Johnny Depp Testifies Amber Heard Has a ‘Need for Violence’

Johnny Depp took the stand on Wednesday in his $50-million defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard.

Depp, who began his testimony on Tuesday, had previously said he wanted to clear his name following Heard’s op-ed piece in which she claimed to be a victim of domestic abuse without mentioning his name.

He reiterated on Wednesday that he has never hit Amber or any other woman, while claiming Heard is the one with a “need for violence.”

Depp recalled of their relationship, "It seemed like pure hatred for me. If I stayed to argue, eventually, I was sure it was going to escalate into violence, and oftentimes it did."

He added, "It could begin with a slap. It could begin with a shove. It could begin with throwing a TV remote at my head. It could be throwing a glass of wine in my face.”

The star insisted, “She has a need for conflict. She has a need for violence. It erupts out of nowhere. The only thing I learned to do is exactly what I did as a child — retreat.”

Johnny later added, “Violence is unnecessary. Why would you hit someone to make them agree with you? I don’t think it works.”

Later in his testimony, Depp blamed Heard for severing the top of his right middle finger in 2015. He claimed they were in the midst of a fight when he started taking shots of vodka.

When she discovered him drinking, Depp says she threw the vodka bottle against the wall. The actor said he grabbed a larger bottle of vodka with a handle and poured another shot, prompting her to also throw that bottle, which shattered.

Johnny recalled, “I felt heat and I felt as if something were dripping down my hand and then I looked down and realized that the tip of my finger had been severed. I was looking directly at my bone sticking out and the meaty portion of the inside of your finger and blood was just pouring out. At that point, I think that I went into some sort of… I don’t know what a nervous breakdown feels like, but that is probably the closest I’ve ever been.”

He said during what felt like a nervous breakdown he “started to write in my own blood on the walls little reminders from our past that essentially represented lies that she had told me, lies that I had caught her in.”

Johnny went on to claim that after he lost the tip of his finger, Amber stubbed a cigarette out “on my face, on my cheek.”

He also admitted to telling others that he had lost the fingertip in a “large accordion door.”

According to the BBC, Amber testified about the same incident during a libel case in London in 2020. Heard claimed she smashed a bottle on the floor, not against the wall, and insisted Johnny was throwing bottles from the bar “like grenades.” She also said he likely cut his finger during the fight when he ripped a phone off the wall and smashed it.

During Wednesday's testimony, Depp also said Amber had threatened suicide in the past, which brought back memories from his childhood when his mother Betty Sue Palmer had attempted suicide when his father John Depp left.

“Miss Heard had spoken of suicide on a couple of occasions, so that also becomes a factor, that’s something that lives in the back of your brain,” he said. “I’m sure it’s somehow related to my father remaining stoic as my mother would beat him to death,” he said.

He went on to say, “My goal is the truth because it killed me that people that I had spoken with… All I could think of was the people would think I was a fraud and that I lied to them. I had to wait for my opportunity to address the charges, which were criminal charges and they weren’t true.”

Depp also addressed his headline-making text messages about Amber which have come to light in recent years.

Johnny admitted feeling “ashamed” and “embarrassed” by the content of his text messages. He elaborated, “The heat of the pain that I was feeling went to dark place… Sometimes pain has to be dealt with [with] humor. Sometimes very dark humor. Sometimes words are used to express what you’re feeling at the time. It’s like growing up, you learn from those mistakes, you learn those things and you move forward… That’s how you understand your own vernacular… I think to be expressive in my writing. After the unfortunate words of Miss Heard made their way into my heart and my head, those are two very opposing things. You’re trying to expressing something to your friends. Sometimes you’re exaggerating something that you’ve done, just to make him understand.”

Another topic was Depp’s history of substance abuse, which began at an early age. He recalled giving his mom “her nerve pills” when he was 5.

Eventually, he would give his mom the nerve pills and he’d pop one into his mouth so he could escape “feeling so much and the chaotic nature of what we were living through.” He started taking the pills at 11.

“I can’t say I’m proud to admitting to that,” Depp went on. “I’ve taken these substances on and off over the years to numb… myself of the ghosts, the wraiths that were still with me from my youth… it was essentially self-medication, one of those ‘get me out of here’ moments and where you want to escape from is your own brain, your own head.”

Depp noted that he “wasn’t shy” about trying substances to “take the edge off.” He admitted to doing all the drugs he could by the time he was 15.

He did note that that there were years where he wouldn’t touch drugs or alcohol.

“The characterization of my substance abuse that has been delivered by Miss Heard is grossly embellished and, I’m sorry to say, a lot of it is plainly false. I think that I was an easy target for her to hit,” Depp argued. “I am not some maniac who needs to be high or loaded all the time. In fact, in Australia, I had been off of alcohol for 18 months.”