Featured Image Credit: Court TV/Alamy
Topics: Johnny Depp, TV and Film
Cameron Frew
A recording of Amber Heard telling Johnny Depp 'I hit you' has been played in court.
Depp's $50 million (£38m) lawsuit against his ex-wife is well underway, with the Pirates of the Caribbean star taking the stand to testify against Heard.
The case comes after a 2018 Washington Post op-ed in which Heard claimed she had become 'a public figure representing domestic abuse', with the 'clear implication' Depp was an abuser, his attorneys have argued.
This also follows Depp's libel case loss to The Sun in 2020, after a judge ruled claims he was a 'wife-beater' to be 'substantially true'.
During Depp's testimony today, 20 April, an audio recording of Heard telling Depp she'd hit him was played to the court in Virginia.
Advert
In the recording, she says: "I didn't punch you, by the way... I was hitting you, I wasn't punching you.
"You didn't get punched. You got hit... but I did not punch you. I did not f*****g deck you. I f***((g was hitting you. I don't know what the actual motion of my hand was, but you're fine. I did not hurt you, I did not punch you, I was hitting you.
"I'm not sitting here bitching about it, am I? That's the difference between me and you, you're a f*****g baby. You are such a baby, grow the f**k up Johnny."
Heard then says she 'did start a physical fight', and Depp says he had to 'get the f**k out of there'.
Advert
She continues: "You did the right thing, the big thing. You know what, you are admirable."
Commenting on the recording, Depp said it reflected Heard's 'need for a fight', and that it was 'the sound that I'd gotten very used to... the squabbling, the raising of the voice'.
Depp also said he didn't want to deal with the 'sarcastic, demeaning, aggressive, violent toxic spew', and on this occasion from which the recording was taken, she allegedly bursted into the bathroom where he was taking a shower.
In his earlier testimony, Depp said he felt like Heard had a 'pure hatred' for him, and he tried to remove himself from heated situations. With reference to losing the tip of his finger in Australia, he said he'd tried to 'escape the fight'.
Earlier, he said: "As it escalated and continued to escalate, I went to what I learned as a youth, which was to remove myself from the situation so it couldn’t continue."