Attorneys for actor Amber Heard spent much of last week trying to portray her ex-husband, Johnny Depp, as a jealous and drunken abuser who can only blame himself for his nose-diving Hollywood career.
Since Heard concluded her testimony in a Virginia courtroom Tuesday, her lawyers have presented witness testimony from people who were once close to Depp but shunted from his orbit. They've included Depp's former longtime agent, the actor Ellen Barkin and Heard's sister.
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The attorneys' goal: Undermine Depp's libel suit against Heard. The suit claims she falsely portrayed him as a domestic abuser and cost him his lucrative film career, including the āPirates of the Caribbeanā movie franchise.
Depp points to a 2018 Washington Post op-ed in which Heard described herself as āa public figure representing domestic abuse.ā Depp's lawyers say he was defamed by the article even though it never mentioned his name.
The trial will enter its sixth week when it resumes Monday. Below are snippets of testimony from some of the witnesses called last week by Heard's attorneys in their attempt to poke holes in Depp's case.
DEPP'S HOLLYWOOD CAREER
Depp blames Heard's 2018 op-ed for spinning his career into free fall. But Heard's lawyers claim that only Depp can be responsible for his star dimming in the Hollywood firmament.
Tracey Jacobs, who served as the actorās agent for about 30 years, said that Depp was āshowing up late to set consistently on virtually every movieā during their final years working together.
āI was very honest with him and said, āYouāve got to stop doing this ā this is hurting you,āā Jacobs said during a previously taped deposition that was played for jurors. āAnd it did.ā
In the years before he fired her in 2016, Jacobs said that Depp became increasingly unprofessional, while his drug and alcohol use rose.
She also said that Depp wore earpieces on movie sets so that lines from the script could be fed to him.
āInitially, crews loved him because he was always so great with the crew. But crews donāt love sitting around for hours and hours and hours waiting for the star of the movie to show up,ā Jacobs said.
āAnd it also got around town," Jacobs added. "I mean, people talk, itās a small community. And it made people reluctant to use him.ā
Heardās lawyers also zeroed on the reported loss of Deppās role in the sixth āPirates of the Caribbeanā film. And they played the video deposition of Tina Newman, a Walt Disney Studios production executive.
Lawyers asked her: āAre you aware of any decision maker within Disney who has ever said they are not casting Johnny Depp in āPirates 6ā ā or any other role ā because of Amber Heardās op-ed?ā
āNo,ā Newman said.
DEPP'S ALCOHOL AND DRUG USE
Depp has testified that he never struck Heard and that he was the victim of abuse inflicted by his now ex-wife. Heardās lawyers counter that Depp did abuse her, both physically and sexually, and that he can't deny what happened because he was often too intoxicated to remember.
Jurors heard recorded testimony from a mutual friend of the couple, iO Tillett Wright, who said Depp confided to him that he hated sobriety.
āHe wanted to get sober for Amber,ā Tillett Wright said. āHe didnāt enjoy being sober. It wasnāt fun, and that it was distressing and exhausting and very hard to do. He really, really resented having to be sober.ā
Tillett Wright said Deppās personality turned mean and paranoid when he was using alcohol or drugs.
Bruce Witkin, a musician who was friends with Depp for nearly 40 years, testified in his deposition that he tried to help Depp with his substance abuse.
āHeād say, āIāll be all right. Iāll be all right,āā Witkin said, recalling a conversation. āWell, youāre not all right.ā
Actor Ellen Barkin, who dated Depp for a few months in in the 1990s, said during her deposition that Depp was āalways drinking or smoking a jointā or doing other illegal drugs.
WAS DEPP A JEALOUS LOVER?
To hear Barkin tell it ā yes.
Barkin said that Depp was controlling, jealous and angry. She said Depp would often ask her: āWhere are you going? Who are you going with? What did you do last night?ā
She added: āI had a scratch on my back once that got him very, very angry because he insisted it came from me having sex with a person who wasnāt him.ā
Witkin, the musician and former Depp friend, said the actor displayed signs of jealousy in relationships going back to the 1980s, when Depp was married to Witkin's sister-in-law.
āWhen he was younger, he was jealous of Nick Cage and jealous of Adam Ant because my sister-in-law knew them,ā Witkin said.
There also were a few times when Depp became jealous during his relationship with French singer Vanessa Paradis, āwhich were ridiculous,ā Witkin said.
āA lot of it was in his head and not really in reality,ā Witkin said.
Depp's jealousy with Heard emerged when she was off filming a movie āor doing something that he couldnāt be around to see what was going on,ā Witkin said. āI think he would work himself up.ā
TESTIMONY FROM HEARD'S SISTER
Amber Heardās sister, Whitney Heard Henriquez, said she personally witnessed Depp hitting Heard. Depp has testified he never struck Heard.
Henriquez testified the fight occurred in March 2015 ā a month after Depp and Heardās wedding ā when Heard found evidence that Depp had already had an extramarital affair.
Henriquez recounted that an inebriated Depp blamed Heard for forcing him into the extramarital encounter.
At one point, she said, she was caught between Depp and Heard as he charged up a staircase to confront Heard. Henriquez said she was struck in the back, and Heard became enraged and ālanded oneā on Depp.
One of Deppās bodyguards intervened, but āby that time Johnny had already grabbed Amber by the hair with one hand and was whacking her repeatedly in the face with the other,ā Henriquez said.
It was the only time, Henriquez said, that she personally witnessed a physical assault. But she said she saw the aftermath of other fights, including bruises on Heard.
However, Henriquez acknowledged on cross-examination that she sided with Depp at times in their disputes, and said she worked to keep the couple together even after she watched her sister be physically assaulted.
āIf my sister said that she still wanted to be with Johnny and if I could help with that in any way I was going to support her,ā she said.