Johnny Depp denied in court that he ever assaulted ex-wife Amber Heard when she reportedly mocked his famous 'wino forever' tattoo. He claimed he doesn't even remember her making fun of it.
Johnny Depp vehemently denied during the second day of his trial in London that he “slapped” ex-wife Amber Heard, 34, when she was allegedly mocking his tattoo. A lawyer for The Sun, the British paper Depp is suing for libel, told the court that the Pirates of the Caribbean star, 57, allegedly assaulted his then-girlfriend in 2013 after she joked about him having “wino forever” ink while falling off the wagon.
Sasha Wass, The Sun‘s lawyer, claimed that “Ms. Heard laughed at that tattoo. You were in fact acting like a wino and an alcoholic and felt very sensitive.” Depp said he did not recall Heard joking about his tattoo, and did not slap her. Depp admitted that he had a problem with alcohol and drugs. “I was dispirited, after 160 days or so I had broken my sobriety,” the actor told the court.
Wass pressed forward, saying to the Edward Scissorhands star, according to The Guardian, “You then slapped Ms. Heard across the face and that was the first time it happened.” Depp allegedly slapped heard a total of three times, Wass argued, because the actress had stared at him with no reaction. Depp responded with, “It’s not true. It didn’t happen… I didn’t hit her.”
Depp famously had a tattoo altered on his right shoulder when he and fiancée, fellow Tim Burton darling Winona Ryder, split in 1993. What used to be “winona forever” is now “wino forever.” The actor also had a tattoo for Heard. After his wife of two years accused him of domestic violence, he got it redone. What used to be “Slim” across his fingers now reads “Scum.”
Ryder will appear virtually during the three-week trial, along with Depp’s ex-partner Vanessa Paradis. Both women have denied that Depp was ever violent during their relationships. Ryder wrote in a previous statement that “I obviously was not there during his marriage to Amber… The idea that he is an incredibly violent person is the farthest thing from the Johnny I knew and loved. I cannot wrap my head around these accusations.”
This wasn’t the only shocking claim to come out of the first two days of the trial. Depp claimed that Heard, or “possibly one of her friends,” defecated in their bed during an unspecified night. The alleged incident was the final straw that led to him wanting a divorce. Heard is expected to speak to the court at a later date in the coming weeks.
Depp is suing The Sun‘s parent company News Group Newspapers (NGN) and the paper’s executive editor Dan Wootton over an April 2018 article. Wootton called Depp a “wife beater” and claimed that there was “overwhelming evidence” that he abused Heard during their relationship. He also asked how JK Rowling could be “genuinely happy” with Depp being cast in the Harry Potter spinoff film Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, considering the allegations.
