, executive editor of The Sun, over an article claiming that Depp was violent towards Heard during their relationship. The court ruled in favor of the publisher, finding that the tabloid’s claims were shown to be “substantially true”.
Chloe Melas, Lisa France and Sandra Gonzalez contributed to this story.
