Johnny Depp Claims Ex-Wife Lied About Abuse and Attacked Him

(CN) – In a court declaration filed in a Virginia court Monday, actor Johnny Depp accused his ex-wife Amber Heard of punching him, committing perjury and either allowing a friend to defecate on his bed – or doing so herself.

In his $50 million defamation case against Heard, Depp says she falsely accused him of abusing her during their marriage, which ended in 2017. Depp also claims Heard abused him.

“She hit, punched and kicked me, “ Depp said in his declaration. “She also repeatedly and frequently threw objects into my body and head, including heavy bottles, soda cans, burning candles, television remote controls and paint thinner cans, which severely injured me.”

Depp alleges that after he left his penthouse following one such attack in 2016, Heard or one of her friends defecated in his bed “as some sort of a sick prank before they left for Coachella together.”

The actor is suing Heard for a December op-ed in The Washington Post in which the actress described the backlash she experienced after speaking out about domestic abuse. The piece did not mention Depp by name, but three months after its publication he sued, claiming she was referring to him.

Depp’s complaint was filed in Fairfax County, Virginia because that is where the Post is printed.

In a motion to dismiss the case, Heard’s lawyers argued that every relevant witness resides in California. The parties are now squaring off over that motion.

In previous court filings, Heard described being abused by Depp. She claims he used drugs and would not remember his conduct. Eventually, she began to document injuries with photographs or videos in an effort to show him what he had done.

“The evidence in this case is clear: Johnny Depp repeatedly beat Amber Heard,” Heard’s attorney Eric George – of Los Angeles-based firm Browne George Ross –  said in a statement Monday. “In light of the important work done by the #TimesUp movement highlighting the tactics abusers use to continue to traumatize survivors, neither the creative community nor the public will be gaslit by Mr. Depp’s baseless blame-the-victim conspiracy theories.”

Depp described his ex-wife’s use of #believewomen as cynical.

He said in his declaration that he has “vehemently” denied Heard’s allegations since she first made them in May 2016, “when she walked into court to obtain a temporary restraining order with painted-on bruises that witnesses and surveillance footage show she did not possess each day of the preceding week.”

Depp is represented by Benjamin Chew of Boston-based firm Brown Rudnick.  

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