Johnny Depp may have been too wasted to recall Heard attacks, lawyer claims

July 27, 2020

Johnny Depp was a “hopeless addict” who regularly got so wasted he may have no memory of turning into a wife-beating “monster,” a lawyer claimed Monday at his libel trial.

The 57-year-old actor’s “drug and alcohol-fueled lifestyle” was at the heart of his violent relationship with ex-wife Amber Heard, a lawyer for The Sun, the UK newspaper Depp is suing, told London’s High Court.

“It demonstrates that [Depp] was subject to irrational mood swings and abnormal behavioral patterns, which would not have been present when Mr. Depp was clean and sober,” Sasha Wass said.

“Mr. Depp has a name for this metamorphosed entity, namely ‘The Monster,'” Wass told the court.

“The other aspect which is important in terms of substance abuse is Mr. Depp’s recollection of his own disgraceful conduct, which is so severely impaired by drug misuse that he may not even have been aware of the extent of his violence and terrifying behavior,” Wassa argued.

Two weeks of testimony had offered plenty of proof that Depp was “a hopeless addict who repeatedly lost his self-control and all ability to restrain his anger” and put his wife in “fear of her life,” Wass charged.

Pointing to footage of him trashing property, Wass said, “Where someone is so impaired, it’s only a small step to go from assaulting inanimate objects to people,” according to Sky News.

“Any distinction between hitting an object and hitting a person are meaningless … he was so intoxicated he would not have known what he was doing,” she argued, according to Sky.

Wass said there was evidence that Depp had beaten Heard more than once — insisting that after #MeToo, her claims as a “truthful and plausible witness” should be enough on their own.

An image supplied by Amber Heard which she claims corroborates her allegations of domestic abuse against her ex-husband Jonny Depp
An image supplied by Amber Heard which she claims corroborates her allegations of domestic abuse against her ex-husband Jonny DeppUnknown

“The days are long past when the courts in this country required corroboration before accepting the unsupported testimony of a female complainant,” Wass argued.

Witnesses defending Depp should also be ignored because domestic abuse “takes place behind closed doors, in the home, in private” — with the victim often trying to protect the abuser, Wass argued.

“Ms. Heard loved Mr. Depp. Her first year with him, during which he was clean and sober, was idyllic,” Wass told the court.

It was only when Heard was already “so in love” that she first became aware of “the monster” — and she was already “committed” to trying to make the relationship work, she argued.

Depp’s claim that the allegations were part of a “hoax” were dismissed as “risible,” with Wass saying it “would have entailed Ms. Heard engaging in a pre-planned conspiracy over the period of the entire relationship with Mr. Depp.”

Heard “lacked the physical capabilities” as a “woman weighing 115 pounds” to be able to hurt the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star in their fights, as he had claimed.

Depp’s attempts to paint himself as “a Southern gentleman” were also betrayed by vile slurs used in messages which instead highlighted “a deep misogyny,” Wass argued, according to Sky.

Depp instead used “old-fashioned methods used to discredit a woman: that she is a gold-digger, a shrew and an adulterer,” Wass said.

“Infidelity takes the matter no further. It is denied by Ms. Heard and I will say no more about it,” Wass told the court, referring to the numerous A-listers named in the proceedings as sparking Depp’s jealous outbursts.

Depp is suing The Sun over a 2018 article that called him a “wife-beater.” He has vehemently denied claims he abused Heard.

The trial is scheduled to end Tuesday, with the judge then taking time to make his decision.

With Post Wires

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