Once again, Johnny Depp, 55, defended himself against Amber Heard’s domestic abuse accusations — this time in his own voice. The Pirates of the Caribbean star sent in a declaration to follow up on his $50 million defamation lawsuit against his 33-year-old ex-wife, which The Blast obtained on May 20. In this statement, Depp wrote that he filed the lawsuit “not only to clear my name and restore my reputation, but to attempt to bring clarity to the women and men whose lives have been harmed by abuse and who have been repeatedly lied to by Ms. Heard purporting to be their spokesperson.” Heard had written that she “became a public figure representing domestic abuse” in a Washington Post op-ed published in Dec. 2018, but the Aquaman star didn’t specifically name her ex-husband. HollywoodLife has reached out to Depp and Heard’s lawyers for comment.
Depp started off his declaration with a reference to the red marks on Heard’s face that were photographed after she left court in May 2016, just five days after she had filed for divorce. “I have denied Ms. Heard’s allegations vehemently since she first made them in May 2016 when she walked into court to obtain a temporary restraining order with painted-on bruises that witnesses and surveillance footage show she did not possess each day of the preceding week,” Depp alleged in his declaration.
The legal feud between Depp and Heard rages on, as Depp also vowed to never stop fighting the abuse allegations. “I will continue to deny them for the rest of my life. I never abused Ms. Heard or any other woman,” the actor continued to write. He also claimed to have evidence disputing Heard’s accusations, writing that her alleged “lies are internally inconsistent, shifting, and directly contradicted by overwhelming sworn testimonial, photographic, audio, video, and other evidence.”
Depp continued to maintain his own abuse allegations against his ex-wife, adding that “there was actual, documented domestic violence in our relationship: she was the perpetrator, and I was the victim. While mixing prescription amphetamines and non-prescription drugs with alcohol, Ms. Heard committed innumerable acts of domestic violence against me, often in the presence of third party witnesses, which in some instances caused me serious bodily injury.” The declaration arrived after Heard’s lawyer requested the court to dismiss Depp’s defamation lawsuit in April 2019. The former couple married in Feb. 2015 and finalized the divorce in Jan. 2017.