Johnny Depp has said he is legally blind in one eye and claimed he suffered ‘constant physical abuse’ from his mum during his $50 million defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard.
Taking to the stand for the first time during the trial on Tuesday, Depp told the court he is ‘legally blind’ in one eye and detailed his mother Betty Sue Palmer’s abuse, revealing she referred to him as ‘cock eye, one eye, anything she could get to demean and humiliate’.
Depp, with his hair slicked back into a ponytail, said: “The verbal abuse, the psychological abuse was almost worse than the beatings."
He continued: “The beatings were just physical pain, and physical pain you learn to deal with, you learn to accept it, you learn to deal with it.
"But the psychological and emotional abuse, that's what tore us up.”
Depp also told the court that his father, John Christopher Depp, ‘never lost control or hit’ his mother.
Depp continued: “He amazingly remained very, very stoic.
"He stood there and just looked at her while she delivered the pain.
"And he swallowed it. He took it.
"There was never one moment, never a moment when my father lost control and attacked my mother or hit my mother or even said a bad thing to my mother.
“The things I witnessed were a couple of times where it got too far, I could see his eyes welling up, him staring at her saying nothing. The most that he would do is he would punch a wall.”
Depp also took aim at Heard’s allegations against him, calling her claim to have been a victim of domestic abuse 'quite heinous and disturbing'.
Depp said: "Nothing of the kind had ever happened. Though the relationship... There were arguments and things of that nature. But never did I myself reach the point of striking Miss Heard in any way, nor have I ever struck any woman in my life.
"And so I, at the time, because the news of her accusations had sort of permeated the industry and made its way through social media. It became quite a global, sort of quote unquote 'fact'.
"Since I knew there was no truth to it whatsoever, I felt it was my responsibility to stand up for myself, not only in that instance, but to stand up for my children, who at the time were 14 and 16 so they were in high school.
"I thought it was diabolical that my children would have to go to school and have their friends or people in the school approach them with the infamous People magazine cover with Miss Heard with a dark bruise on her face."
Depp’s US defamation trial - which is currently taking place in Virginia - is expected to last for weeks to come.
Depp is arguing that Heard ruined his career with false accusations of violence, which Heard denies.
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