Johnny Depp deflects defense’s barrage of embarrassing texts, contradictory testimony

Under cross-examination Thursday, actor Johnny Depp launched a charm offensive that occasionally earned giggles from courtroom observers. His approach also clashed with embarrassing private texts, prior testimony and more being presented by the defense.

Using a barrage of text messages and emails, combined with testimony from Depp’s recent failed libel case against a British tabloid, Amber Heard’s attorney attempted to undercut the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star’s ample testimony given Tuesday and Wednesday.

In his direct testimony, Depp had painted a calm picture of himself as someone who had used drugs and alcohol, and detoxed from an opiate, but he said he was not a “maniac” who was dependent on substances.

On Thursday, the defense presented several examples where Depp had lashed out physically at objects — including walls and fixtures — when he was frustrated.

In texts from 2013 through 2016, Depp described his drug and alcohol use, as well as his capacity for various substances, with one of the mildest messages declaring, “I use marijuana a lot!!!” He testified that other messages referred to cocaine use.

Depp also slammed both Heard and his ex-girlfriend Vanessa Paradis in texts, referring to the latter woman as the “French extortionist.” The saltiest language — some of it referring to Heard — was silenced on Court TV, which is broadcasting the trial live.

Depp previously testified that he was embarrassed by his writings and apologized for them. “If you’re writing, there is no set place that you have to stay in,” he said Tuesday. “You can travel, and sometimes pain can be, has to be dealt with with humor. Sometimes very dark humor.”

The defense also played a recording of Depp moaning in pain as he attempted to detox from the opiate Roxicodone and talked about Depp and Heard’s time on his private island in 2014. At that time, Heard, private doctor and nurse were helping the actor manage his withdrawal with other medicines, and Depp had accused his ex of withholding medicines when he needed them.

But defense attorney Benjamin Rottenborn read into evidence a message Depp had sent his mother-in-law, Paige Heard, after the detox.

In it, Depp wrote that without Amber, he “would have gone for a swim and swallowed up a big drink of ocean without her, to be honest” and said her participation “was an exercise of monumental patience and instinct.” He said he “couldn’t have made it without her” and “wouldn’t be alive” today.

The actor testified previously that he had given up on the island detox and completed it instead on his own — with medical supervision — over five days after returning home to L.A. and sending his then-wife and her friends to a hotel bungalow for the duration.

It was Depp’s second day of questioning by the defense in his $50-million defamation trial against Amber Heard. She has countersued her ex-husband, also for defamation, seeking $100 million. Witnesses supporting Heard will take the stand later in the trial, which is set to run Monday through Thursday for three more weeks.

The defamation trial revolves around an opinion piece Heard wrote for the Washington Post in late 2018. In it, she said that in 2016, she “became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out.” Depp has alleged that she’s clearly referring to her much-publicized relationship with him.

Since taking the stand Tuesday, Depp has seemingly won over some fans seated in the courtroom with his quips and wry takes on what he’s being asked. When he said “Bless you” from the stand after a gallery member sneezed, soft laughter filled the room. He also has politely thanked Rottenborn repeatedly during questioning and tried to engage with him as if they were having a conversation.

On Thursday, in response to a question about whether he had used a small box shown in a photo to tote cocaine, the actor replied, “No, but it looks like it would fit some cocaine. Cocaine is, in my experience, is normally given in plastic bags. When you put it in a box like that, chances are you’ll leave a trail, a long line of cocaine behind you as you walk down the street.”

When the gallery’s giggles subsided, Heard’s attorney presented testimony from 2019 in which Depp admitted using the box to hold cocaine.

A Court TV correspondent noted earlier this week that the jury, like Heard, has remained stoic in the face of Depp’s jokes.

Cross-examination continues Thursday afternoon.