Johnny Depp is set to return to the witness stand in the defamation trial of his ex-wife Amber Heard.
The actor has already testified as part of the prosecution against Heard. The court is currently on a hiatus midway through her testimony as part of the defence case.
Law & Crime reports that Depp will be called back as part of Ms Heard’s case. Other testimony will be given by Heard’s sister Whitney Henriquez and actor Ellen Barkin.
Mr Depp and Heard have given very different accounts of their tumultuous relationship, and Ms Henriquez was present at several key moments during which the couple allegedly fought or argued.
Ms Barkin had a brief relationship with Mr Depp on the set of the movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in the late 1990s. She is listed as giving video deposition.
She has previously said that Mr Depp once threw a wine bottle across a Las Vegas hotel room when they were shooting the movie together.
Mr Depp said in the 2020 court case against The Sun that she made this claim due to a grudge she held over unreciprocated feelings.
Ms Henriquez was present at many of the key moments in the relationship between Mr Depp and Ms Heard, not just as an immediate relation, but because she also lived in an adjoining penthouse — one of five owned by Depp at the Eastern Columbia Building in Downtown Los Angeles.
Ms Heard’s legal team will likely want to question Mr Depp about the huge variances in his and Heard’s accounts of their fights, particularly the 2015 incident in Australia in which Mr Depp’s finger was severed — he says by a vodka bottle thrown by her, she says she was asleep when it happened.
In particularly harrowing testimony last week, Ms Heard claimed Mr Depp sexually assaulted her with a liquor bottle during the fight. Mr Depp denies this occurred.
The actor sued his ex-wife for alleged defamation over an op-ed she wrote in 2018 for The Washington Post. She doesn’t name him in the piece, but describes herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse”. Mr Depp is seeking $50m in damages as he has been unable to land any movie roles in recent years.
Ms Heard has countersued Mr Depp, accusing him of allegedly orchestrating a “smear campaign” against her and describing his own lawsuit as a continuation of “abuse and harassment”. She has asked for $100m in damages and immunity against his claims.
The trial resumes at Fairfax County Courthouse in Virginia at 9am on 16 May.
