Why You Should Believe Amber Heard
Introduction:
After the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard trial reached its verdict on June 1st 2022, I had the simple idea of writing a couple hundred words addressing some misinformation I’d seen floating around. A few hundred words fast became a few thousand, and a few dozen pages became a few hundred. What originally began as an attempt to address a few popular talking points has now morphed into a more than 900-page comprehensive breakdown of every relevant aspect of Johnny and Amber’s relationship.
If you’ve ever discussed an aspect of this case with someone, whether they be a close friend or a stranger on the Internet, you will have noticed it’s exceptionally hard to talk about one aspect of the case without talking about all of them. Any compelling point made is usually met with, “well, what about [blank] and [blank] and [blank]?” While this tactic is often used in bad faith, there is truth at its core. Amber and Johnny’s relationship spanned 2011-2016 and taking any one piece of evidence from a random date in, say, 2015, is not necessarily reflective of the totality of their relationship.
Problem is, when one really is trying to address the totality of their relationship, it takes about 600 pages. In making sure [blank], [blank], and [blank] – and infinitely more – have all been addressed in my research, I fear I’ve created something slightly inapproachable. In an attempt to mitigate this effect, I have structured the document in three parts, which cover aspects of the Depp/Heard relationship in varying degrees of detail with different sub-topics of focus.
Below you will find a full Table of Contents, but briefly I would like to introduce you to the basic structure used and recommend some places to start if you don’t want to read the whole thing.
Part One, which spans roughly the first 80 pages, is what I consider to be “foundational” information. It addresses Amber’s motive – or lack thereof – to create a “hoax” against Johnny, Johnny’s history of physically violent outbursts, Johnny’s large number of close friends accused of domestic violence/sexual assault, Johnny and Amber’s competing claims about drug and alcohol use, and Johnny and Amber’s competing claims about (non-violent) controlling behavior in the relationship. This is an introduction for “beginners” to some basic information – basically an attempt to very concisely show Amber’s claims have merit without getting into every single piece of information.
If you are anything other than true neutral, this section probably holds little value. Assuming you are ardently pro-Depp and I only have your attention for a limited number of pages, I suggest you skip straight to Part Two.
Part Two, which is the main body and spans roughly the next 400 pages, is divided into more than a dozen “Incidents” of specific alleged physical violence. Its purpose is to be a forensic examination of all available evidence specific to an alleged instance of violence, comparing audios, medical records, contemporaneous communications, and conflicting testimonies. In an effort to provide appropriate context for all alleged incidents, this section also functions as a comprehensive timeline from October 2011 to March 2019.
Beginning from Incident #1 is, in my opinion, the best way to engage with this section, because understanding:
1) How early Amber’s evidence begins
2) The pattern of escalation
3) How early Johnny and his witnesses are demonstrably and inarguably grossly distorting the truth
Is key to understanding the relationship.
BUT assuming you are ardently pro-Depp and I only have your attention for a limited number of pages, I suggest you begin with Incident #6. Incidents #6, #8, #12, #13, #16, and #17 are the ones which have monopolized the discourse and correspond to:
6. Boston Plane Flight
8. Australia
12. “Bathroom Door” audio
13. “James Corden” incident
16. Amber’s 30th birthday
17. May 21st 2016
Part Three, which spans the rest of the document, is a series of Appendices which can be split into two categories:
1) Comprehensive investigations within a narrow framework. For example, while you can find several instances of medical malpractice within the 400 pages of the main body, there is an appendix which ignores all other aspects of the relationship just to shine a spotlight on the failure of Dr. Kipper and his medical team.
2) Topics which have proven immensely important to the general public but are not really connected to a specific incident of physical violence and would’ve served as an unnecessarily long distraction had they been placed under a specific Incident. For example, one such appendix is a comprehensive analysis of testimony regarding the feces found in the ECB building on April 22nd 2016.
In one of these appendices, I have also done my best to narrow down the aspects of Johnny and Amber’s relationship into a more concise breakdown of how Johnny abused Amber and how her behaviors align with documented responses from victims to abuse. It still runs roughly 175 pages but is significantly shorter than the 450 pages which make up my analysis of all pleaded Incidents. If you are not interested in reading the full thing, but still want an understanding of the entire relationship (as opposed to just picking one of the Incidents out of context), this is the best place to start.
Table of Contents
Part One: Background
Issue #1: Amber’s Financial Motive……………………………………………………………..
Issue #2: Depp’s History of Violence……………………………………………………………
Issue #3: Depp’s Support of Abusers………………………………………………………..…
Issue #4: Drug & Alcohol Abuse.………………………………………………………………..
Issue #5: Jealousy & Controlling Behaviors……………………………………………………..
Part Two: The Violent Incidents
Incident #1: Early Abuse…………………………………………………………………………
Incident #2: Documentary Incident, March 22nd 2013…………………………………………...
Incident #3: Hicksville, Late May 2013………………………………………………………….
Incident #4: Yacht Incident, July 9th 2013……………………………………………………….
Incident #4.5: Remainder of 2013………………………………………………………………..
Incident #5: “Marilyn Manson Binge” February 2014…………………………………………..
Incident #6: Boston Plane Flight, May 24th 2014………………………………………………..
Incident #7: Depp’s Island Detox, August 2014…………………………………………………
Incident #7.5: Remainder of 2014, Leadup to Australia 2015…………………………………...
Incident #8: Australia, March 8th 2015…………………………………………………………...
Incident #9: Staircase Incident, March 23rd 2015………………………………………………..
Incident #10: Southeast Asia Train Incident, July 2015…………………………………………
Incident #11: Toronto International Film Festival, September 2015…………………………….
Incident #12: Bathroom Door Incident, September 25th 2015…………………………………...
Incident #13: “James Corden” Incident, December 15th 2015…………………………………...
Incident #14: Bahamas Incident, Christmas 2015………………………………………………..
Incident #15: Depp Destroys Cabinets, February 2016………………………………………….
Incident #16: Amber’s 30th Birthday, April 21st 2016…………………………………………...
Incident #17: May 21st 2016……………………………………………………………………..
Incident #18: Post-Relationship Abuse………………………………………………………….
Part Three: Appendices…………………………………………………………………………
Appendix A: Intimate Terrorism, DARVO, and Reactive Abuse/Violent Resistance……
Part One: 2013……………………………………………………………………………...
Part Two: 2014……………………………………………………………………………...
Part Three: 2015 & 2016……………………………………………………………………
Appendix B: Dr. Curry, Dr. Hughes, & Amber’s Mental Health…………………………
Appendix C: Brian McPherson and Audio from Australia, March 8th 2015………………
Appendix D: April 22nd 2016………………………………………………………………
Appendix E: Breach of Medical Ethics & Failure to Mandatory Report…………………
Appendix F: Leaking & TMZ……………………………………………………………..
Appendix G: Depp’s Legal Strategy……………………………………………………….
Appendix H: Depp’s Lawsuits with TMG and Former Security…………………………
Appendix I: Common Misconceptions……………………………………………………
Part One: Background
ISSUE #1: Amber’s Financial Motive
The first issue I would like to address is Amber Heard’s potential motivation to lie. Johnny and his supporters have proposed two potential motivations for the “hoax” they claim she has perpetuated against him:
1) To benefit herself financially and benefit her acting career
2) Mental illness
The second option is addressed under Appendix B, as I find the best rebuttal of that claim is found throughout Incidents #1-17. Here I will just be focusing on the claim that Amber benefitted financially by claiming abuse in the divorce and helped her career by identifying herself with victims of domestic abuse at the hands of powerful men.
It is important here to establish some key basic facts about Amber’s “hoax,” or, more accurately, her extensive evidence of domestic abuse by Johnny Depp. The first piece of contemporaneous evidence she has is the notes of Dr. Bonnie Jacobs, the therapist Amber saw from 2011-2014. She documented Amber’s first report that Johnny had hit her in January of 2012. Amber’s first picture of an injury is dated April 2012. In August 2012 she told her therapist he had been violent towards her during sex. In March 2013 she sent her mother a picture of a bruise and said Johnny was “violent and crazy.” She told her best friend Johnny made her feel scared, alone, and freaked out. On June 11th 2013, Amber wrote in a letter addressed to Johnny:
It’s like dr Jekyll and mr Hyde half of you I love, madly. the other half scares me… The drinking assures me that I am dealing with the monster the abused scared insecure violent little boy… Many times you have hurt me. Physically and emotionally from the things you say and did while fucked up… You have hit me repeated. Something you should Never have done.
These pieces of evidence, when considering the likelihood that Amber was planning a hoax to extort money from Johnny in a future divorce, become incredibly important because they all pre-date Johnny and Amber’s engagement. January 2012 was only three months into their relationship. Her first reports and pictures pre-date Johnny’s official public split from Vanessa Paradis in June 2012. She has several pictures of injuries, reports to her therapist, and the texts to her mother and best friend that all pre-date when Johnny was first open about being publicly seen with Amber in April 2013.
This demonstrates Amber’s “hoax” was not reactive, meaning it was not something she began doing at some point when she realized the marriage was doomed and began planning an exit strategy. It was started long before marriage was even an option, much less a reality, much less a nightmare. The “hoax” would have had to have been pre-meditated from before the relationship began, really.
Amber’s evidence continues after the engagement but before the marriage as well. For example, she wrote herself this letter after an incident on a plane flight from Boston to Los Angeles:
The man I love and want to marry called me an embarrassment and a whore amongst other things in front of a plane full of people who did nothing before kicking me, kicking me in the back and then mocked me for crying about it immediately after.
I point these facts out because they again demonstrate that Amber’s “hoax” must have begun well before marriage was ever even a consideration, continued through their relationship becoming more serious and public, and began including medical professionals before their marriage.
To believe that Amber put in so much time and effort to sustain a hoax for more than four years, well before she had any reason to believe she would ever be in a position to receive any percentage of Johnny’s money, it stands to reason you should also believe she was taking this gamble because the payout she would get if it worked would be tremendous.
That is far from the case here.
Before even getting to Amber’s received settlement of $6.8 million, it is important to see what rights Amber waived on the way there.
Upon first filing for divorce and for a DV-TRO, Amber requested spousal support in line with Johnny’s exceptionally high income. Very soon afterward, Amber withdrew her request for spousal support, citing the claims made by Johnny’s team and quickly adopted by the public that she was only alleging abuse for money:
Heard—who was granted a temporary restraining order against Depp in May amid allegations of domestic violence—reportedly said her spousal support request was being "used against me to distract and divert the public away from the very serious real issue of domestic violence."
Again, if someone had committed four years of their life to a hoax in order to get money, why are they so freely giving it up?
Amber also waived her right to her percentage of Johnny’s profit-participation from the fifth Pirates of the Caribbean film. Quoting from a letter Amber’s lawyer sent her in August 2016:
Simply put, given Sweeney’s analysis, you are potentially leaving a lot of money (to wit, tens of millions of dollars payable to you) on the table by waiving your interest in Johnny’s back-end deals for projects he worked on during marriage. Therefore, you will need to print out, and date and sign this email below, and thereafter return the executed document to me, to signify your express confirmation that you understand what you are choosing to do. Candidly, you are being amazingly true to your word, that this is not about the money. With tremendous respect, you are walking away from a lot of money. Yet, as your attorneys we cannot be held responsible for making that decision and we cannot recommend to you that you walk away and waive your rights to this community asset/money.
Amber eventually settled for $6.8 million.
You can literally just enter “Celebrity Divorce Settlements” into the Google search bar and see as row after row of women received settlements more than two or three times that of Amber, in divorces where no abuse was alleged and the richer spouse had pre/post-nup protections in place. You will most likely stumble across the information that Depp settled with his previous partner Vanessa Paradis for a whopping $150 million. Meaning Amber received only 4.8% of the settlement Depp’s previous life partner received.
While $6.8 million is objectively a lot of money, it is actually only a fraction of what Amber could have received and does not reflect 4 ½ years-worth of planned “hoaxing.”
All of this doesn’t even take into account that Johnny and Amber lived in a no-fault state and had no pre-nup, meaning Amber actually stood to gain nothing by alleging physical abuse. She was entitled to what she was entitled to regardless and had no potential prenuptial clause she needed to fill. All of this while living in a state where she didn’t need a reason to get divorced.
And, if we’re assuming, as one would have to in order to believe the “financial gain” aspect of “hoax” theory, that Amber was seeking someone out in order to receive financial gain, why did she choose Johnny Depp – who she became aware as early as 2013 was suffering financial difficulties – and not Elon Musk, who was orders of magnitude wealthier and actively pursuing a relationship with her at the time, again as early as 2012?
She also did eventually date Elon Musk, and then decided to end the relationship. Here he tells Rolling Stone:
Then he heaves a sigh and ends his effort at composure. “I just broke up with my girlfriend,” he says hesitantly. “I was really in love, and it hurt bad.” He pauses and corrects himself: “Well, she broke up with me more than I broke up with her, I think.”
“I’ve been in severe emotional pain for the last few weeks,” Musk elaborates. “Severe. It took every ounce of will to be able to do the Model 3 event and not look like the most depressed guy around. For most of that day, I was morbid.”
Which, again, is not behavior consistent with someone willing to spend 4 years creating a “hoax” to potentially in the future maybe enter a public relationship with Johnny Depp that she could parlay into a marriage and later divorce.
Secondary to the theory of financial gain is the idea that being publicly identified as a victim of domestic violence benefitted Amber’s career. Simply put, this does not make any sense.
My first piece of evidence in support of this is that it demonstrably didn’t advance her career. Her biggest roles to date are in Aquaman, The Danish Girl, and Magic Mike XXL – all roles she had before she came forward. She only has three aired credits to her name after her allegations in 2016 – evidence that she was either uninterested in advancing her career, or that studios were uninterested in casting her. And this is before Depp began his lawsuit, and at the time was abiding by a legal document he signed swearing she had made no false allegations.
She also made her allegations in May of 2016, a year before the Harvey Weinstein allegations broke and before #MeToo became popular or in any way influential. There was no culture of supporting or believing women at the time she came forward, and in fact the allegations that have come out since 2016 prove that there was in fact a culture of the exact opposite – of women being blacklisted after making allegations (good place to start if you somehow don’t believe this is Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow).
In fact, Depp himself confirmed that Amber making allegations in 2016 hurt her career, and was the reason she was no longer being offered roles. He told his agent:
I have gotten emails from every fucking studio fucking head from every motherfucker, I didn’t do a thing. “I’m sorry you’re going through this. I’m so sorry.” Clearly she’s out of her fucking mind. She is viewed as out of her fucking mind across the globe
There ain’t no motherfucker in this business going to hire her
Oh, she’s ruined. For sure. She did that herself. In terms of the business, she’s a wrap
He also asked his sister Christi Dembrowski to get her fired from Aquaman.
It is also quite evident the general public did not feel much sympathy for Amber, and in fact disliked her, in the immediate aftermath of her DV-TRO.
The wrath of the culture fell swift and hard on Amber, as evidenced by this Pajiba piece already mourning the loss of her future as early as June 1st 2016:
Johnny Depp will be fine. Amber Heard’s career is probably done. So ask yourself how worth it lying truly is. If she had just made this whole thing up, faked it all, how would it be worth it?
While her future seemed uncertain, Johnny was literally on a Saudi Prince’s yacht and being announced as the face of the Fantastic Beasts franchise.
The only perceived benefit Heard could have received is her involvement with human rights organizations like the UN, which she was already becoming involved with before her allegations. Nude photos of Amber were leaked on the internet in September 2014, and she has worked with advocacy groups ever since to pass legislation and change the public perception of nonconsensual pornography. It does not make sense that Amber would spend four years of her life dedicated to achieving false “victim” status, when she objectively was a very public victim of a form of sexual assault in 2014, which she used her platform to speak about.
The theory that Heard raised allegations for attention also ignores that she engaged in almost zero public discourse around her allegations. Besides filing for a TRO in 2016, Amber actively avoided discussing her allegations. Besides a very short (literally 2-minute) PSA for a small feminist magazine in 2017, where she discussed why victims are embarrassed to come forward, she sought almost no attention. This profile in Glamour is how she always addressed questions – she pushed them aside, denied victim-status, and changed the topic to her work or other aspects of her life.
It was not even her idea to write an Op-Ed for the Washington Post – the ACLU approached her, not the other way around, which the ACLU’s Terence Dougherty confirmed in his testimony. If you have actually read her Op-Ed, you will also notice that the point of the piece is not to focus on Depp but to advocate for the Violence Against Women Act and to call attention to the gutting of Title IX protections.
While this is covered much more substantially later, it is a simple fact that Amber abided by the NDA clause of their divorce significantly better than Johnny did.
Amber has also tried to keep her most serious allegations private. She did not want to come forward with claims of sexual violence, and only did so when she provided evidence in the UK trial – the case which Depp started when he sued The Sun for libel. Because the best defense against libel is to prove you told the truth, The Sun requested Amber provide evidence for their case. She agreed to help The Sun but did not want the public to know about her most serious accusations, instead testifying privately. Her testimony was sealed from the public.
She did not publicly accuse Depp of sexual assault until the trial that concluded in May 2022. Her hand was largely forced by Depp and his team, who insisted on suing Amber for defamation over the Op-Ed’s headline which she did not write and had no influence on. Her legal team tried their very best to prevent Amber’s sexual assault testimony from being broadcast for the public. Here is Elaine Bredehoft arguing before Judge Azcarate:
Your Honor, I actually took a lot of time to go into this. I talked to a number of different people, etc. And I think, at the end of the day, after looking hard at Virginia Code Section 19.2-266, I think our position ultimately is that we think that it would not be permitted under the state. And the reasons for that, Your Honor, are two specific spots in the statue: Section 19.2-266(2), which explicitly prohibits electronic media and still photography coverage of public judicial proceedings in, quote, “divorce proceedings,” end of quote, and quote – “proceedings concerning sexual offenses,” end of quote. And then Virginia Code Section 19.2-66(3) prohibits coverage of witnesses, including victims and families of victims of sexual offenses. Now the concept behind these, Your Honor – and that’s why I brought in domestic proceedings, the divorce proceedings. The concept here is to respect --- you know, from the legislature, is to respect the privacy of the inner workings of a marriage as well as to protect the privacy and the dignity of victims and families of victims of sexual offenses.
Putting Amber Heard, who is a victim of sexual violence, on camera to discuss these rapes and these sexual assaults, along with the beatings, is not what the legislature intended, and that’s why they prohibited it under 19.2-266.
Again, if the claim is that Amber started this “hoax” because she wanted the public attention of being a domestic abuse/sexual assault victim, why is she trying to keep the sexual assault allegations private?
ISSUE #2: Depp’s History of Violence
While you may have heard someone argue different, a demonstrated pattern of violent behavior outside of romantic relationships is an indicator of someone’s propensity to be a domestic abuser. The research is clear on this. In the specific case of Johnny Depp, his extensive history as well as his own statements/admissions demonstrate that he views violence as an acceptable, often necessary, and actually enjoyable, method of conflict resolution.
This section will only include parties other than Amber Heard who have accused Depp of similar allegations, to demonstrate a pattern in Depp’s behavior.
In 1989, he was arrested for assaulting a security guard. He kicked, punched, and spit on the young man.
In 1990, he allegedly assaulted members of the 21 Jump Street crew and set fire to items on set.
In 1994, he assaulted photographer Jonathon Walpole and had one of his guards hold the man down. The alleged incident began because Walpole mistakenly touched Depp’s drink at the bar.
This came on the heels of his public screaming match with Kate Moss:
Nor are they always successful in keeping their brawls private. In June they shouted at each other in the dining room of Manhattan’s Royalton Hotel.
Only weeks after the assault on Walpole, he was arrested after trashing a hotel room. He would later claim it was a misunderstanding – that he was simply trying to kill a cockroach and furniture got in the way. While Johnny has since gone on to claim the trashing had nothing to do with Kate Moss, who was present, the man in the hotel room next door disagreed. Roger Daltrey, who called hotel security, always described it as a “loud fight” with Kate, which is why press have always described it as such:
In September 1994, he reportedly got into a pretty loud fight with then-girlfriend Kate Moss in the $1,200-a-night Presidential Suite at New York's Mark Hotel, which led next-door guest Roger Daltrey, of all people, to complain to the management
Kate Moss stayed separate from Johnny for the rest of their trip:
Moss checked in at another hotel, the Royalton. “I guess,” Depp had told the cops earlier, “that she’s mad at me now.”
Depp was again accused of causing an assault in 1994, this time by Jerry Price, who says after he bumped into the actor Depp had his security “pummel” Price and hit him with a wooden rocking horse.
In a 1995 interview with Premiere Magazine, Depp admits to assault. Here I quote directly from Depp:
If I’m angry and I’ve got to lash out or hit somebody, I’m going to do it and I don’t care what the repercussions are.
In 1997, Depp allegedly strangled an AD on the set of Donnie Brasco. The way in which Depp was enabled to continue his violent/destructive behavior is evident in the way people on set worked to minimize his behavior:
“It had something to do with Johnny not liking the way the second A.D. [assistant director] told him about an early call the next morning,” one source told us. “Hey, tempers flare sometimes, no big deal.”
In 1998, Ellen Barkin alleges he threw a wine bottle at a group including her and his assistants.
In 1999, he was arrested for assaulting paparazzi with a wooden plank. In a 2000 interview with Esquire, Depp described how “fun” it was to assault someone and how much special attention he received from police:
It actually was fun, really fun—the cops, the wood, making the press walk backwards down the street—even going to jail, it was fine, you know? The cops were really nice to me, they were terrific, real gentlemen.
From the same article, quotes from Terry Gilliam describing Depp’s temper:
Broken doors and things; I’ve seen his trailer roughed up a bit. It’s interesting, because he is a gentleman and he’s very considerate and very intelligent and if people take advantage of it, or if things build up, they have to find an outlet—like a piece of furniture. He wouldn’t do it to a human being, he’ll take it out on inanimate things—like paparazzi.
Get it, the joke is that Johnny assaulting paparazzi is like hitting furniture because they’re not really people? Very funny…
From the same article, quotes from Mike Newell:
He bit my ass a couple of times, to this day I don’t know what I did. He suddenly fell completely out of love and was vile. The reason it was disconcerting is that he is so sweet the rest of the time; he’s so hard working, so sensitive, with all the right vibrations and just a couple of times he comes on like the bloodbeast terror and you don’t know where you are.
Here is some more quotes from Depp regarding the 1999 incident:
But they wouldn’t stop, so I just grabbed this one guy who had his hands kind of reaching in the door, and then I grabbed a piece of wood and smacked him in the hand and I said, “I want you to take the picture. Take the picture.”
I’ll pause the quotation here for one moment to point out Depp is specifically explaining that he taunted the man with the injured hand – knowing his hand was too badly hurt to be able to operate the camera. Taunting is often present in the allegations Amber makes against him – specifically that when he knocked her down he would taunt her about staying down and taunt her more if she stood back up. That really sounds like exactly what Depp is describing taking pleasure in here.
Depp went on to say:
It’s a moment in my life that I will love until my last breath, because what I saw in their eyes was pure, unadulterated fear. They didn’t take the picture. It proves something, something sad, but – violence, most of the time, is the only thing that works. And for the moment I loved it, just watching all this stuff go down. Even the cops arriving. A beautiful kind of moment, you know.
In 2000, Depp explained his tendency towards violence:
"That's easy to do, to destroy a hotel room. I'll destroy this bar, easy."
Is it satisfying?
"Is it ever? Is anything ever satisfying? Is causing trouble, is getting into a fight satisfying? You do what you do in the moment, when you feel it, and if you don't do that then you're not true to yourself."
A certain photographer comes up in conversation, for no good reason, and Depp offers that he would "light that guy on fire and not think twice about it."
This one in particular:
One of the first things I can remember my mother saying to me was, Don't you ever take any shit off anybody. Never. If you get in a fight, pick up the biggest fucking thing next to you and knock the fucker out. Lay him out. It's a brick, a chair, whatever it is—knock him out. So the idea of the bigger guy or the little guy is irrelevant.
In 2012, Depp was sued by a disabled UC Irving professor who alleged Depp instructed his security guards to assault her. Through Depp’s attorney, a statement was released with said the UC Irving professor had assaulted Johnny and therefore:
Consented to any assault and battery
The UC Irving professor said all she did was dance near Depp. This testimony is nearly identical to that of Jonathon Walpole and Jerry Price.
Depp recently settled out of court over an alleged incident in 2017, where he punched the locations manager, Rocky Brooks, on the set of City of Lies. He admitted to this in an interview with GQ in 2018. Rocky Brooks brought the suit on July 9th 2018, and one month later Depp gave that quote to GQ. Not coincidentally, that was during the time period in which Depp’s lawyers had not addressed the suit and refused to give comments to the press. A few weeks later when they settled on their defense strategy, Adam Waldman had the quote pulled from the GQ article’s online version (the quote only remains in already-printed editions), and the piece says a quote was “falsely attributed” to Depp. He now claims he was defending a homeless woman and never physically assaulted Brooks.
In Brooks’ suit, he alleges that after punching him, Depp became upset that Rocky didn’t have a reaction or fight back:
When PLAINTIFF did not react to DEPP’s satisfaction after being punched, DEPP yelled “I WILL GIVE YOU ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS TO PUNCH ME IN THE FACE RIGHT NOW!” PLAINTIFF still did not react and DEPP continued to scream and berate him in front of a set full of people until DEPP’s own bodyguards physically removed DEPP from the scene.
Also in 2018, Depp gave this quote to Rolling Stone:
When I was a little kid, what I was taught was never fucking start a fight, but if somebody fucking tags you or invades your fucking world, finish the fucking fight. To my mom’s exact words, “Lay them out with a fucking brick.”
It is hard not to see that Jonathon Walpole, Jerry Price, sources from 21 Jump Street and Donnie Brasco, the UC Irving professor, Amber, and Rocky Brooks are all describing the exact same person. Depp takes even the smallest of offenses – someone touching his drink, brushing passed him on accident, simply dancing too close, telling him filming is over for the day – and considers them a “game on.” And Depp’s own words, his own pride in delighting in how violence is “the only thing that works,” make it clear he does not back down when he thinks he’s been challenged. And he thinks whatever he does in return is justified.
As well as the above documented instances of violence, there has long been allegations that Depp uses his money and privilege to cover up incidents. This issue was raised during Depp’s legal battle with his former business managers.
There is an endless well of anecdotal stories you can find about Depp’s history of violence or unhinged behavior, like this one. Or the time Rolling Stone reported that he was out of his mind on a cocktail of booze and pills and began shouting “I FUCK ANIMALS!” on a plane.
Depp himself admits here that he still goes into rages, he’s just become better at destroying his own things so it’s not reported to the police. Here I will point out that everything Johnny did in Australia – causing more than $100,000 worth of damage to a property while using his own blood to write on mirrors, walls, and furniture – was kept under wraps until it became part of Johnny and Amber’s divorce. Sean Bett admits in his testimony there was an incident involving Johnny and his friends from 2017 in which they were drinking and caused some scene/damage that nearly led to police being called, but Bett was able to talk them down – almost certainly by paying them off. Depp has an entire team dedicated to keeping these incidents out of the press. We literally have confirmation that he’s managed to do it several times. That strongly suggests there is many, many more instances like this, they’re just being kept behind closed doors.
Depp was also investigated in relation to a statutory rape charge. His daughter Lily-Rose Depp, then 15, was dating a 23-year-old man. Depp was letting the couple live in one of his properties. His former agent Tracy Jacobs testified that he lied to the police about this incident.
ISSUE #3: Depp’s Support of Abusers
Besides allegations made against Depp directly, Depp has an extremely troubling history of working with other men accused of all kinds of abuse. He’s had friendships with many, many more men accused of predatory behavior than listed here (such as Terry Gilliam, quoted above, Marlon Brando, etc.), but it is an unfortunate fact of Hollywood as an industry that every public figure has some attachment to people accused of sexual misconduct. To call a spade a spade, Amber Heard had varying degrees of relationship with Elon Musk and James Franco, who have been accused of misconduct themselves.
The friendships I list here I deem to be relevant to the allegations made by Amber, for reasons outlined below.
He has a decades-long friendship with Brian Warner, aka Marilyn Manson. Here is an article detailing the countless accusations against Manson. Manson admitted to raping an unconscious woman as early as 1998. Manson has admitted in court documents that child pornography was shared using an email in his name, though he claims this was an attempt at “framing” him – a “hoax,” if you will. Depp has remained publicly associated with Manson, starring in a music video for him in 2017, and has yet to cut any ties with him. He called Manson a “good friend” as recent as 2022.
In 2016, Marilyn Manson texted Depp that his girlfriend was an “Amber 2.0” and had “pulled an Amber” and filed a police report saying he hit her. He asked if Depp could hide him, and Depp happily agreed. The girlfriend referred to in these 2016 texts was not even Evan Rachel Wood or one of his public accusers, but Lindsey Usich, which demonstrates just how many women Manson has abused and how many have attempted to come forward.
Manson is currently suing Evan Rachel Wood for defamation because of the accusations she has made against him. It’s pretty clear Manson and Depp have discussed the various allegations against them and worked out their identical legal strategy together.
This is our first piece of evidence that Johnny does not care about abuse victims and only cares about victims not coming forward.
Depp remained friends with Allen Ginsberg until his death. Ginsberg was publicly a member and supporter of NAMBLA, an organization dedicated to promoting and encouraging pedophilia. (NAMBLA stands for “North American Man/Boy Love Association”). This should go without saying, but the reason Ginsberg supported NAMBLA is because he was a pedophile.
In 1977, Roman Polanski was arrested and charged for drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl. In 1999, Depp agreed to star in Polanski’s film The Ninth Gate. In 2010, Depp said this:
Very clearly, very clearly, he’s proven this, Roman Polanski is not a predator
Depp goes on to say “why now?” in reference to Polanski being arrested, and suggests someone was paid to do it.
The only reason a man could ever face consequences for his actions is because someone must want money. Sound familiar?
Also in 2010, another woman came forward to say she was assaulted as a child by Polanski. Numerous women in the last decade have made similar allegations. Depp has never publicly retracted or expressed regret over former comments.
Depp, literal friend to pedophiles plural, also let a grown man live with his 15-year-old daughter.
Depp had a long friendship with Hunter S. Thompson. Thompson was accused of sexual assault in 1990. This had no influence on his friendship with Depp, who starred in an adaptation of his novel in 1998.
In response to the sexual assault allegations, Thompson claimed that in fact he was the victim of the woman’s unwanted sexual advances:
He said Palmer-Slater was "real drunk, sloppy," and she wanted to have sex with him, but he rejected her. "I pushed her away from me and one hand brushed her breast," Thompson told the newspaper.
Seems like Depp learned a lot from his friend.
The allegations against Thompson also illustrate the ridiculous nature of Johnny’s testimony claiming the horrible and abusive language he used about Amber was okay because he wasn’t being serious, but merely writing in the language of his idol Hunter S. Thompson. Depp’s defense of his language ultimately boils down to “Don’t let the texts where I sound abusive make you think I was abusive, I was merely impersonating the writing voice of my friend the abusive sex pest.”
In this interview, Johnny refers to Thompson as a “Southern Gentleman.” This is well after the sexual assault allegation. The term “Southern Gentleman” will be familiar to you as the reason Johnny gives for why he couldn’t possibly be abusive:
I am from a Southern family and rules were instilled in me from birth by my mother: you would be a Southern gentleman or it would be beaten into you. Even as a child, chivalry was extremely important and, whether or not this is considered old-fashioned, it is still something that I consider very important. Integrity, dignity, honesty, and respect for women: these were characteristics of a gentleman and characteristics that I was always expected to have. As part of this, I feel it is a strong and central part of my moral code that I would never strike a woman, under any circumstances, at any time. I find it simply inconceivable and it would never happen.
As you may have guessed by the values of a Southern gentleman being taught to Johnny in an abusive fashion in a place and time where men were legally allowed to rape their wives, and given out by Johnny to an attempted rapist, “Southern gentleman” does not refer to actual respect for women. It’s just Johnny’s term to describe his boy’s club.
Evidence of this can be found in the description of Hunter S. Thompson provided by his son:
There were long, late-at-night arguments that he, as a child, would try to mediate. Mostly, he writes in the book, he ended up taking his mother, Sandy’s, side. “[My father] didn’t care what she was trying to say, he cared about breaking her,” he said. In the book, Thompson recalls his father’s “deliberate distortions and carefully chosen words that would inflict maximum hurt”.
There were also certain cruel words for his son. Hunter Thompson often cursed at Juan, calling him a “waterhead bastard”. He frequently threatened him with beatings, although they never actually came to pass.
And:
He was verbally abusive. He was loud, and he was very insightful about exactly what words to use to cause the most hurt. And it wasn't physical violence. He really was trying to win, to break my mom down. And he did that. And watching him do that was painful. And I just came to really despise him for being so deliberately cruel.
Depp’s claim that he writes like Hunter S. Thompson is also more proof to Depp’s own substance abuse issues. This is how Terry Gilliam, good friend of Depp, described Thompson’s writing:
Hunter wrote that as if he was a war correspondent. It just happened that the bombardment was a self-bombardment, with drugs, and his brain was the battleground.
A self-bombardment of drugs with a brain as the battleground would indeed describe much of Depp’s behavior.
Depp has a years-long friendship with Beechy Colclough, a former therapist who was banned from practicing after sexual misconduct allegations were alleged from his former patients. Beechy Colclough appeared in court to offer support to Depp.
Depp’s friendship with Colclough is noteworthy considering the opinions he expressed about Amber’s therapist, Dr. Cowan:
Cowan should be shot in places nobody wants to be shot in!!! He’s a giddam Charlitan, big time!!! I’m not gonna continue to pay that fucking YES MAN to do nothing but stare as her tits and agree with everything she spews… Tell him to tell he’s leaving the business, or something, or I, too, will become a regular client whether I am welcome, or not!!!
Johnny does not actually care about a therapist taking sexual advantage of their clients. If he did, he would not be friends with one – and he certainly would not be inviting said therapist into the courtroom of his trial with Amber.
Depp has lent his voice and support to the family divorce court memoir/manifesto of Greg Ellis.
Here is the restraining order filed by Ellis’ wife. Ellis fired his children’s nanny, became high on cocaine, and told police officers he wanted to end his life and threatened the lives of his children. He also broke into his wife’s home and attempted to take their kids. Ellis claims he is the victim of false allegations, but you can read the restraining order for yourself – most of the allegations do not even come from his wife, but actually the law enforcement officers he spoke to when she was not even there. She was out of the country at the time, and was only following Ellis’ dangerous behavior as it was reported to her by their nanny, family friends, and police officers.
Further, in the weeks leading up to the incident which led to Ellis’ wife filing the restraining order, many, many other people had become afraid of Ellis because of his erratic and threatening behavior.
For example, here is a letter from the school Ellis’ kids attended:
Dear Greg,
I learned this week that you recently confronted other Campbell Hall parents aggressively, inappropriately, and inaccurately regarding their children’s behavior. This is not the first time that I have heard such complaints from other Campbell Hall parents or staff members. This letter will therefore serve to notify you that until further notice, you may not enter the Campbell Hall campus for any reason whatsoever unless you have an appointment with me or Tom Phelps on a non-school day. I also ask that you not contact any Campbell Hall parents, teachers, or staff members directly with any concerns related to your children. Please relay any such concerns directly to me or Tom Phelps only. Failure to comply with these requests could result in the immediate separate of your children from the school, legal action against you, or both.
Here is a letter from Ellis’ golf course:
Dear Mr. Ellis:
Your actions beginning on March 2, 2015 and continuing through the date of this letter raise grave concerns about the safety and security of the Lakeside members, guests, and employees in your presence, evidences disregard for the Club’s operations, policies, rules, and traditions, and has been disruptive of the Club’s best interests, congeniality, and the compatibility among members. Among other things you unilaterally initiated communications with a number of Club members. You hand delivered to the Club’s General Manager two separate letters, one addressed to a member (noting a carbon copy was to be delivered to another member) and the other addressed to the General Manager. You asked the General Manager to deliver the letter to the member to whom it was addressed. You made unsolicited phone calls or text messages to numerous other members. You came to the Club and asked several members to have one-on-one conversations with you and in at least one instance you visited a member’s home without prior notice or invitation. While by themselves these actions are not extraordinary, when one considers your conduct at the Club during your interactions with members and the context and content of your communications, there is good reason for the Club’s concern.
The Club has commenced an investigation of your conduct… you are not to enter upon the Club’s grounds, whether upon your own initiative or at the request or invitation of a member or employee other than the General Manager.
Despite all of this, Ellis’ has publicly claimed that he was perfectly fine, never did any behavior alleged by his ex-wife, and his stay in a mental hospital was the result of a corrupt system which overwhelmingly favors women and makes it impossible for a man’s voice to be heard. He has even gone so far as to claim it was his ex-wife who suffered the mental breakdown:
I LOST BOTH MY SONS, 8 & 10 YRS OLD, WHEN THEIR MOTHER HAD A PANIC ATTACK & STOPPED TAKING HER PSYCHOTROPIC MEDICATION.
Greg Ellis is genuinely dangerous to himself and others, and by so publicly waging a war against his ex-wife – writing a book about his experience and making endless public appearances to push his lies – he is surely traumatizing her and his own children.
Johnny’s willingness to align himself with Ellis purely because Greg is a man who has cried “false allegations!” “female bias/privilege!” and “my ex-wife is guilty of what she is accusing me of!” demonstrates that Johnny is not actually concerned with helping anyone.
The dangers of Johnny’s approach here are further illustrated by his defense of Andy Signore. Allegations were first made against Signore in 2017. For example:
He messaged me to say how hot I was, and tried it play it off as silly “lol,” “jacking it to you in your undies!!!” And when I tried to brush it off, he offered me to come over so he could do it in person. I will never forget his exact words
“you can read a book for all I care”
…I wish I’d fought more, wish I’d screencapped his messages, but I was young, scared, and dumb. So I didn’t. Girls in Hollywood get taken advantage of so much. I just want people to believe me when I say this happened.
Johnny decided to ignore these accounts and supported Signore. Only days after having an exclusive interview with Andy, in which he is so comfortable as to kiss him on the cheek, another woman came forward – this time with a video Andy Signore had sent unsolicited of him masturbating. Many other women then shared similar stories.
You will notice all of these women are big #J4JD types on Twitter. That’s because Johnny’s support of this guy led to women trusting Signore, placing them in a vulnerable position he then exploited. Here is comments from a #J4JD supporter and former Signore fan at the center of his latest allegations, “shocked” to realize Johnny’s supporters are standing by Andy:
Weird seeing Johnny depp supporters act like Amber heard supporters [laughing face] good job brain washing your community Andy
You’re all in a cult because you excuse and believe the leader without question which is funny since you’re suppose to be Johnny Depp supporters [laughing face] I will see you all in a few months when you finally wake up
It truly is a mystery why Johnny Depp fans show blind deference to a man’s cult of personality and ignore literal video evidence of said man being abusive to women. I can’t possibly imagine how these two groups overlap so much.
Covering stories is not attempting to defame or have malicious intentions. Someone wanted to speak and I allowed them to do so.
A man threatening a defamation suit because women speak out against his abusive behavior? I cannot possibly imagine how this could ever be relevant to recent events!
How many more times does this have to happen? Is Johnny’s support of Manson, Ellis, and Signore not enough? At what point do we just admit Johnny is actually more willing to identify with you if someone has accused you of sexual assault/harassment – regardless of the overwhelming merit to the claim – because he doesn’t actually care about sexual assault and is more interested in dissuading women from coming forward?
ISSUE #4: Drug & Alcohol Abuse
Amber claims Depp abused a number of substances during their relationship and they drove a lot of the domestic violence. Depp claims that besides Roxicodone, he was never addicted to or abused any substances. He claims Amber “grossly embellished” his usage, and in the relationship she tried to exert control over him by making the accusation that he was addicted to/abusing substances. Depp claims she was an alcoholic and addicted to both Provigil and cocaine, and claims these substances were often the cause of her abuse.
Here I will prove that not only are Amber’s claims true, but Depp’s accusations are false.
Depending on what type of Johnny Depp supporter you’re talking to, you will see two contradictory arguments put forth regarding his substance use:
1) Yes, Johnny abused alcohol/substances, but he has always owned up to that. Amber mentioning this in her testimony is akin to “addict shaming.”
2) Johnny’s addictions, besides the Roxicodone, are all in the past and he didn’t abuse substances in his relationship to Amber.
Neither of these are true, of course, but since I have seen so many people claim #1 to be true, I want to begin by demonstrating Johnny has never once admitted to overdoing any alcohol/drug besides Roxicodone while with Amber. He lives in complete denial of his addictions.
Johnny explicitly claims he “never drank to excess” throughout his entire relationship with Amber:
But my drinking, again, was not to excess...I would never went into blackouts or anything of that nature.
He explicitly claims he is not and has never been an alcoholic:
But I have never had a physical addiction to alcohol. I don't.
His answer is long, rambling, and pretty nonsense by the end but he’s clearly trying to say that he’s not an alcoholic here:
But there was no...I had no...I've worked with therapists, drug counselors who have actually said the words to me because I wanted to know, I wanted to know, am I an alcoholic? Am I an alcoholic? Or is this just the same thing that I did as a kid when I took my mom's nerve pill? Do I have a drinking problem? And it essentially came down to this. "Do you have a drinking problem, Johnny?"
And explicitly claims the only drug he was ever addicted to was Roxicodone:
I have taken other drugs in my life and I did take other drugs during the course of our relationship but I never suffered with addiction with those drugs.
Again here:
Insofar as there is any insinuation that I was dependent on any other drugs [besides Roxicodone], I reject that insinuation completely.
Because the nature of people not believing Amber’s allegations means they do not believe anything she says, the evidence I provide here will be free of her testimony and contemporaneous emails, texts, reports to therapists, and diary entries, as well as the testimony of witnesses called on her behalf.
Well before he even met Amber (who he claims drove him to substances with her, and I quote, “constant haranguing”), he had a well-publicized struggle with alcohol/drugs. As early as a 2001 article with The Guardian, Depp says he was “scaring” those around him with his drinking:
So, was getting clean the result of some wasted epiphany? Or simply growing up?
“I guess . . . I mean, I drink, so I still have that form of escape. But for years, the whole thing was, ‘Ah, fuck it, I'll deal with it tomorrow.’ And then you realize that you're hurting the people around you, and you're scaring the people around you, and it just seems . . . dumb. So you stop.”
This exchange is from a 2004 Playboy article:
Q: At one point your life did seem out of control. Was it drugs?
A: Mostly alcohol. There were drugs too, pills, and there was a danger I would go over the edge. I could have.
From the same article:
Q: What led you to stop?
A: Family and friends sat me down and said, “Listen, we love you. You’re important to us, and you’re fucking up. You’re killing yourself. You’re killing us in the process.”
Q: Did you listen to them?
A: Not right away. You don’t listen right away because you’re too dumb. You’re ignorant. You’re human. Finally it seeps in. Finally the body and mind and heart and psyche just go, “Yeah, you’re doing the wrong thing.”
Q: Did your family and friends actually do an intervention?
A: At a certain point they intervened. At the time I said I appreciated it. I went through the motions. I said I was okay, and I went for a couple of months being a dumb ass. But I could see things turning into a nasty tailspin.
Depp downplays the severity of how his friends/family “intervened” and his reaction to it, but it was literally a medical intervention. From Tracy Jacobs’ 2018 deposition:
Q. Were you ever involved in an attempted intervention with Mr. Depp respect to his substance abuse?
A. Yes.
Q. And what role did you play in that?
A. As one of the four people that were going to do it. And we met with a doctor/interventionist at St. John’s Hospital to learn what is required in an intervention, since we didn’t have experience.
A. And do you recall what year this was in?
A. I’d say it was approximately 25 years ago.
Q. Oh, okay. And who were the people who were going to be involved in the intervention?
A. Myself, Christi, his stepfather, his mother, some friends of his. There were about ten people.
Q. And did that intervention ever take place?
A. Yes.
Q. And what was the outcome of it?
A. It took place at my house, and the outcome was he left yelling and saying, I’m not going to rehab. And he didn’t.
In a 2005 interview with Rolling Stone, Depp says he doesn’t allow himself to drink hard liquor anymore, but loves it so much he will sometimes order whiskey shots just to smell it. He goes on to say:
There are guys, the weekenders, who can go and get loaded and they’re having fun and partying — which is a term I deplore, partying — and it’s all recreational and they’re having a ball. I never had that. It was never about recreation. Not. Ever.
Originally in the UK trial, Johnny admitted he was abusing alcohol during the end of his relationship with Vanessa Paradis:
Q. Am I right in saying that you agree that you were abusing alcohol and drugs, but you have explained why?
A. I would say that I was abusing alcohol, I do not know that I as abusing drugs; but I was abusing alcohol for sure, yes.
Then backtracked on this in the US trial:
Mr. Rottenborn: And you were drinking...you were abusing alcohol toward the end of your relationship with your prior partner, Vanessa Paradis, correct?
Johnny: I was drinking.
Mr. Rottenborn: You were drinking pretty heavily.
Johnny: Were you there?
Mr. Rottenborn: It's my question to you, sir.
Johnny: No, I wasn't drinking that heavily.
In his UK testimony, Depp went on to say this about his drinking before the split from Vanessa:
Towards the end of our relationship, Ms. Paradis was concerned about my drinking because, yes, I would drink to great excess, but drinking to great excess does not mean that you are out of control. It appears to others that you are drinking yourself to death. I think she was in fear of my drinking myself to death.
If people in your life think you are going to kill yourself with alcohol, yet you don’t think you’re out of control or have a problem, that’s evidence you are an alcoholic!
This is further confirmed by texts his daughter Lily-Rose sent him in January of 2014, where she says he was abusing alcohol and not there for her around the time he divorced Vanessa Paradis:
“You've been a better dad to Jack and I since she [Amber] has been around and she was helping with the alcohol problem”
"You've been so much better since she's [Amber] been around. We have talked about how, for a couple of years, you weren't around for us and that changed when Amber came into your life. I don't want to go back to that"
The time frame Lily-Rose mentions, “a couple years” before Amber came into his life, is 2010.
This video of him being too drunk to stand up is from October 2011.
This interview, where he spends all day drinking and then passes out on the toilet, was published November 2011 but carried out in September.
Here is an email he sent to a friend of his and Vanessa Paradis in February of 2012:
Not to use this as an excuse at all, because there is none, but my drinking was never for fun. I have been trying to numb and self-medicate my pain for years. My brain has not been right. After two separate lengthy stays in the hospital to get off alcohol and pills, I know now, after almost two months of sobriety that I was not happy and from the doctor's discoveries that had I continued I was going to die, the liver has had enough. I have been living in a state of constant poison for years. This cannot continue. I need peace. Vanessa needs peace and she deserves to be happy.
While Johnny only admits to two rehab trips in testimony, this email demonstrates he has made at least three – as will be covered shortly below, his second admitted trip is in July 2013, meaning that the “two” stays he mentions in an email from February 2012 brings the total to three.
Here I find it incredibly important to point out Johnny is lying to Vanessa’s friend in this email. According to his own testimony, the first thing he did after getting out of rehab was go drink wine with Amber:
I left the hospital and I went and checked into a hotel. Ms. Heard was coming over that night. When I arrived at the hotel, I immediately opened a bottle of wine. She arrived and I poured us glasses of wine and we drank.
In March 2012 Johnny emailed Elton John:
A fucking 100 days of clarity for an old reprobate twat like me. No one would ever have believed it possible, but a very select few, most importantly you, so today I am fucking celebrating you. Your love, understanding and complete dedication to the curing of my poisoned wet brain and liver resembling Mrs. Thatcher has been, alongside the birth of my children, the most lovely and most important thing that has ever happened to me in all of my 48 years. It is impossible for me to fathom how you are able to juggle your quite large life and work whilst keeping me afloat on a dreadful sea of confusion. Hellish personal life, fucked brain, hurt heart and internal savagery against myself. I would have been swallowed up by the monster were it not for you. That is a simple fact.
Again, Johnny is lying in this email to Elton John. He could not have been more than 38 days sober, as he was drinking on February 12th and sent the email on March 22nd.
When confronted by this email in court, Johnny claimed that he was trying to maintain sobriety but this did not mean he had ever drunk to excess:
So, I would refer to the monster, again, in terms of with Elton or with a friend, Patti Smith, the monster was...like, with Elton, the monster was, you know, I let the monster creep back into something. That is sobriety, that's what I'm telling him is I have failed and I've had a drink or I have been drinking. But my drinking, again, was not to excess...I never went into blackouts or anything of that nature.
He composed that email one month after telling Vanessa’s friend he had been “poisoning himself for years,” his liver was failing, and he had been to a rehab hospital twice. And he was lying in the email about being sober, when he was actually drinking!
In April 2012 he sent Stephen Deuters a text that he had gotten drunk and destroyed his room.
The exact timeline is unclear, but it seems he went in and out of sobriety for the rest of 2012, and was certainly off the wagon by February 2013 when he was spotted coming out of a bar late at night unsteady on his feet.
Johnny admits in testimony that on March 22nd 2013 he was drinking straight shots of whiskey as early as 1:00pm, and also snorted multiple lines of cocaine.
On March 22nd 2013 his assistant Nathan Holmes texted Amber:
He won’t drink at work because he thinks no one knows he’s drinking again
Further confirmation that Johnny was lying about his sobriety – something he’d been doing for quite some time by 2013 – can be found in emails he exchanged with Charlie Dunnett, who was appointed by Elton John as his sobriety partner. In April, Charlie was still under the impression that Johnny was “487 days” sober.
487 days before April 13th 2013 counts back to December 12th 2011, which is the same day Johnny was referencing when he emailed Elton John he was “100 days” sober on March 22nd 2012. Johnny had been lying to the two figures appointed in his life to manage his sobriety for that entire time.
This also demonstrates that Johnny’s “team” – assistants such as Stephen Deuters, Nathan Holmes, security like Jerry Judge, etc. – did not communicate with Johnny’s sobriety team when they knew he relapsed.
In May 2013, Depp texted his assistant Stephen Deuters:
Might need some hydrogen peroxide and some butterfly bandages, cut my hand last night. May require stitches.
When asked about this incident in his UK testimony, Depp said he had no memory of this injury. I cannot personally speak for everyone, but I definitely remember every time I have cut myself badly enough to need stitches, and under no circumstances have I ever been cut that badly and then decided to fall asleep instead of seeking medical treatment. This more than suggests he was in some kind of drunken or high state and hurt himself.
In May/June 2013 Johnny sat for an interview with Rolling Stone and still claimed he hadn’t had a drink in a year and a half. Constantly having to lie about your sobriety is a pretty good sign you are an addict.
The Rolling Stone piece is a good example of Johnny’s truly baffling definition of an alcoholic. He frequently does this thing in interviews where he will say “I’m not an alcoholic, I just…” and then goes on to explain the behaviors he engages in that are text-book alcoholism. For example:
He’s never considered himself an alcoholic. “No,” he says. “I don’t have the physical need for the drug alcohol. No, it’s more my medication, my self-medication over the years just to calm the circus. Once the circus kicks in, the festivities in the brain, it can be ruthless.” He would make rules for himself – for a while, he’d drink wine, but no hard liquor.
First, if you’ve been hospitalized twice for drinking, you have a physical addiction. If your liver is failing you have a physical addiction.
Second, even if Johnny were honest in stating he does not have a physical addiction, he would still be an alcoholic. Alcoholism can be alcohol dependence or alcohol abuse.
Alcohol dependence refers to physical addiction:
Alcohol dependence is defined by physiologic dependence on alcohol from consistent, heavy use. It manifests as physical withdrawal symptoms such as shakiness, nausea, vomiting, delirium, and even seizures when alcohol is stopped abruptly. Alcohol use to this extent is very serious and can result in cirrhosis, liver cancer and death if it goes on long enough.
Johnny meets every qualification for this:
Alcohol dependence is a chronic medical condition that typically includes a current or past history of excessive drinking, a strong craving for alcohol, continued use despite repeated problems with drinking, and an inability to control alcohol consumption.
Alcohol abuse refers to psychological dependence:
alcohol abuse can take the form of binge drinking, i.e. consuming large quantities of alcohol occasionally, or more moderate drinking that is associated with unhealthy habits or repercussions. An example would be a person who drinks to “self-medicate” for depression, insomnia, etc.
As you can see, two types of dependence are considered alcoholism and Johnny suffers from both.
In June 2013, Johnny flew to Moscow to do press for The Lone Ranger. He was seen publicly drinking and has cocaine visible on his suit jacket.
On July 9th 2013, Depp sent these incoherent messages to Amber (all punctuations and grammatical errors are, indeed, his):
Rears??? Ahhh!!! Tears??? Beers??? Sheers??? Saphires??? Leers??? Jeers??? Peers??? Queers??? Here’s??? Faquirs??? Mouseketeers ears???
…I can go all night… DJ Maxipad!!
The old vintage motherfucker you went for… Dumbass.
Don’t call me again and do NOT expect anything from me.
Eat salad with your equine a d bovine yurps…
And thanks for the support… Have a great shoot!!!
You sicken me…
Leave me fuckin’ be, Officer square head…
Your display of guilt and matronliness as as a lesbian camp councilor was plenty… Your future is on display. Best if luck… and… Thanks for the tunes…
Bye.
JD
Don’t call me again… I will begin to feel embarrassed for you… Go away, Coach!!!
D O N E .
Hup!!!
Done.
Certainly, on its own compelling evidence that he was drinking, but becomes undeniable when you account for the text he sent Paul Bettany two days later:
You may have to drink for me… I, of course, pounded and displayed ugly colors to Amber on recent journey… I am an insane person and not so fair headed after too much of the drink … Weed, pills, Fine!!! Booze??? My capacity is too large and I won’t stop… Ugly and sad… Oh, how I love it…
Less than 10 days later, Johnny was already drinking again, as confirmed by Gina Deuters’ testimony. (The evening she describes during the Tokyo leg of the Lone Ranger press tour is July 17th.)
Very shortly after this, Depp spent 5 days in a rehab hospital in July of 2013.
In October, he sent this text to Stephen Deuters:
She [Amber] thinks my Peruvian period has made me a monster and that I am ruining the relationship.
In his UK testimony, Depp clarifies that “Peruvian period” is a reference to cocaine. He admits to using it, but claims it was only occasionally, and that Amber was being overdramatic in her reaction.
Q. Exhibit 69 is a series of e-mails between you and Christi regarding a Dr. Kipper. Do you know who Dr. Kipper is?
A. Yes.
Q. And who is Dr. Kipper?
A. He’s an internist who also has worked in helping people detox and rehab outpatient.
Q. And was there discussions underway in this period, November of 2013, about Johnny potentially hiring Dr. Kipper?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. And this is you having an e-mail exchange with Christi about that possibility; correct?
A. Yes.
Q. And you wrote up above, you said, “Internist and drug specialist. He has helped a lot of people get sober.”
On January 21st 2014, Depp sent this text to his employee Kevin Murphy:
Just trying to get over my shocking discussion with Vanessa that lasted 5+ hours!!! I feel ill and have invested my guts into some side corner…! Now, Lily-Rose hates me because she thinks I’m drinking and she’s right but I can’t admit, or I fucking die in her eyes… Thanks for that one, Vanessa…
Here we not only see that Depp is drinking again and is too ashamed to tell his daughter, but also that he somehow blames this on his ex-wife Vanessa. Almost as if Depp has a pattern of blaming the issues from his substance abuse on the women in his life.
Two weeks later in the beginning of February, Depp spent time with Marilyn Manson. Amber claims that he was on a serious coke binge, Johnny says he was only smoking marijuana with Manson. I will not litigate that issue here (you can jump to Incident #5 for more), but I give this context to say it is in the midst of this fight between Johnny and Amber that Lily-Rose texts him the messages I quoted earlier, which I will repeat here:
You've been so much better since she's been around. We have talked about how, for a couple of years, you weren't around for us and that changed when Amber came into your life. I don't want to go back to that
But you have to acknowledge and know what a good influence she's been and the fact that she's changed you for the better. You see that, right?
Moving forward to May of 2014, the date of the Boston plane incident flying from Boston to LA. Again I will not litigate the matter (jump to Incident #6) except to say that while Depp now claims he was only using Roxicodone at the time and merely had a glass of champagne on the flight, he texted this to Paul Bettany on May 30th 2014:
I’m gonna properly stop the booze thing, darling… Drank all night before I picked Amber up to fly to LA, this past Sunday… Ugly, mate… No food for days… Powders… Half a bottle of Whiskey, a thousand red bull vodkas, pills, 2 bottles of Champers on plane and what do you get…??? An angry, aggro Injun in a fuckin’ blackout…
His text account of the drugs and alcohol he was taking in this text perfectly aligns with the medical history he gave to Dr. Kipper – the specialist he hired to help him quit Roxicodone. Dr. Kipper wrote:
“Mr. Depp is a 50-year-old male… who has had a life-long history of self-medicating behaviors involving multiple substances of abuse. These include alcohol, opiates, benzodiazepines and stimulants (cocaine)”
And diagnosed him with:
Primary dopamine imbalance, ADHD, bipolar one, depression secondary to above, insomnia, chronic substance abuse disorder
Debbie Lloyd’s nursing notes also confirm that Depp was diagnosed with poly-substance abuse – meaning he had to be addicted to more than one substance, contradicting his testimony that he was only ever hooked on Roxicodone.
Depp also told Dr. Kipper in June 2014 to expect his drug test to come back positive for cocaine. Here I present an extremely important fact that has been curiously overlooked: Because he’s been in treatment with Dr. Kipper continuously since June of 2014, Depp was regularly taking drug tests in 2014, 2015, and 2016. Yet every single drug test he took during his marriage to Amber is “missing”. When asked how this possibly could have happened, Dr. Kipper said that he “didn’t understand it” but maybe it was because his office flooded in October 2014 and they don’t have digital back-ups – This does not explain the missing drug tests from 2015 and the period of 2016 when they were still married. The drug tests Depp took in the second half of 2016 and all of 2017, 2018, and 2019 have tested positive for cocaine.
There is also an entire year of Depp’s nursing notes with Debbie Lloyd that have gone missing.
In August of 2014, Dr. Kipper emailed Depp’s sister Christi that his “need to be liked” prevented him from being honest about his addictions:
I also think that his need to be liked trumps his ability to actually reach out to these guys [Elton John and Charlie Dunnett, who were supposed to be helping with his sobriety] with the vulnerability that would ultimately give him the support he needs from the community he respects.
He also wrote that Depp:
actually romanticizes the entire drug culture, and has no accountability for his behaviors.
In October of 2014, Depp began seeing psychologist Dr. Alan Blaustein. Throughout their sessions, which ran through January of 2015, Depp reported “breakthrough usage” – lapses in his sobriety. Depp reported that he was unhappy and that cocaine and ecstasy was his way of “rewarding” his brain.
Depp’s nurse, Debbie Lloyd, also emailed Dr. Blaustein about the drugs Johnny was relapsing with at this time:
On April 29th, 2022, the defendant attempted to designate certain portions of the deposition testimony for trial of Dr. Alan Blaustein, a clinical psychologist who worked with Mr. Depp… Dr. Blaustein also testified about the drugs that Mr. Depp was on, as reported to him by Ms. Lloyd. This testimony is contained in Dr. Blaustein’s deposition transcript, which is Exhibit U. This information was also contained in emails, which are Exhibits V, W, and X.
I really want to underline Blaustein’s contemporaneous notes that Depp reported breaking his sobriety between October 2014 and January 2015. This is in direct contradiction to Depp’s testimony that he was sober for “18 months” before March of 2015.
Dr. Blaustein also became concerned that Depp was abusing his prescription to Adderall. Blaustein’s fear is confirmed through various requests via text Depp made to his medical team demanding more Adderall, especially his 9/3/15 texts to assistants saying that if he was paying so much for Kipper than he should get the drugs he asks for with “no judgement.”
Blaustein also ran some simple memory checks and Depp showed signs of impaired memory and a “confused mental state,” consistent with years of abusing substances.
The accuracy of Dr. Blaustein’s assessment of Depp’s impaired mental state is best illustrated in this answer Depp gave during his trial deposition:
Q. How has your use of alcohol and medications and nonprescription illegal or recreation drugs impacted your short-term and long-term memory?
A. My memory is pretty good. My memory is actually very good. I don’t think my cognitive – cognitive memory is – I don’t think anything has been affected by an overabundance of foreign chemicals into my brain.
I think that that has been really – it’s been played out in every act of this sort of Chekhovian – Chekhovian kind of puppet show that, you know, every incident starts with – I’m sorry. What? What? I don’t even know what I’m talking about now.
Depp using E/MDMA and cocaine is confirmed by his own texts. He sent this message on October 4th 2014:
I am going to, quite gracefully, glide into a massage of my broken back and neck… I shall exit in one hour, a MONSTER!!!
Shall we each swallow an E each(or, perhaps it’s MDMA) at around 8 pm and go to dinner with A few of my wee team at a wonderful Peruvian spot… ???
Depp’s testimony is that in his entire life he’s done E/MDMA only 6-7 times because it had no effect on him and was not a drug he liked. This is impossible to believe based on Depp’s own reporting to his doctors and his own text messages to his employees and drug buddies.
On November 14th 2014, Depp was onstage at the Hollywood Film Awards. As you can see by watching, he is self-evidently drunk. In his testimony, Depp claims that he was completely sober, and that what you see is just the physical side effects from his Roxicodone detox. He also claims this inebriation was caused by Lithium and Phenobarbital, which were drugs he was not even prescribed at the time (and in fact, in the case of Phenobarbital, had refused against medical advice in August).
Contrary to Johnny’s claim that he was only taking medications prescribed by his medical team, Dr. Kipper messaged him that morning:
…I’m scheduled to leave town tomorrow, but it’s important that I meet with you in the morning before I leave. I would like to see you at 10:00 a.m. at Sweetzer. I care for you deeply, but I’m very concerned about the course you’re on and want you to help you get back to where you have worked so hard to climb. I’ll ask Debbie to join us as we share the same concerns and affection for you. You’re too incredibly gifted to allow yourself to destroy all you have worked for. This comes from heart which is filled with sadness as I write this text. Let me help you.
On the 15th, Dr. Kipper messaged him:
This is when we need to connect, and without judgement, but I’m very concerned about you and want to right the ship
On the 16th he said:
I need to hear from you. Please call me.
Here is part of Depp’s very telling response to that message:
I would love to speak whenever you get a minute, dear David… Though, honestly…?? If I were you, Debbie and/or Erin…!?? I would RUN FOR THE FUCKING HILLS!!!
I am waist deep in Big Muddy, here… Hit me when you’re drunk… It’ll be far less boring!!!
On March 1st 2015, after Tracey Jacobs had received complaints from the President and Vice President of Disney, as well as Pirates of the Caribbean producer Jerry Bruckheimer, Johnny’s assistant Stephen Deuters sat down for a serious talk with him. Of the conversation, Deuters’ messaged Johnny’s sister Christi:
Such a great afternoon with him today. SG [presumably Stephen Graham, the only actor on Pirates 5 to have the initials “SG”] might just have got through. We sat with Geoffrey [Rush, Depp’s Pirates co-star] for over five hugely productive hours. He was certainly the man I recognized. I even got to cancel Manson for coming back since he didn’t want it to interfere with work or Amber.
Dr. Kipper confirms in his testimony that Johnny had fallen off the wagon by March 1st 2015. Dr. Kipper made an unplanned flight to Australia to address this.
On March 2nd, only one day after Deuters believed they had “gotten through,” Johnny had this exchange with his assistant Nathan Holmes:
NH: There were 2G in that jar
Are you out?
The guy only carried two a day and more tomorrow
It's because if he's caught with more than two here, it is 20 years in prison
I can try another guy and get one more for when you pick Malcolm up.
I'm going to meet the man tomorrow. You will have it when you get here.
Then I am getting more in the morning.
JD: Go
NH: Wish you would have told me that. I gave a bunch away
JD: Fucking give me the Goddamn numbers. I’ll take care of the shit. Don’t bother
NH: You are coming to pick Malcolm up. Go to the bar, if not I will get it and bring it up
Which led to this exchange:
JD: I don’t need you for that ... no more
NH: I’m sorry you feel that way.
JD: No, you’re not Why?? That is not part of the job description. And I’m telling you now ... Any ONE of ANY of you guys start to lecture me ... I just do not want to hear it ... No stupid bullshit about sappy bollocks.
NH: I am not and never would lecture you ... Have I not been helping, I’m trying to keep the supply coming ... But it’s not the same here. Sorry.
JD: I am a grown fucking man and I will NOT BE JUDGED.
NH: I have never judged you and never will!! I fucking love you and do everything I can to make you happy.
JD: AND I WILL NEVER
EVER
LIVE
IN THIS WORLD CAGE ANY LONGER.
NH: Do you honestly think I ever want to upset you!! You have been nothing but good to me for my entire career ... It is because of you that I am still in this industry!! I only want you to be happy.
JD: I’ll do whatever I damn well please.
From context it is abundantly clear that “no bullshit about sappy bollocks” is Johnny referencing his conversation with Stephen from the day prior.
On March 7th, Stephen again messaged Christi:
Hi C. Not sure how much you are aware of right now, but I am at the house with Kipper and Debbie who are speaking with JD and Amber respectively, separately. Obviously, things have not been calmed over the last day or so – apparently there he has been making calls to LA but I am not aware of the particulars there as well there has been fighting between the two here – so Kipper is now talking to JD, hoping to get thru to him, and explain to him that “this period” needs to end now before we get into real trouble. I’ll keep you posted on the outcome. The good news thus far is that JD did not cancel this mtg and that he is engaging in conversation. We’ll see how that goes and will do whatever else we need to do ...
And several hours later:
well conversations seem to be going well…JD is agreeing to all that Kipper is requesting he do, in order to turn himself around..of course we’ve heard that before, so we’ll see…
Stephen saying “of course we’ve heard that before” literally refers to less than a week prior.
On March 15th, Dr. Kipper – a man whose entire job is treating people with addictions – quit his care of Depp and sent him this email:
It is with a very sad heart that I must withdraw my care. As I repeated to you several times, I will always be there if you decide to allow me to help you. What I believe you need is a clear system without any substances that could interfere with your medication and jeopardize your surgical procedure. Without this assurance, based on behaviors and not promises, I am putting you at risk. I refuse to put you in this dangerous position.
On the same night, Dr. Kipper emailed Dr. Cowan that he quit:
After another night of broken promises to remain sober and compliant.
Depp’s finger injury from Australia required surgical intervention, yet Depp was unable to be cleared to go under anesthesia because he could not stay clean and sober. This is more than likely the reason his injury was plagued with so many issues like infection as it healed (besides the fact that he dipped it in a corrosive and toxic substance and used it to paint a house).
Depp also at this point felt there was a serious chance he could overdose, because he texted Debbie Lloyd that he felt the only reason Dr. Kipper quit was to create a “paper trail” in case of that eventuality.
I will not be litigating the “Staircase Incident” here (Incident #9) because the issue is contested, but what is not up for debate is that shortly after Depp did manage to enter a period of sobriety. On April 13, Nurse Debbie Lloyd wrote in Depp’s patient notes:
Patient is in good spirits and said he’s not smoked marijuana in three days. States he feels majority of his issues with his wife have been from him using drugs and alcohol. Patient states he’ll no longer sneak/use, and wants to enjoy clarity.
Shortly after May of 2015, Depp began using again. Sometime between June and August of 2015, his assistant Stephen Deuters texted him:
You passed out in the makeup trailer. We couldn’t quite get you up the stairs. There is food in the fridge in case you wake up.
This text clearly demonstrates that Depp’s drinking and drug use was leading to a loss of consciousness and blackouts.
More evidence of Depp’s blackouts come from September. Part of this evidence will come partially from Amber, but for reasons that will become clear I am still including it here.
On the 3rd, Depp messaged his assistants complaining that Dr. Kipper was not supplying him enough drugs:
I want no judgement from Kipper, or Debbie!!! Just found out from Joel, last night,, how much I spent on having Kipper and Debbie around!!! Millions and fucking millions, mate…
Depp saying he wants “no judgement” from his medical sobriety team should be cause for some alarm.
On September 13th, Amber texted her nurse Erin Falati that Depp was passed out in the bathroom and she was worried for his safety. Erin responded that Amber should get him on his side, but:
Putting aside for now that unprompted by Amber, a medical professional says she is worried Depp is going to take a swing at her, let’s focus on the fact that Erin Falati – who was Depp’s nurse as well as Amber’s – did not find it at all suspicious that Depp would be in this state.
Now the reason I include this bit even though the original source of the information is Amber, is that Amber and Johnny recorded their fight from the next day on September 14th. In this fight Amber says:
When you passed out naked in the bathroom, in there.
Their exchange is very long so I am trimming it, but here I provide the entire 18-minute clip played in court if you would like to hear it in its entirety: here and here. Shortly after the quote above, Johnny and Amber have this exchange:
JD: Well then, how did you try to pull me out?
AH: By pounding on the door and waking you up every 15 minutes, and then falling asleep next to the door trying to hear you snore, in case that you vomited, I could call AMS if you ever stopped snoring.
JD: Cause you were afraid I was gonna die?
AH: I thought you’d choke on your own vomit, which is very likely with you.
Then:
JD: I vomit a lot?
AH: Yes.
JD: Do I?
AH: Yes, you do vomit a lot. In your sleep, even more.
JD: Really?
AH: Oh, it’s news to you? Then this is affecting you a lot more than I thought it was.
JD: (laughing) Amber, you’re so good. I hope, I hope so.
AH: What? You don’t vomit a lot, are you gonna tell me you don’t vomit a lot? Go on, tell me. You don’t vomit a lot?
JD: Only when I’m with you.
AH: You’re always with me.
[Johnny pretends to vomit for the tape]
It is clear Depp does not have a good memory of what happened. Taken in tandem with the Deuters text confirming he was passing out and blacking out at this time, with Amber and Erin’s texts, as well as Amber directly mentioning it to him (if it was part of her hoax, why would she mention it in an argument with him? Wouldn’t she be trying to keep that secret?), I think this instance is undeniable.
On October 31st 2015, Depp messaged his nurse Erin Falati:
Sent huge text to Kipper… No response!! He’s an odd duck, Ol’ Kipper… This is the second time that he’s held off giving me Meds by blackmailing me into seeing him… The first time I had just chopped my finger off…
As previously established, Dr. Kipper refused to give Depp medications in March 2015 because he was worried Depp was going to overdose and accidentally kill himself. Dr. Kipper treating Depp the same in October of 2015 means that Depp was in the same condition.
In February of 2016, Dr. Kipper noted that he was concerned about Depp’s health – both physically and in relationship to his addictions – and was unable to meet with Depp to assess his health. Depp refusing to meet with his sobriety doctor should speak for itself.
Because a lot of the evidence of Depp’s using from November 2015 to the end of their relationship in May 2016 will be litigated in issues below, we are now going to jump forward in the timeline to what we know of Depp since he ended things with Amber. Remember, this is relevant because Depp’s testimony is that he never abused substances (except Roxicodone), but that in the few instances he did partake it was because Amber’s harping and haranguing drove him to it.
In 2018, Depp was sued by two bodyguards who worked with him for years. The bodyguards alleged that Depp subjected them to unsafe working conditions and didn’t give them overtime or hazard pay. They also allege:
“Often times [they] were forced to protect Depp from himself and his vices while in public, becoming caretakers for him.”
“An incident at a local nightclub involved [them] alerting Depp of illegal substances visible on his face and person while preventing onlookers from noticing his condition”
“[They] witnessed Depp becoming increasingly embroiled in personal turmoil and detached from the reality around him.”
Depp settled to keep this case out of court, and the details of the arrangement are not publicly available. But their allegations are strongly backed up by the endless string of positive drug tests Depp has from 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019.
As well as texts Depp exchanged with security guard Sean Bett in December 2017, where he says he drank a “couple bottles” of wine and “pounded an entire bottle” of tequila, and that “savagery commenced”. Bett responded:
I prevented them from calling po-po
And in his testimony confirmed that this did in fact mean he had prevented a group of people from calling the police due to Depp’s behavior.
Contrast the way Depp is clearly bragging about his tequila consumption here to his attitude in the 2005 Rolling Stone article – in that piece he makes it very clear that he doesn’t trust himself to drink hard liquors because of his issues in the past. More evidence that when he’s sober, Depp understands he has a problem, but when he’s using thinks the people in his life are overreacting and that his consumption of drugs and alcohol is okay.
Dr. Kipper was concerned about Depp, in relation to his addictions, in June of 2018 and reached out to people trying to intervene. Here is Johnny in June 2018 - he looks literally like he might die. Here is a comparison of him from May 2017, to show just how rapidly he deteriorated.
More evidence to support Depp’s substance abuse comes from the competing testimonies of Malcolm Connelly and Travis McGivern. When Connelly was asked if he had ever seen Depp first-hand consume illicit substances, Connelly said that he suspects that sometimes when Depp goes to the bathroom it is to do cocaine, but that Depp would never do it in front of him because that would risk his job and career. His exact wording was:
Mr. Depp would never do a line or anything like cocaine in front of me, or Jerry Judge, or Sean Bett, or anybody. Johnny Depp would never compromise my license, my position, and embarrass me like that. It wouldn't happen.
Travis McGivern says he has seen Depp do cocaine:
Ms. Meyers: And how many times have you seen Mr. Depp use cocaine?
Travis: A couple. Two.
So one bodyguard says Depp would never do it in front of them because it puts their job at risk, and one says that he has seen Depp do cocaine but that it isn’t a big deal. Hard to understand how two people doing the same job would have such varying understandings as to how serious their boss doing an illegal drug in front of them would be – especially considering Depp’s team would be legally responsible for transporting the drugs for him if the cops were ever involved. That particular issue was raised in the lawsuit brought by Depp’s two former bodyguards.
Travis McGivern’s testimony leads me to the next point I want to briefly touch upon: the mindset drugs and alcohol put Depp in. I say briefly because a lot of this stuff is just extremely self-explanatory. I should not have to explain how stimulants like cocaine and E/MDMA mixed with alcohol would impair someone’s judgement, faculties, and make them more volatile and aggressive. All of this is extremely well documented by years of research, especially when it comes to domestic violence. But Depp has claimed in his testimony that he was never affected by his alcohol consumption, and that the only drug that influenced his behavior was marijuana which made him calm and relaxed.
Travis McGivern said that in his experience, cocaine makes Depp “mellow” and more relaxed:
Ms. Meyers: How would you describe Mr. Depp's demeanor when he's using marijuana?
Travis: Chill, for lack of a better word. Mellow. Yeah, I don't know how to better describe it, just super mellow.
Ms. Meyers: And how would you describe Mr. Depp's demeanor when you've seen him use cocaine?
Travis: The same. So, I've seen him use it, like, actual seen him use it a few times, I've known of him using it other times, and I feel like it levels him out. Yeah, I haven't noticed any difference when he used it.
Just on its face, this is impossible to believe. Cocaine is a very strong stimulant, the most common side effects being:
Hypersensitivity
Irritability
Paranoia
Extreme levels of energy
Anxiety
Erratic or violent behavior
Hallucinations
Nausea/Vomiting
Travis McGivern claiming this really is, frankly, one of the most ridiculous things said in the entire trial. The kind of lie someone tells when they think they’re talking to an idiot. Cocaine is famous for making people amped up, aggressive, and extremely annoying. This is so widely popular, accepted, and acknowledged that if you were writing a research paper it wouldn’t even need to be cited because it’s just common knowledge. Spend five seconds on Google and you can see for yourself. For example:
Cocaine's a funny drug, isn't it? I can't think of any other substance—bar maybe alcohol—with the power to turn a relatively nice, normal human being into an absolute fucking nightmare.
Common sense tells us that cocaine would never mellow someone out, but luckily that is not all we have to depend on. Depp explained exactly how cocaine made him feel in a 2001 interview with the Guardian:
“Cocaine is a strange one. A really strange one. I mean, I hated it. You get this synthetic happiness, and then you’re just panicking and grinding your teeth, and . . .” He trails off.
It’s clear from the above quote that Depp had some nasty experiences using cocaine, which is why he tried to stay off it for about a decade. Note here that Depp in 2001, when he was largely clean and sober and had a clear understanding of his struggles in the past, was extremely against cocaine. Unless you believe his body magically changed in the years between, it should be cause for some alarm that he’s been using it consistently since 2013. Shows a clear back-slide in sobriety.
Revisiting the list of common cocaine side effects, we know Depp experienced quite a bit of them. He was on several prescriptions for his anxiety, I’ve already established his frequent vomiting, and he reported to both his psychologist and his nurse that he was suffering from paranoia.
Dr. Kipper diagnosed him with bipolar disorder 1, which is an especially bad thing to pair with cocaine (and E/MDMA) because it exacerbates the brain’s natural swings between hypomania and depression.
There is also plenty of evidence to suggest he suffered from hypersensitivity, irritability, and erratic or violent behavior. In August of 2014, Dr. Kipper emailed Depp’s sister Christi that Depp took “no accountability” for his actions and had “fundamental issues with anger.” On September 22, Depp called Nurse Lloyd over after an argument he had with Amber. When she arrived, he had bloodied his knuckles punching a white board. In October Nurse Lloyd visited Depp on set and noted:
Patient finished filming and was extremely agitated leaving the set. Patient kicked in the door of his trailer and refused to talk to the director. Patient was verbally aggressive to another person on the set for no apparent reason. Per MD, patient is to take Xanax 2mg to reduce his agitation at this time.
There is many more instances of Depp’s violence and aggression related to drug use, but they will all be litigated in issues below so I will not deal with them here.
Before moving on, note here that I can track – with very, very few gaps in time – Johnny’s addictions to drugs and alcohol from 2010 to 2018 using absolutely no evidence from Amber or any of her witnesses. Johnny’s problems pre-dated Amber and post-date Amber. The video of him falling down drunk in the street is literally only 5 days before they started seeing each other in 2011. The only times when with her that he was sober were directly related to her positive presence in his life – as noted by his daughter. For him to ever claim Amber was the reason he drank in their relationship is not true and demonstrates the way in which he views her as responsible for everything bad in his life – even if he directly caused the problems himself.
Having demonstrated Depp’s substance abuse issues through his entire time with Amber, I will now focus on Amber’s relationship to drugs and alcohol. Depp claims:
Ms Heard was a regular, heavy drug user throughout our relationship and often drank far more alcohol than I did.
It was not uncommon for her to have two bottles of wine in a space of just over an hour.
And:
Ms Heard's drug taking was extensive and constant. I consider her to have an addiction to both cocaine and amphetamines.
Depp was able to provide zero contemporaneous evidence for these addictions. In fact, medical records confirm the opposite. Meeting her in August 2014, Dr. Cowan recorded:
Currently she is clean and sober, although she states drinking wine occasionally
Occasionally alcohol
Substance use. None
While Amber occasionally reported recreationally using drugs like E/MDMA and magic mushrooms, Dr. Cowan in the 2 years he saw her never reported fears of drug or alcohol abuse. He noted she had an issue with hard spirits and cocaine as a teenager, but nothing at all recent. Johnny confirmed in his testimony he had never seen Amber drink hard spirits. The therapist Amber saw from 2011-2014, Bonnie Jacobs, similarly never reported Amber having any issues with drugs or alcohol. The only contemporaneous record of Amber having had any substance issue at any time in her life comes from the first nursing note made by Erin Falati in September 2014:
AH reports history of substance abuse, including an addiction to cocaine and liquor.
But the note also goes on to say:
Ct [Amber] reports abstaining from cocaine “for a couple years” but was unable to report exact dates. Ct does not smoke cigarettes. She reports consuming 1-3 glasses of red wine each day.
So the only piece of evidence in existence to show Amber struggled with substance abuse also says that she had stopped using before her relationship to Depp and had been clean for years.
Also worth noting that Erin Falati’s note is full of things that are provably false. For instance, it says Depp and Amber met in 2010 and began dating in 2012, when they met in 2009 and began dating in 2011. It states Depp detoxed in July of 2014 but he actually detoxed in August. It states Depp had been completely sober since then, which Depp says in his own testimony was incorrect.
The note also claims that Amber had a history of eating disorder and bi-polar disorder. Both of these diagnoses are absent from six years of therapist notes Amber provided to the court.
To illustrate the potential game of telephone/sloppiness involved in Dr. Kipper and his team’s approach to making these initial patient notes, here is an excerpt from Dr. Kipper’s first notes regarding Johnny:
He has also had insomnia since childhood. For this problem he takes Roxicodone and has been on this medication for over two years.
As Johnny points out in his testimony, this was incorrect:
A. The reason that I began taking the Roxicodone was from an injury, a stunt injury on a film in London.
Q. Again, forgive me for interrupting, you said you were addicted to Roxicodone, I do not think we need to go through the entire reason why this came about, if you do not mind.
A. It is just that it states incorrectly why I was taking Roxicodone.
Which is what the medical team noted when they saw Johnny in June:
He stated that he initially started taking opiates after some dental work and became dependent on them.
It’s frankly kind of bizarre that Dr. Kipper would ever note Johnny took Roxicodone for “insomnia,” as that doesn’t make sense. Doctors do not prescribe intense pain killers for insomnia.
I think this instance demonstrates that Dr. Kipper & Co were not necessarily concerned about getting details correct.
Further, post-dating the Erin’s original note from the 27th by 5 days, on September 2nd she noted:
RN and ct discuss ct’s history
Which is consistent with Amber’s testimony that she didn’t give a client history to Erin when the August 27th note was made.
Depp’s own testimony also contradicts his claim that Amber was addicted to cocaine. In his UK testimony he said there was many times that he was partaking in cocaine where Amber would not partake herself, but would make his lines for him. Here I suggest that if someone was “addicted” to cocaine, the odds that they would ever be able to restrain from doing it themselves but make lines for others are extremely low and effectively zero. He also says there was only “a few” times in their relationship that he saw Amber do cocaine, and that she did not snort lines but only rubbed residue on her gums.
He also qualifies these instances by saying they occurred early in the relationship:
Q. And she never took cocaine ever in your presence or your company or, as far as you knew, during the time of your relationship?
A. Yes, she did.
MS. WASS: You think she did.
MR. JUSTICE NICOL: Just a moment. (Pause) Ms. Heard did take cocaine in your presence?
THE WITNESS: She said -- she asked if Ms. Heard had ever touched cocaine, something to that effect.
MS. WASS: Maybe I should be more careful.
A. No, no. I would like to say that she did. Because there were many times in our relationship early on where not only did she chop the cocaine with the razor blade into lines, she would then take the cocaine on her finger and rub it on her gums.
This is the extent of Johnny’s testimony regarding Amber using cocaine. He is never even able to mention a specific time he saw her ingest any, much less snort it.
In fact, Johnny actually specifically says in 2015 that cocaine would have been for him and Amber would have only wanted to use E/MDMA:
A. There was a moment when I had spoken with Ms. Heard on the phone, as she was due to arrive in Australia relatively quickly, or within days, where she asked me over the phone if I thought I would be able to get my hands on MDMA, Ecstasy, as was her choice of drugs, MDMA and mushrooms. I texted Nathan Holmes, my other assistant at the time, and asked him if he could get hold of any Ecstasy and I also asked him if he could get cocaine for me.
Q. Cocaine for you?
A. Yes, ma'am.
Again here:
I said she had asked if it was a possibility that I could acquire MDMA. I said earlier that the cocaine was for me.
Johnny’s lawyers in the US trial actually gave him the opportunity to state what drugs he saw Amber use and cocaine was not one of them:
Well, [she] was always quite fond of MDMA, which is ecstasy, and mushrooms. And she had some medication that she was on already that were…well, one in particular was quite a high velocity. Speed, if you will, called…I don’t know if I can say the name. Am I allowed to say the name? It doesn’t matter.
(The medication he is referring to here is Provigil, which will be addressed shortly below.)
Depp also directly contradicts his own claims. When opposing council posited to him that he was “dependent” on cocaine around March 2013, Depp replied:
I was never dependent on cocaine. It is very difficult to say that someone is dependent on cocaine. It is not in the category of opiates where there is a physical addiction and a physical and painful withdrawal from that drug.
The explanation for why Johnny makes such a bold claim – stating Amber was literally addicted to cocaine – in his Witness Statement yet never says anything to support this or even acknowledge it in his testimony is simple: Johnny had no part in writing that statement.
He admitted in testimony he did not read it:
A. Had I read the entire statement after the lawyers had drafted it, I would have found that missing piece. I did not read all of these things as it was just altogether too much information, and I trusted that my attorneys had taken my statement and put it on the record.
Q. Mr. Depp, you said in answer to me earlier this afternoon, when I tried to cut you short, "This is my life". Those were your words, "This is my life."
A. Yes.
Q. It is terribly important to you. When you read that witness statement -- did you read the witness statement before signing it?
A. I am sure that I read some of it. I do not know that I read it all. I cannot say that I read it all. I am sorry
More evidence that Johnny did not read or have anything to do with writing it comes from this passage:
However, that night I had a conversation with a friend, whom I told I wanted to stop drinking and who then hooked me up at rehab for 3 days after the premiere… I remember that before the release of The Lone Ranger in July 2013, I had had another five day stint in rehab and had not been drinking prior to the release of that film.
These are words Johnny purports to have dictated himself. Now let’s go to his actual testimony, when The Sun’s lawyers were simply using his own statement as the basis for their questions:
It was not rehab. It was three days in a hospital room in New York City… I can say I have never been to rehab, yet you keep referring to rehab. I went to a hospital where a doctor, I was under a doctor's care for three days, and then I was released.
Johnny also refers to himself as an alcoholic in his Witness Statement:
It has been well reported and I have been open about my challenges with alcoholism and addiction throughout my life. In fact, I started drinking and taking drugs when I was still a child. I am not in any way embarrassed to say this.
Again, Johnny has never admitted to being an alcoholic and refuses to acknowledge he is one. Johnny would have never told his lawyers to include this passage and would have had it removed if he knew it existed.
There is simply no reason to believe Amber was addicted to cocaine when the only evidence is that Adam Waldman said it once.
Depp’s own texts prove he did not think Amber had substance issues when they were together. He sent this to his medical team after she filed the restraining order:
I was the CLIENT, ultimately, if you and Debbie are able to, at least, speak of me, what I really am and what!!! I was the one who asked for you to CALM HER DOWN AND KEEP HER UNDER CONTROL!!! Not because she was kicking DRUGS!!! It was to take her pressure away from me!!! Same reason that I hired her shrink… Who, by the way, only made her worse!!!
The only evidence Depp was able to provide for Amber’s alcoholism was witness testimony from Ben King and Kate James, who were not able to provide contemporaneous evidence of their testimony.
King was not even able say that he had ever actually seen Amber drink to excess, but that when he worked for her and Depp in October 2014, when he took the trash out there were many bottles. He said he knew this had to have been Ms. Heard drinking because he had been told Mr. Depp was “tee-total” and not doing any substances at the time. As I have already established, this is false. Depp reported to his psychologist that he was drinking. There is also the text Depp sent making plans to do cocaine and E/MDMA – these texts were sent while he was in London, literally in the house Ben King was managing. Considering Depp was in fact drinking at this time, there is no evidence to suggest Amber was responsible for the wine bottles King found when cleaning the house.
That leaves the testimony of Kate James, Amber’s assistant, who says she saw Amber drunk constantly and received many drunk texts and phone calls from her. When asked to provide any of these texts, Kate James said:
I was using a phone that was logged into her iCloud account, so I could update her calendar, and then when she terminated my employment, she deleted all of the texts out of the Cloud, any texts that were abusive. Of course, she saved obviously the ones that were not.
She provided no evidence to support this claim. (Can you even imagine if Amber had tried something like this? “Yeah, Johnny totally confessed to everything in text messages. Oh, you want to see them? I guess he deleted them from my phone…” People wouldn’t buy that for a single second, nor should they.)
If you are willing to believe that, you also have to look passed the words of Laura Divenere, a designer who had interactions with both Amber and Kate James during the relevant time period. According to her, Kate James called her drunk all the time and was a very bad assistant who Amber never should have had to deal with. She also only ever saw Amber raise her voice to Kate James once, when Kate had made some very huge mistake regarding Amber moving residences. Laura Divenere described Kate James as a “complete mess” and advocated for Amber to let her go.
Kate James also claimed under oath that she had no contact with Depp after her firing in early 2015, and had no vendetta against Amber. Yet she exchanged texts with Depp in August of 2016, specifically about hurting Amber. Depp sent her this text:
“Thank you, sweetheart... I’m disgusted that I ever fuckin’ touched that scum... Back on Tuesday!!! And then... Court!!! Will hit you when I get back, doll... Come over for a spot of purple and we’ll fix her flabby ass, nice and good!!! Loveth... J.”
It is also clear from the contents of the message that she had an in-person meeting with Depp about Amber.
She also lied under oath that Amber gave her “no warning” before firing her – when in fact Amber provided her a full six weeks of severance pay.
Considering she lied under oath, it is hard to take her testimony seriously when she can offer no contemporaneous evidence to support it.
I have saved Depp’s last accusation of Amber’s substance abuse, her “amphetamine” addiction, for last, because it is the most inherently ridiculous. The substance in question here is Provigil, a narcolepsy drug Amber has a prescription for. Depp describes it as:
An amphetamine similar to Speed
If you have the simple capability to put the name Provigil/Modafinal (one and the same) into the Google search bar, you will understand that this comparison is absurd, his statement factually incorrect, and his claim nearly impossible.
Modafinal is a Schedule IV drug, meaning the FDA has deemed it has a “low potential for abuse and low risk of dependence.” It is also not a very strong drug – one dose being roughly equivalent to 2 cups of coffee. The reason it is prescribed instead of caffeine is because it does not have the physical symptoms like headaches, shakes, and the exhaustion once it wears off. It has no effect on cognitive function or ability.
Further, no medical professional Amber has ever seen has expressed concerns that she is abusing her prescription. You can track Amber’s Provigil use through her notes with Erin Falati, and you will only ever see that upon waking up Amber took:
Provigil 200mg
This is the standard dose and standard procedure.
The way in which Johnny describes Provigil is just not in line with the reality of the drug. Kate James also describes it in similar terms:
Interviewer: You previously testified that you observed Ms. Heard having certain side effects from Provigil. Yes?
Ms. James: Yes.
Interviewer: What side effects did you observe Ms. Heard exhibiting?
Ms. James: Manic episodes.
Interviewer: Can you tell me what you mean by manic episodes?
Ms. James: Similar to if someone was on some sort of amphetamine drug, moving very fast, not making a lot of sense, hyper-organizing, hyper-tasking, just very, very hyper, yeah.
This is an extremely unrealistic way to describe someone’s reaction to Provigil.
(This just in from team Johnny: Cocaine makes you mellow, Provigil turns you into a junkie.)
Kate James also – not coincidentally – makes the same mistake Johnny’s Witness Statement and testimony do, of describing Provigil as an “amphetamine.” It is not. It is a stimulant, but it is not an amphetamine and is nowhere near as strong as one:
Modafinil is a non-amphetamine stimulant that is approved for narcolepsy and excessive daytime sleepiness associated with obstructive sleep apnea.
So, yes, Johnny did claim that Amber was addicted to amphetamines because she took Provigil daily, when Provigil is not even an amphetamine.
Would you be interested in knowing what is an amphetamine? Adderall:
Adderall is the brand name of a combined form of two drugs: amphetamine and dextroamphetamine.
It is extremely hypocritical for Depp to accuse Amber of abusing this drug, when his own doctors expressed fear that he was abusing Adderall, a drug similar to Provigil except that it is much, much stronger and way more addictive:
Adderall is classified as a Schedule II controlled substance. It is therefore considered to have a significant risk for abuse and the development of physical dependence.
Modafinil is also a controlled substance but classified at a much lower level of control/severity than Adderall. Modafinil is classified as a Schedule IV controlled substance. The difference in the formal classification of Adderall and modafinil indicates that the overall general research and the opinion of the federal government is that Adderall is a significantly more dangerous drug of abuse than modafinil.
Modafinil is a much milder stimulant than Adderall, and its mild stimulant properties allow for using it in varied situations to address lethargy and sleepiness without the potential for inducing anxiety, jitteriness, irritability, or agitation. Adderall is a more powerful stimulant, and its use must be tempered.
And, again, unlike Amber, Johnny actually has a demonstrated pattern of concerning his doctors with his use of Adderall.
For example, he originally lied to Dr. Kipper about his Adderall dosage so he would be given more:
Patient states that he currently takes Oxycodone 15mg BID and Oxycodone 30mg at bedtime – Not Oxycodone 30mg TID as originally reported. Patient also states that he takes Adderall 2.5mg – 5mg BID prn, not Adderall 5mg BID as originally reported.
In September 2014 Johnny tried to get Stephen/Nathan to sneak him extra Adderall doses, and they had to call Debbie Lloyd.
At the end of 2014, Dr. Blaustein was concerned about Johnny’s potential addiction to Adderall.
By September 2015, Johnny was struggling to get his Xanax and Adderall prescriptions from Dr. Kipper, and by October he said Kipper was “blackmailing” him by not giving out prescriptions.
It is hard to believe Amber was addicted to/abusing all these substances Johnny claims, when there is so little evidence, none of it contemporaneous to 2012-2016. Especially when Johnny provides such a clear point of comparison, as someone who denies many addictions but – when one spends even just a short time looking finds – there is so much evidence, all contemporaneous, to support that he has them.
The fact that this is all the evidence Depp could provide to Amber’s alleged alcoholism and cocaine addiction is highly telling.
As you can see by reviewing all the evidence I provide for Depp’s substance issues, I did not allow myself to use anything that came from Amber or any witnesses who were testifying to things they remembered but could not provide contemporaneous evidence of. If I had held Depp’s allegations to the same standard I held Amber’s, I would not have any evidence at all to list for Depp. If I had allowed Amber the same low standards I allowed for Depp, there would be dozens of contemporaneous texts through the years Amber sent to him and members of his circle, dozens of instances in their audio recordings where she explains to him her fears of his substance abuse, and the testimony of Ellen Barkin, iO Tillet Wright, Rocky Pennington, Josh Drew, Kristina Sexton, Whitney Heard-Henriquez, Tracy Jacobs, and Bruce Witkin.
ISSUE #5: Jealousy and Controlling Behaviors
This section investigates claims made by Johnny and Amber about the other’s non-physically abusive and controlling behaviors. It will not touch upon claims of physical violence, as those are all covered in Part Two. This section does not seek to be comprehensive, because covering every aspect of the relationship inevitably leads to something more like 500 pages than 50. This is merely meant as a primer to the issues of Johnny and Amber’s relationship and how they developed across 4 years. It is meant to demonstrate that Depp, across every year of their relationship, engaged in controlling behaviors he categorically denied, and that all specific examples Johnny can give of Amber’s controlling behaviors are in fact lies/gross distortions.
(Same disclaimer that evidence coming solely from Amber is excluded here, as well as evidence from her witnesses such as Dr. Bonnie Jacobs, Dr. Cowan, Rocky Pennington, Josh Drew, iO Tillet Wright, Bruce Witkin, and Whitney Heard-Henriquez.)
Before getting to Depp’s behavior in his relationship to Amber, it’s worth noting the opinion of two former partners: Ellen Barkin and Jennifer Grey.
In Ellen Barkin’s deposition, she said that Depp was very possessive and controlling, always wanting to know what she was doing and who she was doing it with. Once Depp noticed a scratch on her back and started a fight over the idea that it could only have been caused by her having sex with someone else. She also said that he was constantly drinking alcohol or taking drugs, and that there was always an “air of violence” around him.
All of this lines up with Jennifer Grey’s account of her relationship with Depp. Compared to Barkin, she had a much more serious involvement – her and Depp were briefly engaged – so she would have a considerable understanding of Depp’s behavior in a relationship. She wrote that:
Johnny was commuting every week back and forth from Vancouver but had begun to more and more regularly be getting into trouble, fights in bars, skirmishes with cops. He’d started missing his flights home to LA, having overslept, or when he did come home, he’d be crazy jealous and paranoid about what I’d been up to while he was gone. I attributed his ill temper and unhappiness to his feeling miserable and powerless to get off Jump Street when all he wanted was to be in movies. He became moodier and less and less present. I kept wondering how or if I was ever going to get that easygoing, funny, devoted guy back.
Grey’s description of Depp’s changes in mood lines up with Depp’s own account of his behavior to Rolling Stone:
He got into brawls. Sometimes he was vaguely suicidal. Sometimes he cut his arm with a knife… He wasn’t having much fun. The same imagination that served him so well in the movies fucked him up big’ time in his personal life. He was jealous beyond words. “Oh, boy. Oh, fuck. I was a professional at it. Oh, the scenarios I dreamed up. Oh, fuck. Oh. I mean, world-class. I was. I could see ink pens on the desk, and hairbrushes, and oh, fuck. . . .”
He drank more — bourbon, neat — and became more volatile and began to decay… “That was kind of a nasty, darker period for me,” he said today. “I can’t say I was completely unhappy, but I couldn’t get a grasp on it, so I spent years poisoning myself. I was very, very good at it.”
There’s been many times when I’ve teetered on the brink of absolute madness, and unfortunately, once I go, I go, so I count on Vanessa to talk me down. And it does take some serious fucking reeling in to bring me back to three-dimensional reality.
Now moving on to Depp’s relationship with Amber. His extreme jealousy and controlling nature is clear from September 2013. Amber wanted to go to an Arctic Monkeys concert, and Depp was out of town and couldn’t go with her. In a text exchange, Amber asked if it would be okay for her to go with a member of his security. After a lengthy argument over text, Amber told him she would not go, to which Depp replied:
You know what I want, who I am and where I want to go with us… You know very well what type of fucking man I am. And, yet… You lay a gauntlet before me that you know is the very species of danger that will always attract me into a very tempting test… What’s behind that door??? Almost Impossible to nit take you on… You want me to roll the dice??? This sounds more like an aggravated ultimatum than the soft words that could help to make us both feel better!!! Don’t test me, please…
Considering Johnny has always vehemently denied any behaviors such as this, he has a very hard time explaining himself when confronted with them. For example, when he was first shown this text exchange he said:
I do not quite know what I was referring to there.
The Sun’s lawyer then went through the text exchange again, and Johnny said:
It does not sound like I am referring to that incident for some reason, but I do not know what gauntlet I am talking about.
“Can’t tell you what I meant or why I said it, but it surely had nothing to do with the conversation Amber and I were in the middle of” is a less than compelling argument.
In October 2013, they had another fight regarding Amber’s work. Depp texted:
On my way, now, baby…
Amber did not respond for 30 minutes; Depp sent another text:
Comprende???
Amber responded:
Yay!
I’m at a coffee mtg now. Will be home sooooon
Depp replied:
Holy crack whores!!! NO GODDAM MEETINGS!!! NO MOVIES!!! Why??? Why do you deviate from our agreement??? What species of meeting??? Fuck it…Just tell me when you get home…
As you can see in this message, Depp says she’s not supposed to take meetings or make movies. This directly contradicts his testimony that he only ever involved or interfered with her career when she specifically asked him to.
Again here we see Johnny’s complete inability to explain these behaviors in his testimony:
Q. Did you send that text to Ms. Heard?
A. I ----
Q. It appears so, does it not?
A. If it is, if it is, yes, it appears that I did, it appears that I did, but I do not know what the meaning or the context
This is not the last time Johnny will struggle to admit he is responsible for texts sent from his phone using his number.
His claim that he doesn’t know the meaning is also ridiculous. His meaning was clear. It literally could not have been stated more clearly:
NO GODDAM MEETINGS!!! NO MOVIES!!!
Johnny doubled down on his claims about this text in his US testimony:
I'm actually asking what species of meeting. So, this is not necessarily an angry text, it's just, "Why do you deviate from our agreement?" It's not about her doing films.
“NO GODDAM MEETINGS!!! NO MOVIES!!!” is not about Amber doing films?
“Holy crack whores!!!” and “fuck it… Just tell me when you get home…” is not an angry message?
It is also clear from their texts that this fight blew up into something much bigger than a simple text. In response to Depp’s “Holy crack whores!!!” message, Amber replied:
Coming home!
On the way baby,
Was a meeting for something going next year.
I’ll be there very soon
Depp never responded. The next messages they exchange are two days later, in which Depp says:
No matter what…
You are the love of my life. And I, yours…
Amber replied:
I know with every cell of my body I was made f
For you
I don’t want to hurt like this. I feel as though I’ve been turned inside out – I want to figure it out. Can we please talk tonight- or not if you prefer-
I just want t
To figure out what’s best. For us. I never want to feel this way. Or make you feel like this
Not only do these texts demonstrate a clear mean streak of controlling and jealous behavior on Depp’s part, they also show Amber’s attempts to manage and cater to it.
They also demonstrate the ways in which Johnny was able to use his wealth and privilege to talk Amber into staying with him despite the controlling behaviors. In between the start of their fight and the makeup texts, Johnny got his paid assistant Stephen Deuters to:
speak with her while you're there and give her some perspective on me and what I am and what I am not
Then in 2014, Depp and Amber exchanged these messages:
JD: Because you want it!!!
You’ve led them on!!!
U didn’t let go of it very easily!!!
AH: You said that last time. (In a more respectful way) and I didn’t do it! Because I wanted to talk to you more about it. Involve you and your opinion in it more. But we haven’t had time to talk in person (obviously) so none of that could be accomplished…..
What I don’t want to loose is a paycheck I need. That my parents need. That’s it. I work. This is my job. And most the time I wish I was better than this. But at the moment- I’m not. This was my job when you met me. And unfortunately, I need the work because I’m really in a tight spot. But I held off saying a decision- in either direction- because of you. And your feelings and our conversations (which we have yet to be able to really have ) about it.
Wouldn’t you want just that from me? Would you do that exact thing for me?
JD: Were you hoping for my opinion on the James Franco piece??? I’d rather you didn’t stoop to that level, but… you’ve already told me How much you like the material and that it’s not a money gig… So… It’s “art”… I’m not gonna tackle that greased up piggy… No m’am… You have to do that film!!! You really want it, obviously…
I’m going to sleep. Goodnight…
Hope tomorrow holds better…
Wow… You’re a funny one…
Amber also messaged him:
And yes-I know you don’t get it, but I need the money. Just cuz it’s not a “money job” doesn’t mean I don’t need the money it will pay!!!!!!!’
Don’t worry baby. I won’t do a anything that makes you feel pain or discomfort . You tell me when you want – and I’ll do it. But ultimately we’ll have to talk about it sometime. Ok!
I’m in a tough situation right now – and need the work. Period. I know you forget how that feels but please try to understand. I feel you’re trying to embarrass me.
I love you . Don’t know what else to say…
We need to talk in person about all this stuff and it will work out , I know
(The “James Franco piece” Depp refers to is The Adderall Diaries, which is the project Amber alleges they fought about on the plane ride from Boston to LA.)
More evidence for Depp’s jealously and paranoia around this time can be found in a series of events across two weeks in November. At this time Amber was filming Magic Mike XXL in Georgia, and Johnny had come to visit her.
One the third, his nurse Debbie Lloyd noted:
RN arrived a patient’s home at 1930. Patient stated he had not eaten all day. Assistant ordered burgers and patient ate 25%. Patient was focused on relationship with fiancé and is struggling with conflicted emotions. Patient encouraged to process these feelings with therapists tomorrow. Patient was hyper focused about relationship issues.
He was chatting with a friend and is feeling stressed about his relationship. He feels she is not being truthful with him and he is not sure how to confront her about this when she arrives home.
On the fourth, he texted Debbie:
I’m alright…. Confused as fuck… She said nothing of last night and, most certainly, not one thing about of the wrap party’s existence!!!
All the proof that I predicted last night…
How will I look at her when she gets back professing her undying love… All a fucking lie
Amber then asked Johnny to attend a couple’s counseling session with her therapist Dr. Cowan:
And in that session he was very belligerent and mean and yelling and intimidating and even got up and stormed out, rolled a joint and then came back later. Dr. Connell Cowan's impression was this is somebody who's poorly controlled.
On the 10th Amber texted Johnny an apology for planning to audition for another film, and Johnny responded by sending her a picture of rotting fish heads with the caption:
Stinks from the head… X.
And on the 11th texted Debbie Lloyd:
All good. Haven’t read her text, yet… Am feeling so fucked… WHY was she at the goddamn wrap party until 5AM??? Did Erin say ANYTHING??? The lies are so clear, now… They’re making me NUTS, wondering WHAT WAS SO INTERESTING TO KEEP HER THERE THAT GODDAM LONG??? PLEASE Ask Erjn!!??? I MUST HAVE TRUTH !!!
I need it… It’s not the easiest thing to do, at this point… Though it has been a shitty and painful experience… I cannot help but hear her voice begging and crying…!!! She wants to change and is going to change, etc…. Help…???
I don’t know what’s real and what’s paranoic jealousy!!!
X,
Just to be clear what Depp is asking for here, he wants his MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL to go gossip with Amber’s MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL and report back anything Amber is saying. That goes beyond simple jealousy into a gross failure to respect boundaries. It is a clear sign how much control he exerted over Amber’s life that he felt entitled to know the private thoughts she shared with her nurses and doctors.
Focus particularly on this passage:
I cannot help but hear her voice begging and crying…!!! She wants to change and is going to change, etc….
Amber was begging and crying and Johnny was responding by sending her fish heads with vaguely threatening captions.
Johnny then disappeared on a bender for several days, as on the 14th 15th and 16th his medical team were struggling to get in touch and “very concerned” about him.
From a November 24th 2014 session with Depp, Dr. Blaustein noted:
Relationship stabilizing. Looking at jealous parts of him
Blaustein explained in his deposition in this session Depp reported that jealousy was a “trigger” for him because of a break-up he had at 22, when an “actress cheated with a leading man.”
In a 12/7/14 session with Blaustein, Depp reported feeling:
Paranoia: fear, envy, and vigilance
On 1/6/15, Dr. Blaustein noted:
Not logical approach to Amber’s work
On 1/8/15, Depp reported that there was a woman at Amber’s studio who admired her and that Depp perceived this woman as a “threat,” and that these feelings made him “angry” and “insecure.” That was Depp’s last appointment with Blaustein before going to Australia for Pirates 5.
Ignoring the contested events in Australia (see Incident #8), Depp has admitted many times in testimony he is responsible for the graffiti that marked the walls, except the “Carly Simon” bit. Here’s some examples of what he wrote:
STARRING BILLY BOB EASY AMBER
SHE’S LOVES NAKED PHOTOS OF HERSELF SO MODERN SO HOT
GOOD LUCK AND BE CAREFUL AT TOP
While Depp has at times denied defacing paintings or said that he did not remember but couldn’t rule it out, his own head of security Jerry Judge was recorded in the immediate aftermath saying that Depp had drawn genitalia onto a “sexy” picture of Amber. It’s hard to deny Depp did it. (In his testimony, Depp somewhat bizarrely attempts to claim Amber may have drawn a dick on her own picture.) Most of what Depp wrote on the walls is illegible, but it is safe to assume it is all in a similar vein.
In his testimony, Depp described his graffiti as “messages” and “reminders” to Amber about previous fights or lies he had caught her in. He specifically narrowed in on how she came to him concerned over how she was objectified and sexualized in movies and wanted his advice on how to escape that kind of type-casting. But, he said:
She asked me, "How can I avoid being stereotyped as the beautiful blonde who gets her breasts out or just goes naked and has to scoop people in movies?" And I gave her my advice on it, on how to avoid it, which I thought was pretty accurate. And her ambition was stronger than what she received from my advice is what it was. My advice that I thought long and hard about because I did care for her and I did understand, I didn't want her to have to do that.
And early on in my career, I was put in a position where, you know, I could have gone off...I could have been just a guy who was on a TV series for a couple of years and then, you know, what was going to be left of me would be on lunchboxes and thermoses and posters and teen idol things, and I've fought that tooth and nail because I didn't...that's not who I was. So, I had experienced something similar in terms of being looked upon as something that you're not, and so I fought against it in the very beginning and it worked out for me, you know, for a while there and I was giving her basically the same advice
First, look at Amber’s IMDb credits from after her relationship with Johnny became serious and tell me in which ones is she a “stereotyped beautiful blonde who gets her breasts out or just goes naked.” The correct answer is none. Since 2013, she had a strict clause in her contracts which severely limited the amount of sex/nudity productions could legally ask of her. The last two films she worked on before going to Australia were Magic Mike XXL and The Danish Girl.
The Magic Mike series was made by one of our greatest living filmmakers Steven Soderbergh – the guy behind The Limey, Ocean’s Eleven, Erin Brockovich, Traffic, Sex Lies & Videotape, etc., I mean he’s the kind of guy who has actually seen Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris and liked it enough to remake it – and is an exploration of the American middle class after the 2008 financial crisis while also subverting traditional Hollywood sexuality by placing men as objects of desire instead of its female cast. Amber is way, way less sexualized in the film than Channing Tatum, Joe Manganiello, Matt Bomer, or Adam Rodriguez.
The Danish Girl is literally the Oscar bait film and was not attempting to sexualize or “bimboize” anyone. It is literally the pinnacle of a certain kind of film which an actor agrees to be in because it’s their ticket to being respected by the industry – ie The Academy and similar bodies. The idea this film could in anyway personify Amber selling out by getting “naked” or “being easy” is ridiculous.
Second, Johnny suggesting he had a “similar” struggle to Amber in Hollywood further demonstrates how little sensitivity or understanding he had/has here. Here’s an example from 2006 of what Amber had to deal with:
Her body is noticeably slimmer than the figure she sports in tonight's episode, shot in March 2006. "I did lose weight between the pilot and the second episode," says Heard… when asked what motivated the change, Heard says her bosses instructed her not to comment.
The idea that Johnny’s struggles in Hollywood were the same as Amber’s is frankly an offensive thing to say. The amount of body-shaming, harassment, and predatory behavior women had/have to endure in the film industry far exceeds Johnny’s belief that 21 Jump Street was not creatively fulfilling. These experiences are not even in the same league and should never be in the same conversation.
Finally, if you want to know about poorly written, oversexualized, and objectified female characters, I recommend you start by reading Hunter S. Thompson or any of the beat poets Depp so admired. Listen to some of the songs Keith Richards wrote about having sex with 13yo girls.
The role drew strong interest from many a leading lady (Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley were among those reported to have been vying for it), though some had reservations regarding the nudity the role calls for.
Writing roles for women that require they get naked so your male character can ogle them, and then judging the women who take those roles and saying your wife is “easy” for it, is literally the definition of sexism and misogyny!
“The sequence of the butter is an idea that I had with Marlon in the morning before shooting it,” Bertolucci said. “I’d been, in a way, horrible to Maria, because I didn’t tell her what was going on” (because) “I wanted her reaction as a girl, not as an actress. I wanted her to react humiliated,” he said. “I think she hated me and also Marlon because we didn’t tell her.”
Maria Schneider said:
But during the scene, even though what Marlon was doing wasn’t real, I was crying real tears. I felt humiliated and, to be honest, I felt a little raped, both by Marlon and Bertolucci,” the French actress said. “After the scene, Marlon didn’t console me or apologize.”
Depp maintaining life-long extremely close friendships with the exact men who made Hollywood/the arts such a misogynistic and exploitative industry while using claims of “sluttiness” “easiness” and “ambition” against Amber is, again, the literal definition of sexism and misogyny.
For a second, really focus on the narrative Depp presents. His young girlfriend/wife expresses concerns that a famously lecherous industry is making her feel uncomfortable in her sexuality, he gives her advice, she ends up not following his advice and takes roles he feels objectify her. Instead of being upset on her behalf, he decides to write “messages” and “reminders” in his own blood over the walls of their shared house. That’s gross, misogynistic behavior.
Now let’s add context. We know from messages they exchanged that Amber was not an A-list actor, did not feel she had freedom to be cherry-picking projects, and that she sent money to support her struggling mother and father. She turned down the project she was offered before The Adderall Diaries because it made Depp uncomfortable. She hadn’t done nudity and was working in high quality non-sexualized projects immediately before Australia, and after Australia would not work for another year at Depp’s request.
With that in mind, it becomes clear that Depp’s claims of Amber’s “ambition” are no different than the scores of men who overlooked Harvey Weinstein’s abuse because they believed women were sleeping with him to get roles (and while he was far from the worst offender, Depp himself is literally one of those men who ignored Weinstein’s abuse.)
Depp’s jealousy continued after Australia. Amber spent the spring and summer following him on projects and tours, which came up in the recorded audios we have of their fights. In an argument recorded in late September of 2015, Depp says:
I become irrational when you’re doing movies. I become jealous and fucking crazy, weird, and you know, we fight a lot more.
Later in the same discussion, Amber says
I’ve been on the road with you, I haven’t been working, I don’t know what else I can fucking do.
Slightly before that recorded fight, in August of 2015, Depp sent this email regarding Amber’s work in London Fields:
i NEED YOU to get on to the fucking harley’s regarding LONDON FIELDS!!!! they are going to be PREMIERING IT AT THE TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL!!! despite our LETTER OF LEGAL ACTION if they used their version and not the Matthew Cullen version!!! it is in Amber’s contract that there will be NO NUDITY and her fucking agent’s are weak and insipid!!! also, they were told that I would NOT ALLOW THEM TO USE ANY OF MY WORK IN THE FILM, as I had agreed to do the film based on Matthew…!!!!
will you PLEASE CALL THESE MOTHERFUCKERS and you and Jake get on this IMMEDIATELY??????
IT MUST BE SHUT DOWN OR I WILL SUE THEM EIGHTEEN WAYS FROM FUCKING SUNDAY!!!! THEYSE PEOPLE ARE NOBODY’S IN THIS BUSINESS AND THEY SHOULD BE MADE TO UNDERSTAND THAT WE WILL RUIN THEM INSTANTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(The tone of this email just so happens to coincide with Josh Drew’s testimony that he heard Depp screaming at Amber about London Fields during a trip they took to France that month.)
More evidence to his jealousy and paranoia comes from his texts to Dr. Kipper about Dr. Cowan. On July 1st 2015, he sent this message:
Sorry, here’s my by the way… Cowan should be run out of town in utter shame!!! He’s s fucking sump who has done absolutely nothing, but given her the verbosity that she uses ever whenever she feels like she must explain to me the psychology of life!!! Ludicrous!!! Yessir… Cowan should be shot in places nobody wants to be shot in!!! He’s a giddam Charlitan, big time!!! I’m not gonna continue to pay that fucking YES MAN to do nothing but stare as her tits and agree with everything she spews… Tell him to tell he’s leaving the business, or something, or I, too, will become a regular client whether I am welcome, or not!!!
Not even the doctors in Amber’s life are free from accusations that they are only around Amber because they want to have sex with her (also extremely hypocritical of Depp, considering his friendship with Beechy Colclough, aka the guy who actually was sexually taking advantage of his clients).
Notice at the end that Depp also physically threatens Cowan. Remember, these are texts Depp sent to Dr. Kipper, who was a personal friend of Cowan.
If that message was not explicit enough in its threat, Depp sent this one four days later:
Cowan should be stripped of his license to practice his supposed profession… And then, he should be stripped and spray painted whilst handcuffed to a stop sign!!!
Depp’s dislike of Cowan comes from the language he gave Amber to talk about her problems. This fits in to a pattern in Depp’s behavior, of becoming extremely angry and affronted any time Amber tried to critique him. In his testimony in both the UK and US trials, he always mentions that he was twice Amber’s age and didn’t think it was appropriate for her to give him any kind of advice. His testimony presents it as if she is the aggressor and he merely defends himself by pointing out that she’s too young to know what she’s talking about. The audios we have of their relationship contradict that.
For example, this audio from Toronto. If you remember back to the excerpt I quoted earlier, which ends in Depp pretending to vomit for the tape recorder, this exchange is immediately after that:
AH: Have you ever been provoked, by a child? Does it really hurt? Doesn’t really provoke you, does it? It makes you feel kinda sad.
JD: I don’t know, it’s weird. I’ve had children. Have you? I mean at 30, you must have by now.
AH: Oh, you’ve had children.
JD: Yeah. Haven’t you?
AH: It’s a miracle
JD: Fucking yeah it’s a miracle
Depp does something childish in pretending to vomit to upset her, Amber makes it clear she thinks he’s acting like a child, and Depp brings up her age and perceived lack of life experience.
Another example of this behavior comes from this July 2015 audio. It is short so you can easily listen to the full thing for context, but to briefly explain: Amber is upset because Depp was recording their conversation without her permission, she tells him it is secretive and deceitful, and that he had been mad at her previously because he didn’t feel like she told him she was recording. Depp says she didn’t tell him, she asks him to stop recording, he repeats she didn’t tell him, and then this exchange:
AH: Please stop.
JD: FUCKING ACKNOWLEDGE WHAT I’M SAYING BEFORE YOU KEEP MAKING DEMANDS. You are not a school teacher. Shut the FUCK UP. LISTEN TO ME. AND THEN YOU CAN FUCKING RESPOND. Understand? You ain’t nobody’s fucking mom, you ain’t no school teacher. Don’t fucking pretend to be authoritative with me!
AH: Okay. Fine.
JD: YOU DON’T EXIST.
AH: Leave it on.
Amber asks him to stop recording, he screams at her, she relents, and he gets his way.
Depp clearly does not believe they are a marriage of equals. He’s older and “has walked longer on the road of life,” as he liked to say in his testimony. With this context, you start to understand a dynamic where any issue Amber raised with him was her “haranguing” and “harassing” and that he “didn’t deserve it” because she was just a stupid kid who didn’t know as much as him.
Depp also had a soft spot for using her bisexuality against her, as evidenced in the texts I previously quoted where he called her a “lesbian camp counselor.” Then in this audio recording, he says:
I don’t want your tricks. I don’t want your games. You’re too fucking young for me. You gotta go get something that’s just, will just follow every order to the T. So you can get real sick of him and go fuck a girl.
Depp also admits that on May 21st 2016 he told iO Tillet Wright that he could “have” Amber now. At the time Wright was using female pronouns and Depp viewed him as a lesbian.
Again, I would like to reiterate the limits I put on myself to compile this evidence. All of the above comes directly from Depp himself – his texts, his recorded audio, his notes to his psychologist. I did not include things that in any way were potentially not verifiable.
I also did not include the testimony of Amber’s witnesses because they could be accused of lying. Some of that testimony comes from Bruce Witkin, who’s known Depp since the 1980’s and is the brother-in-law of his first wife Lori Ann Allison. He said Depp always struggled with jealousy and that most things were “in his head” and not reality. There’s plenty more like that from all of Amber’s witnesses to back her account.
Now I will turn to Depp’s claims about Amber. Before beginning, I would like to point out that almost all of Johnny’s claims revolve around how he was almost always 100% sober, and Amber reaching out to people in his life saying he was using was her attempting to “control” him. As demonstrated under ISSUE #3, this is extremely far from the truth. Johnny was abusing drugs and alcohol for the entirety of their relationship. At best, one could argue that Amber was unsuited to dating an addict and handled the stress of the position Johnny chose to put her in poorly, but she was not “making things up” to “embarrass him” as he has attempted to claim.
As I did with Johnny, I’ll start with Amber’s prior relationships. Her one experience relevant here is an arrest previously on her record for a fight she had with then-wife Tasya van Ree. The couple was fighting in an airport, when a police officer claims Amber reached out and ripped Tasya’s necklace off, leaving some sort of friction burn. Both Amber and Tasya contest this account. In 2016, Tasya released a statement:
In 2009, Amber was wrongfully accused for an incident that was misinterpreted and over-sensationalized by two individuals in a power position. I recount hints of misogynistic attitudes toward us which later appeared to be homophobic when they found out we were domestic partners and not just ‘friends.’ Charges were quickly dropped and she was released moments later. It's disheartening that Amber's integrity and story are being questioned yet again. Amber is a brilliant, honest and beautiful woman and I have the utmost respect for her. We shared 5 wonderful years together and remain close to this day.
Amber and Tasya were on good terms soon after their break-up and have remained that way ever since. Just pick any year from this photo gallery of Amber and you will see her and Tasya hang out together all the time, even immediately after their breakup in 2012 and 2013.
In fact, Depp was threatened by Amber’s relationship with Tasya often during their marriage – defacing one of her paintings to say “Tasya van PEE,” accusing Amber of having an affair with her in both 2015 and 2016, texting Amber’s mother that this supposed affair was the “real” reason Amber filed for divorce.
Besides Tasya’s own statement that Amber never hit/abused her, there is compelling texts from 2016 and 2018 between the two. After the events of May 21st, 2016, Amber and Tasya exchanged messages:
AH: It’s been rough
I need help I think
TvR: What do you need?
AH: I don’t know. Just to know you’re there. I might need to Talk
TvR: I’m here
Always babe
AH: Shit got bad last night. Cops were called. I filled a restraining order … The whole thing
TvR: Wow!
Are you okay?
Physically that is
And then, after Amber published her Op-Ed in 2018, she sent the article to Tasya. Tasya responded:
Thank you for sending and thank you for your voice. You are a leader of men…women! More proud of you than ever.
While it is far from impossible for a victim to stay in contact with their abuser after a relationship ends, I suggest Tasya’s reaction to Amber’s allegations of abuse and standing up as a DV victim would be extremely strange if Tasya felt in any way that Amber had abused her.
Moving on to Amber’s relationship with Depp. Let’s start with his first claim - it is a small detail but Depp testified that Amber would not let him take off his own boots. That in the beginning he thought it was sweet, but a few months into their relationship realized it was controlling and possessive.
The following is a transcript from the four-hour audio recording Depp and Amber made in September 2015. This comes at a point in the discussion when they are not fighting but having a real discussion about their marriage. You can listen to the full four hours, but this clip is roughly one hour and one minute into exhibit Plt356:
AH: You don’t know moderation very well. You’re allergic to moderation. So, I balance you out I think a little bit. I try to keep you safe. I try to keep on you, to remind you to take the good ones, you know. Do I not?
JD: You do. You—
AH: Do I ever give you a hard time?
JD: About the meds? No. You spoil me. Look, you do all those wonderful things. You, you take my boots off.
AH: I’m not tooting my own horn
JD: No, I’m not saying your tooting your own horn. I’m saying there’s a lot of beautiful and wonderful things you do for me that I’ve never even dreamt, like, someone would be so fucking caring as to, “hey baby, it’s time for your meds”. It’s so beautiful that your wife is doing that. It’s beautiful that the act of just simply taking my fucking boots off when I get home from work. That is monumental stuff to me.
Depp claims within the first few months he was concerned about the way Amber took his boots off, and that the relationship had completely broken down within 18 months, which would be some time in 2013. Yet fully two years later in 2015, he lists Amber taking off his boots as something “monumental” to him. If there was audio from September 2015 in which Amber said, “Johnny, I really love it when you drink and take drugs,” that would be extremely incongruent with her testimony. Depp’s claims should be held to the same standard.
Johnny also claimed an instance in October 2013 was an example of Amber being irrational and controlling:
Then there was a time when I was asked to...and I've been off of alcohol, I've been off of drugs, everything, except for the medication that I'm prescribed. I had to go to London to give a Lifetime Achievement award to a dear old friend who is an elderly man, great actor called...his name's Christopher Lee. And he was a dear friend. And I was surprised...he was being surprised by my showing up on stage. I just flown in from the States, and he was sort of surprised by me arriving to give him this award. And Christopher came up and accepted the award.
We walked...they brought us backstage to this beautiful library, where we...I was with Christopher and his wife, and a waiter came up and had three glasses of champagne. And Christopher handed one to his wife, he handed one to me, and then he had the other. And there was a photographer there. And the glass came up to toast. And I just...in my head, I thought, "It's just champagne," a little bit "tink" to toast Christopher on his Lifetime Achievement award. And so, I've had half a glass of champagne with Christopher Lee and his wife.
After that, immediately after that award ceremony, I went to pick up Ms. Heard and take her to dinner at a restaurant. And I told her that I'd had a half a glass of champagne with Christopher. And I thought, "Listen, it's not like you're sitting in a pub guzzling pints of snakebites, or Guinness, or doing shots of Jägermeister." At that point, it wasn't even for need to bury feelings or emotions. It was literally a joyous occasion for Christopher. And I said to her, "I enjoyed it. It gave me the opportunity to enjoy the actual champagne, the drink. And my appreciation for wine and winemaking that I've been fascinated with for years and years. And I saw nothing wrong in it." And I said, "I'd like to have a glass of champagne," as she was sitting there with a glass of wine.
And she...we were in the restaurant, and she absolutely lost it, and got up and stormed to the ladies’ room. And I told my security and driver, I said, "I think we have to go. I think we're gonna have to leave." So, we left the restaurant and went home. And the mere suggestion of me sipping a glass of champagne, or having one glass or two glasses of wine, she went apoplectic. She... I was weak. I was a complete mess. I was an alcoholic. I was going to ruin everything. You know, "Your kids are not proud of you. They can't stand what you're doing to yourself."
Johnny is lying when he said he was “off alcohol” at this time. It was only three months removed from his latest trip to rehab at the end of July 2013. Only three months removed from telling Paul Bettany:
I, of course, pounded and displayed ugly colors to Amber on recent journey… I am an insane person and not so fair headed after too much of the drink…
Of course she would be upset by him stating that he had already drank champagne and now wanted to drink wine. Johnny deciding to ask her at dinner, in a public place, also demonstrates that he had very little regard for her emotions. If you are so fresh out of rehab, after admitting that your drinking makes you act like an “insane person” who “pounded” Amber, it is of course going to be a serious discussion if you now think you are capable of drinking in moderation, and it would of course be scary for Amber to hear. That is not the kind of thing you just drop on someone at dinner, seconds before you’re about to order yourself a glass. That he chose to ask Amber in such a fashion demonstrates that he wasn’t thinking of her at all and was not taking his sobriety seriously.
He was also not “off of drugs.” Only a few weeks later in November, his agent Tracey Jacobs began coordinating with his sister Christi about getting him into rehab/recovery:
Q. Exhibit 69 is a series of e-mails between you and Christi regarding a Dr. Kipper. Do you know who Dr. Kipper is?
A. Yes.
Q. And who is Dr. Kipper?
A. He’s an internist who also has worked in helping people detox and rehab outpatient.
Q. And was there discussions underway in this period, November of 2013, about Johnny potentially hiring Dr. Kipper?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. And this is you having an e-mail exchange with Christi about that possibility; correct?
A. Yes.
Q. And you wrote up above, you said, “Internist and drug specialist. He has helped a lot of people get sober.”
Depp’s attitude toward his use of drugs at this time can be succinctly conveyed by this text he sent Paul Bettany in July:
pills, Fine!!!
And the fact that only 10 days later he told Stephen Deuters he was using cocaine, describing this time as his “Peruvian period.”
Amber also would have brought up his kids being upset by his drinking because his kids really were very upset by his drinking. On the same trip in which Johnny told Paul Bettany he overdid it and needed to stop booze because it made him an “insane person,” Amber left early with Lily-Rose. The next day Johnny passed out facedown in the sand, and his son Jack had to call for help. These details are corroborated by Johnny’s own witness Tara Roberts, though she attempted to claim Johnny was not drunk but had merely fallen out of his hammock.
Three months after the Christopher Lee incident, Johnny texted his employee Kevin Murphy:
Just trying to get over my shocking discussion with Vanessa that lasted 5+ hours!!! I feel ill and have invested my guts into some side corner…! Now, Lily-Rose hates me because she thinks I’m drinking and she’s right but I can’t admit, or I fucking die in her eyes… Thanks for that one, Vanessa…
And two weeks after that, Lily-Rose texted him:
“You've been a better dad to Jack and I since she [Amber] has been around and she was helping with the alcohol problem. I just see what a positive effect she's had on you and I'm afraid those things will leave with her.”
"You've been so much better since she's been around. We have talked about how, for a couple of years, you weren't around for us and that changed when Amber came into your life. I don't want to go back to that"
"But you have to acknowledge and know what a good influence she's been and the fact that she's changed you for the better. You see that, right?"
The way in which Johnny grossly mischaracterizes the circumstances around this incident and Amber’s reaction are indicative of his entire testimony.
Another example of this can be found in his testimony regarding he and Amber’s trip to Rio de Janeiro in September 2015. He said:
Ms. Heard wanted to come with me, and Whitney, her sister, had come as well. While we were there in Rio, we were rehearsing, getting ready for the show, Ms. Heard informed me that she would have to get back to Los Angeles for an audition, meaning...is basically after our two-hour show or whatever. We would have to get on the plane immediately to make it back to Los Angeles for this audition.
From Johnny’s interrogatory responses:
Ms. Heard was extremely angry and trying to rush Mr. Depp out so that they would not be late for a flight she had to catch to make it to her interview for the Aquaman film… Mr. Depp was incredibly hurt by Ms. Heard’s words and actions on an evening that he was excited about
Depp and Amber recorded their conversation from two days after this fight and discuss what actually happened. For context, the fight in Rio occurred on September 24th (their conversation being recorded on the 26th), which is only 10 days removed from Johnny and Amber’s fight at the Toronto Film Festival. While I will not be getting into all the details of that particular instance here, it is important to note it’s when Johnny threw his wedding ring on the ground and told Amber she was a “fucking harpy” and “pain in the ass”:
JD: Well, one thing is for sure: I don’t want to be with you. I don’t. I really don’t.
AH: Then, if you don’t want to be with me in life –
JD: Goodbye.
AH: Then you need to actually do it. You need to actually take off your ring, and forget that five hours ago you said the opposite. Otherwise, you can’t keep throwing that around. You can’t keep saying to me that this is something you care about.
[Depp throws his ring on the ground. Hard enough you hear it ricochet twice.]
JD: There you go.
AH: Is that what it’s worth to you?
JD: Yeah. Yeah. For you. From all this bitching, from all these rules, all this –
AH: Rules, cause I asked you to stay?
JD: Look, because you—
AH: Cause I asked you to stay?
JD: No, because you’re a fucking harpy.
AH: What was it? What was it, when you asked me to stay? What was it when you asked me to stay?
JD: Cause you’re a pain in the ass, and I can’t stand it no more.
At one point in the audio from the 26th, Johnny is trying to say they weren’t having any problems before the fight in Rio on the 24th and Amber is trying to explain to him that she was unhappy and their relationship was in a bad place after he threw his wedding ring and said he didn’t want to be with her and that nobody liked her (seems like the sort of thing that should go without saying!).
Johnny, in an attempt to argue Amber is incorrect and they were not having problems before Rio, tries to make the argument that Amber wouldn’t have come to Rio if she wasn’t happy. They have this exchange:
AH: It’s been really tough.
JD: Then why did you come to Rio?
AH: All I’ve been trying to do is be with you, spend time with you. You said you needed that, you said that it made a difference that I wasn’t working, you wanted me to travel with you, you said our relationship would be different.
This is at a point in the conversation after Johnny had said:
I become irrational when you’re doing movies, I become jealous and fucking crazy, weird, and, you know, we fight a lot more.
And Amber had said:
I have been on the road with you, I haven’t been working – I don’t know what else I could fucking do
Johnny suggesting that Amber “wanted” to go to Rio as if she had somehow inserted herself into a situation where he did not want her is not true. She was only there because he wanted her to be, because he became extremely unpleasant after periods of separation, as he himself admitted in the audio.
He is also incorrect when he claims Amber only told him about her audition last-minute when they were already in Rio. Johnny explicitly states they made plans for her audition beforehand. It was literally his fault he was wrapped up in the problem at all, because he wouldn’t let her take a commercial flight:
There’s nothing I can say to you about this argument of – that’s been happening since Rio. Even leading up to the gig, trying to make sure you were cool with your fuckin’ screen test. Not letting you take a commercial fly because I wanted, you know, I thought we could fuckin’ work out the thing.
Amber says she wanted to fly commercial without him:
If that’s important to you that you would rather me not do it, go to --- or fly commercial without you
Which, again, speaks to the fact that Amber was only at his gig in the first place because he didn’t like when she was somewhere he couldn’t keep an eye on her.
They argue a bit on what exactly led to the fight:
AH: Everybody knew that there was this plan and that it was important to me. It wasn’t obviously important to you. It was important to me.
JD: It obviously wasn’t important to me?
AH: Yeah. Like it wasn’t part of your life.
JD: Why—then why would I be taking—why would I—why would I be doing that?
AH: No, no. I didn’t mean it wasn’t important to you emotionally. I meant like it wasn’t about your life. It was important to me in my life. That’s all I meant. I wasn’t saying anything about you.
JD: You’re talking to them.
AH: No. I’m saying it was – no. I said exactly what I meant. It wasn’t like a priority in your life. It wasn’t your screen test, it was mine. That’s all I meant.
JD: Right. But I made it my priority by getting everything together.
AH: Mm-hmm.
JD: To make sure that we could leave on time.
AH: Yeah. So we could leave when you wanted to leave. You said you wanted to play it by ear. And you did not want to commit to leaving
She tries many times to explain to him why she was sensitive about the screen test:
You know, what I was saying in Brazil about coming back for the test is just, I want to be as important to you as you are to me, and sometimes it’s inconvenient to fly when you wanna leave. I don’t like flying in the middle of the night, but I do it, you know. Sometimes it’s inconvenient I’m missing work or I’m missing this. I mean, look at me, I haven’t worked since February.
Again here:
Once we were on the plane, you were so supportive. The problem is, it would have meant lots to me to have an hour shaved off the time we spent in the party or whatever. I didn’t want to take the event from you, I didn’t want to take the after-party from you. I have been a hundred percent on your arm and at your side. But I just wanted a little compromise. A little “okay, fuck, it’s annoying but let’s go a little earlier” – or whatever. And you did end up coming through, but it was so late! It was too late. Like, we literally left – we didn’t leave any time for fuckups, like out-of-our-control fuckups. We didn’t leave time for that. And all I was saying – it wasn’t a criticism, it wasn’t even a thing – I was saying “I just wanna know that I’m – that that’s not, like a reflection of me being not important.” It’s insecurity, I even blamed it on me, I said “it’s insecurity but I wanna know.”
To summarize, this was a situation where Amber came into it having already given up many months of her life to not working because Johnny specifically told her to, on the eve of the biggest audition of her career, and the combination of leaving late and the plane’s delay meant she nearly missed it. The fact that Johnny seemingly could not understand why she got upset just speaks to a general pattern of him not caring about her feelings.
Remember, these examples were not instances picked by me to represent times when Depp was abusive. These were the best examples Johnny could think of to represent times Amber was emotionally abusive to him. This really demonstrates how generally self-centered he was.
More of Depp’s claims come from his Witness Statement submitted to the court during the UK trial. There he claimed:
“She is a calculating, diagnosed borderline personality”
“Indeed, later in our relationship when we sought the help of a marriage counsellor, the marriage counsellor confirmed to me that Ms Heard had a borderline, toxic narcissistic personality disorder and is a sociopath.”
This statement was dated December 12th 2019, and everything Depp said was a lie. As you can see from the testimony of Dr. Laurel Anderson, she described Depp and Amber as engaging in “mutual abuse” and did not diagnose Amber with Borderline Personality Disorder, much less sociopathy. In fact, “sociopathy” or diagnosing someone as a “sociopath” are not even diagnostic terms in the medical health profession. If Laurel Anderson were going to diagnose Amber with anything, it would have been anti-social personality disorder (which Laurel Anderson also did not diagnose Amber with) – I suggest Depp did not know this because he invented this claim out of whole cloth. (And the only other counsellor they saw, Dr. Amy Banks, testified that Amber was a victim of Domestic Violence). Through the current day, there is only one medical professional to ever diagnose Amber with Borderline Personality Disorder – Dr. Shannon Curry, hired by Depp to see Amber in December 2021 – a full two years after Depp wrote the above Witness Statement. And even she did not claim Amber was a sociopath or had anti-social personality disorder.
Depp also claims:
It was not until much later that I understood that she had an agenda, namely to get married to me in order to progress her own career and/or to benefit financially, and she knew how to bring it about. For example, at the time, she repeatedly told me how much she admired my films; however, later in our relationship she admitted that she had never seen any of my films.
It is hard to conceive how this could possibly be true, because of this audio recorded between Depp and Amber in January/February of 2016:
JD: Hey, what was the posters on your wall when you were a kid?
AH: Um, Rosie the fucking Riveter, what were yours? Rosie the Riveter too?
JD: I don’t know.
AH: Or you wouldn’t know (inaudible)
JD: Your mom had some different ideas of what you had.
AH: Ask her. Call her. Let’s hear what she says. I wanna know!
JD: I've spoken to her.
Depp clearly believes at this time that Amber had a poster of him on her wall as a kid, and this was only 2 months before they stopped seeing each other. If he had really discovered at this time that she had lied to him and hadn’t seen any of his movies, how in the world could he possibly believe she had a poster of him as a child?
Depp also makes this pretty extraordinary claim:
It was a few months after the start of our relationship that I started to recognize the lies. As early as a couple of months, the slivers of fraudulence, the excuses for things and unexplained absences started. I justified these things to myself at the time and passed them off but the signs were there. She had well and truly researched me and my interests and she would try to pose as some expert or intellectual on these things to try to ingratiate herself with me. She presented herself as a carbon copy of me, with precisely the same interests, thoughts, favorite writers, taste in music and art as me. Rather than see this as calculated, sociopathic and emotionally dishonest, I convinced myself that it was endearing and sweet.
Here I’ll just point out it would be pretty crazy if Amber had researched him well enough to know his favorite interests, thoughts, writers, music, and art, yet never took the time to watch a single one of his films. Those claims seem like they don’t necessarily co-exist.
With Depp claiming that Amber essentially stole his personality to trick him into dating her, I would like to point out some basic facts about Depp and Amber’s lives/childhood:
- Depp was born in Kentucky and grew up in roughly 30 different places throughout the American South. Amber was born and raised in Texas.
- Depp grew up underprivileged and was physically abused by his father and mother. Amber grew up underprivileged and was physically abused by her father.
- Depp’s mother suffered from substance abuse issues. Amber’s mother and father suffered from substance abuse issues.
- Depp dropped out of high school and left home to pursue a career in music, which led him to acting. Amber dropped out of high school and left home to pursue a career in acting.
Further, Amber (obviously) spent a lot of time with her father growing up. Her personality and interests would be informed by his.
Johnny loved Amber’s father, sending him this message:
It’s rare in life when one meets a kindred spirit… A couple of madmen with the thirst for ‘FURTHER!!!’… Their have only been maybe 3 people in my entire life, of your ilk!!!You’re a rare specimen and our friendship means everything!!!
Considering Johnny and Amber had very similar childhoods, grew up in the same part of the country (which is where Johnny’s taste in music comes from), both pursued a career in the arts, and Johnny and Amber’s dad had tastes that aligned to a tee, it seems like that’s a much simpler explanation for why Amber had similar interests.
Also, the only reason she even met him in the first place (two full years before Depp claims she began pursuing him romantically) is because she was a fan of Hunter S. Thompson and wanted to be in The Rum Diary for that reason. Of course she had similar taste in writers.
So, they made an appointment. She came to my office. I took one look at her and I thought, "Yeah, that's the Chenault that Hunter wants. That's the one." I thought, "Yeah, she could definitely kill me." That's what Hunter wants. And so we spoke, and she was sweetest pie, pleasant. Again, you know, intelligent, literate, very good taste.
It’s also an acknowledged fact by both Depp and Heard that Johnny made the first move. From Amber’s testimony:
And then at the end of it, I was invited, by Johnny, to come up to his room to have a drink with him and the director of the film. And I went up to the room to see both him and Bruce. But as soon as I got there, Johnny said Bruce wasn't going to make it.
From Depp’s testimony:
We did the press conference, and at end of the day, I had invited Ms. Heard and the director, Bruce Robinson, after the press, to come to the holding room, the hotel room that I was in, to have a glass of wine. Ms. Heard showed up, Mr. Robinson did not. We shared a bottle of wine and we spoke.
Even if you take Depp’s word and assume that nothing shady was involved in a middle-aged rich and powerful man inviting a young woman up to his hotel room while promising another person would be present, only for said other person to not be present, it is still clear that Depp initiated the romance. That doesn’t really match with his extraordinary claims about Amber’s endless lies/manipulations in pursuit of getting him to date her.
Because it is very relevant to the nature of Depp’s claims, it is important to call out when he is guilty of doing something he has accused Amber of. So here I will call attention to the fact that Depp admits he stole the very personality he accuses Amber of stealing from Keith Richards:
“I sucked him dry,” he says without hesitation.
Depp has always been exceedingly open about his “influences,” as can be evidenced by reading any interview he’s ever done. A huge percentage of his personality is merely a collection of things Marlon Brando, Hunter S. Thompson, and Keith Richards once said to him, and he’s proud of that fact.
I’d met him once before and we’d gotten along well, over wine and cigarettes, so well that he’d requested the magazine make me the one sitting here right now. But today, he was as the dutiful, fawning son of a much-adored father, with Richards, some 20 years his senior, playing the dad part. I couldn’t blame him. But it was a little disheartening, given Depp’s long-standing reputation for being nothing if not his own man.
Johnny was so mad on Richard’s behalf this poor Rolling Stone writer didn’t know his “signature skull ring” that he wrote Rolling Stone to complain:
Thankfully, my time with the two ended shortly thereafter, with Richards making for the exit. Depp disappeared too, leaving me to wobble around, at a loss and fearing for my job. Just then, Depp returned, scowling and looking pretty damn pissed off. “What the fuck’s wrong with you, man?” he said to me. “His ring. How the hell couldn’t you know about that? I mean, for Christ’s sake.” Before I could really speak, he was gone again. Later, I heard that he wrote my boss, Jann Wenner, to complain about the thumb-wrestling moment in particular, to which Wenner apparently said, “Huh, guess he doesn’t have a sense of humor.”
Another one of Depp’s most consistent claims about Amber is that she is “ambitious.” “Ambition” is to Johnny’s testimony what drugs and alcohol are to Amber’s – not in the sense that the two concepts are equal or equally supported by actual evidence, but in the sense that Johnny throws out Amber’s “ambition” and her “wanting to get ahead” as if it is a fact about her and explains all of their problems, in the same way that Amber says Johnny’s drug and alcohol abuse caused most of their problems.
As previously established, the most specific Depp ever got was that Amber felt demeaned and sexually uncomfortable in certain roles but accepted them anyway. As also previously established, Amber actually passed on certain roles when they made Depp uncomfortable. She also sent money back to her parents, which is why she needed work.
She did not work for most of 2015 specifically because it was making Johnny “jealous and fucking crazy, weird” in his own words. After the events of Australia, Amber did not take on any new work (she had outstanding obligations to finish The Danish Girl and do press for the Magic Mike XXL premiere) until Aquaman was finalized in 2016. She didn’t film anything new until after her and Johnny’s marriage was over.
It is hard to square how many opportunities Amber let pass her by – specifically because Johnny requested she do so – with the accusation that she was “SO FUCKIN’ AMBITIOUS!!!”
Also important to note that Depp owns a production company – literally a company that’s job is to make projects – and Depp doesn’t even allege, much less attempt to provide proof, that Amber ever asked him to produce a project for her. If she really were so ambitious, and married Depp to become more famous as he claims, it is hard to understand why she wouldn’t take advantage of an opportunity that was essentially placed in front of her on a silver platter.
Again, there is compelling evidence that this claim is projection on Depp’s part. Even though he was raking in tremendous amounts of money based on his film roles, specifically as Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean, he was consistently struggling with his finances. That’s because he spent money in objectively insane, wasteful, and reckless ways. For example, spending $5 million to send Hunter S. Thompson’s ashes into space or spending upwards of $30,000 a month on wine.
Beginning as early as 2009, Depp was in a prolonged financial crisis which affected the roles he took and parts he went for. He consistently turned down opportunities to be in quality films because he would only accept the highest-paying offer, in order to continue his lavish lifestyle. For example, when Depp’s beloved 1480 Sweetzer property originally went on the market, Depp’s financial managers emailed him that:
The timing is not ideal. One of the things that we talked about in the beginning of the year was the need to put ourselves back on a better footing from a cash flow perspective, including restricting our level of ‘investment’ spending
Depp replied:
I will call tracey [Jacobs, his agent] and jake [Bloom, his lawyer] and prepare them to make some ludicrous deals to refill the glass and make it fucking overflow!!! Whatever we have to acquire 1480, let’s do!!!! WE MUST BUY THIS HOUSE!!!
The most glaring example of this would be his lead role in the 2014 film Transcendence, which is terrible. To star in this movie, he turned down work in Wes Anderson’s Grand Budapest Hotel, because it was offering him less money. Tracey Jacobs begged him not to do this, because she was worried if the quality of his films continued to be so poor he would begin losing opportunities, but Johnny wanted the immediate payday.
Transcendence went on to be a commercial and critical disaster, and Grand Budapest Hotel won five Oscars, was nominated for an additional five including Best Picture, and received nominations at the British Academy Film and Cesar Awards. Transcendence lost $47 million on a $150 million budget. Grand Budapest Hotel earned $172.6 million on a budget of only $25 million. Ironically, if Depp had signed the deal Tracy Jacobs had arranged to receive back-end payments for Grand Budapest, he would have actually made $12 million more than what he received for the failure that was Transcendence.
Here is Depp explaining in his UK testimony why he hates the word “ambition” as it relates to Amber:
Unfortunately, ambition, for me, is one of those words that is, that has become ugly in a sense that ambition to be a star or to be an actress or to be an actor without having done the work, when all you want is the recognition or the fame, you are interested in the result and not the journey. That is why ambition, the word "ambition", to me, is one that I dislike as a rule, simply because I believe that hungry or passionate or driven is the way to approach one's work. That is my feeling.
“I will call tracey and jake and prepare them to make some ludicrous deals to refill the glass and make it fucking overflow!!! Whatever we have to acquire 1480, let’s do!!!!” certainly sounds like someone being “interested in the result and not the journey.”
Knowing that Depp’s own lavish spending was the reason he signed for so many terrible films in the aughts and 2010’s, I’d like to highlight this quote he gave Vanity Fair in 2011:
Basically, if they’re going to pay me the stupid money right now, I’m going to take it. I have to. I mean, it’s not for me. Do you know what I mean? At this point, it’s for my kids. It’s ridiculous, yeah, yeah. But ultimately is it for me? No. No. It’s for the kids.
Depp was clearly aware that the quality of role he was accepting did not reflect well on his talents as an artist, and had some shame about that, hence hiding behind the financial futures of his kids. Considering this information, his claims that Amber was “ambitious” and that this was a “negative” for him seems to speak to his own discomfort in his “selling out” as an artist. It was an issue hypersensitive to him because his lifestyle demanded he give up his artistic principles. Instead of coming to terms with his own issues or reigning in his spending, it seems he just took it out on Amber.
Another one of Depp’s claims is that Amber constantly belittled him by calling him a bad father. The only evidence of this he can provide is this audio, recorded sometime in February 2016:
I hope one day you can teach your son how to be a man, because you’re so good at it.
Hey, if you haven’t learned this shit in fifty-fucking-something years, you’re never gonna learn. I hope to God, I hope to God, Jack’s stepfather teaches him more about being a man, than your fucking, your fucking left nut.
Obviously, these are mean and hurtful things for Amber to say, but there is no evidence that Amber said anything like this with any kind of frequency.
For instance, another audio recorded in January or February of 2016 (based on context, I have placed it being recorded around January 13th or January 20th, because that is when Amber had appointments with Dr. Anderson). The excerpts below begin roughly one hour and 18 minutes in to Plt394. For context, Amber is saying she has been trying to work on certain things about herself to help their marriage. Johnny clearly disagrees, and says:
Hence screaming when I spilt wine accidentally on you, falling asleep. And screaming in front of my kids and freaking Jack out. And that’s trying?
They have a brief exchange in which Amber ironically says “I’m sorry I fucked your kids up.” Followed by this:
JD: You didn’t fuck my kids up. But it was pretty fucking weird for him, you know.
AH: Cause I jumped up and screamed cause I had wine on my face? You’re right, I really surprised him. Send me the bill for the counselling. I’m sure that’s terrifying.
JD: I don’t need your clever comebacks.
AH: You’re gonna use that against me?
JD: No. You think you’re controlling yourself?
AH: Your character is—
JD: You think you’re controlling yourself?
AH: Your character has become so clear, especially when you use them. It’s embarrassing for you. I’m gonna walk away now, because you’re actually making it – making me seem even worse. And believe you me, I’m not gonna be calling you at 3 o’clock in the morning after I’ve done an Ambien, and think “oh no, I’ll just fucking forgive you and move on.” Trust me, it is gross that you’re using your kids. I have done nothing but be there for them, in a good way, and if you take that for granted, fine. Fine. You’re right. Meet a woman who will not jump up and scream if she’s been spilled on three times in a row. And I hope – and I hope you’re happy with whoever that is, cause that would be a special kind of fucking person, wouldn’t it? (Long Pause)
Sorry it had to end this way, really. It’s not worth it for me. You’re not worth it. You know, I don’t think we’re in love anymore.
As evidenced here, Amber is extremely upset by Johnny involving the kids, and she leaves the conversation when he does so. Also notice how this exchange is the exact opposite of what Depp claims – here it is him using his kids against her, not the other way around. Even in the middle of a fight, when Depp is somehow upset at Amber for behavior he engaged in while breaking sobriety in front of his own kids, Amber does not throw that back at him. She instead decides to step away from the conversation.
Another example of Depp attempting to use his kids against Amber and her refusing to participate comes from the audio recorded in Toronto, September 2015. This excerpt picks up right around the last one I quoted from this argument, when Depp says he has kids and Amber says it’s a miracle:
JD: Fucking yeah it’s a miracle
AH: Your miracle
JD: You bet. Say something bad about it.
AH: Why would I ever do that? Why would I ever do that?
JD: Well
AH: Not paranoia or anything.
For context, in this fight Depp has already called her a cunt, accused her of having affairs, and actually thrown his wedding ring at the ground. And after all that, when Depp attempts to get her to say something bad about his parenting, she reacts with disgust at the suggestion.
Evidence to how rarely Amber brought the kids into arguments can be found in Depp’s response to her insults from 2016:
Hey, that’s good, you gave me some shit about my kids, just like in London
The “London” he refers to here is the incident from October 2013 involving Christopher Lee. (There is a small chance he could also be referring to a fight of theirs from September-October 2014, as that is the only other time they were together in London. But, because Johnny specifically mentions Amber bringing up his kids in the October 2013, which she did because they were upset by his drinking and she was trying to get him to see that, it is most likely the incident he refers to here.)
If Amber really was “constantly” on him about his being a bad father, why does he have to reach back more than 2 ½ years for another example?
So, with the added context that Amber did not attack Depp’s parenting, even in the middle of brutal fights when he explicitly baited her into doing so, let’s revisit the one fight in which she did insult his parenting. The recording most likely took place on February 9th, and definitely before February 14th. The file’s data says it was created on the 10th, but this would only reflect the last date in which Johnny made a change/edit to the file. He mentions plans for the Grammys, which were held 2/15/16. That means this argument took place very close to the end of their relationship, when the fighting was at its worst. Obviously, it does not excuse Amber’s belittling of his parenting, but it does provide a very specific context for which the behavior took place.
(And also, just for one second, put yourself in the position of believing Amber, and imagine how it would feel to know the man who beats the shit out of you is in charge of raising a son. Wouldn’t you hope some other man in Jack’s life was going to teach him something better?)
The audio begins with Depp saying Amber “threw him out” early in the day and “asked him to leave” that night, so they have clearly had some nasty fight. Neither behave particularly maturely in the argument – it is probably their least constructive full-length audio submitted to court – but here are some things Depp said to Amber before she insulted his parenting:
Go fuck a girl
Die
Fucking whore
Filthy whore
He told her:
Stripping, well there’s always that, you can always go back to that.
Which Johnny himself acknowledged Amber was extremely sensitive about. In their recorded phone call from June 2016, when she tells him she’s worried he’s going to leak it to the press, he makes a big show out of how he would never do that:
I never told anyone that. You fucking trusted me with that, and I’ve never fucking told anyone that. And you know what? Amber, this is me saying, I tried, and thank you, and I will see you in fucking court. You don’t want to fucking make nice nice? I’m trying, I’m trying, but you know what? I loved you for so many fucking years, but you know what? You didn’t exist, you don’t exist. You’re not there, you’re not there. You were a fucking made-up thing in my head, and I can’t believe you’re doing this to me.
He also said this to her:
You’re gonna have to figure out what you have to offer, as opposed to going out and getting your tits out.
As you can see from the above quote, whatever argument they had earlier in the night revolved around Amber’s career. That’s why she begins insulting his career, which is clear from the nature of her insults:
You’re right. I mean, hey, at least I didn’t do, like, a teen show or a park ride in my twenties. God, that would be, like, embarrassing! If only I was with someone in their fifties that could point that out to me! Magic Mike, you’re right, when I play a non-sexualized object, okay.
There is also evidence that he was physically aggressive with her earlier in the argument. Because it is purely audio and no visual, sometimes it is hard to understand fully what is happening. But Depp is yelling at her, shuffling is heard, then this exchange happens:
AH: Don’t. Please. You’re gonna make me fall. Please.
JD: You’re not gonna fall
AH: Yes you are
Occam’s Razor - Depp was pushing and/or grabbing her.
There is also evidence as to Amber’s attempts to handle Depp’s oversensitivity to criticism within this same audio. At the beginning, before they both get heated, she is trying to explain to him that he is messing up the recording by accidentally stopping and starting it, and she asks him to take off his “Ray Charles” glasses so she can see his eyes. Depp is clearly out of it here – whether just being sleepy or being wasted on something is up for the listener to decide – but he hears Ray Charles and thinks Amber’s talking about the Grammys, because he starts talking about them and Amber tells him nobody is talking about the Grammys. He responds:
Huh, then I’m really a loser
Amber responds:
No, you’re not a loser. You’re just asleep, or sleepy.
Amber says something neutral, Depp takes it as criticism, she has to calm him down.
I’m going to briefly touch upon Amber’s relationship with Lily-Rose and Jack. Depp’s testimony was very specific that they did not like Amber and wanted to get her out of his life. Showing that’s a lie is important in showing how Depp’s narrative is false. It also shows that Depp as a father is not above using his kids as pawns in his legal game, which is undeniably pretty gross.
Depp claims that Lily-Rose didn’t like Amber. When confronted with the texts from February 2014 that I quoted earlier, the ones where she begs him not to leave Amber because Amber’s making him a better father, Depp claimed that was from a “very brief period” when Amber and Lily got along. He specifically says in his testimony that Amber and Lilly had fallen out by February 2015, and that is the reason Lily-Rose didn’t attend their wedding.
That testimony is contradicted by texts Amber and Lily Rose exchanged in December of 2015, after Amber says Johnny headbutted her:
AH: So, here’s the thing mini balls … I might not be able to go to the island for Christmas this year with you guys!! I might have to be with my family instead… (Long story I won’t bore you with right now) so I’m worried that I won’t get to see you and meet your man! Maybe I can see you guys soon? I’m dying to see your face! I miss you so much
L-RD: oh no!! how come?? Is everything okay??
And yes of course!! We can come down tomorrow morning and hang if u want??
AH: Yeah, don’t worry sweet thing.
I’d love to see you tmrw though! I’m free in the afternoon… Are you busy then?
L-RD: I have a dinner at 7! How early are you free?
AH: I’m free around 4:30!
L-RD: fuck I just saw your text! Sorry Ladyballs! Are you for sure not coming to the island??
Their matching nicknames (mini balls, ladyballs) betray a closeness Depp claims they didn’t have, as well as Lily-Rose’s disappointment Amber isn’t coming to the Bahamas and her attempts to see her before then. And again, this is in December 2015. That’s very close to the time Depp and Amber’s relationship ended. Does not really leave time for the narrative Depp put forward to be true at any point.
Jack’s name was hardly mentioned in the trial, but based on audio recorded in September 2015, we know that Amber and Jack had a good relationship through that point. At the end of their 4-hour long discussion, Amber and Depp have a normal conversation about their plans for the day. Depp says he is waiting for Jack to come over. Amber says he’s probably not coming because he’s at “a Halloween thing.” Depp reads his texts aloud to Amber, where at 10am Jack said he’d come over to Sweetzer at 1 or 2. Then Amber shows Depp texts Jack sent her that he was going to the Halloween thing. When Depp realizes Jack lied to him, he says “fucker” and “well, that’s alright. Maybe he was afraid to tell me.” So through September 2015, Jack was texting with Amber independent of Johnny and actually felt comfortable telling her things he didn’t tell his father. She had also taken Jack to Disneyland that August and the two spent all day there.
Johnny has at various points made claims about Amber being “jealous.” He never brings these claims up independently, but only ever in response to an allegation Amber has already raised. It’s not clear to what extent he actually believes this to have been an influential factor in their relationship.
There is very little evidence of Amber being jealous. The extent of the evidence is this note from Erin Falati from September 2014, which actually demonstrates Amber verbalizing and working through her feelings in a healthy way:
RN and ct discuss ct’s history and current relationship. Ct reports difficulty with jealousy issues and anxiety around fiancé’s fame and ability to interact with females often. 1:1 emotional support given. Ct is encouraged to continue activities to enhance wellbeing such as therapy, journaling, sleep hygiene. Ct agrees.
There is also a major difference in Johnny’s jealousy versus Amber’s jealousy. While Johnny has never been able to provide any compelling evidence that Amber was cheating on him, there is at least four definitive instances of Johnny cheating on Amber from 2012-2015. Once in April 2012, with two separate women in December 2012, again in December 2014, and in March 2015 (a month after their wedding). Compelling evidence as to April 2016 as well. One of these instances, from December 2012, was caught by paparazzi and made headline news – Amber would have been extremely aware. That is why she said in her UK witness statement:
I knew that he had cheated on me before
Her expressing moderate feelings of jealousy, when she knows Johnny cheats on her frequently, is not controlling or possessive behavior. Johnny can provide no evidence that she ever used claims of him cheating to control his behavior.
The last claim Depp makes about Amber is regarding the “splitting” issue – that he would try to leave fights because she was escalating and getting crazy/violent, and she wouldn’t let him or would be angry at him for doing so. I want to address these claims here as they are relevant, but they are also explicitly linked to the physical violence which is addressed in Incidents #1-18 and I think it is impossible to fully understand the truth of this matter when it is removed from that context.
Instead of doing a comprehensive analysis of these claims (that is found within the numbered Incidents), I just want to present evidence that should make you question Depp’s testimony/narrative and consider that something else was at play here.
Most importantly, the fact that Depp can provide no evidence of this behavior from Amber until 2015. The earliest complaints he makes about this come from July 2015. Before then, it is overwhelmingly demonstrated that Amber would leave during particularly ugly fights and this would upset Johnny to an extreme degree.
For example, a fight the two had in March 2013 (covered fully under Incident #2) involved Johnny refusing to leave Amber’s apartment for more than four hours, even though she repeatedly asked him to, as admitted by Johnny in his testimony:
Q. And we have agreed that there was an argument?
A. Yes.
Q. You have agreed that Whitney came, you were waiting, they were trying to get you away for four hours?
A. Yes.
Once Amber did finally get him to leave, she exchanged texts with his assistant Nathan Holmes to make sure he would not be coming back that night:
AH: Is he still hanging out ? Does he seem like he’ll stay settled ?
NH: He’s sat in 66 with rush, Calvin, and Bruce .. I’m hiding in the kitchen
AH: Ok. Good. I hope he wants to stay there
I’ll text him I’m falling out soon [I believe this is a typo for “I’m falling asleep soon”]. Maybe that’ll help
NH: He should stay , I will make sure he does .. Get a good nights sleep.
After a fight in July 2013 which ended in Amber leaving Johnny’s yacht with his daughter Lily-Rose (covered fully under Incident #4), Johnny sent her numerous text messages:
Rears??? Ahhh!!! Tears??? Beers??? Sheers??? Saphires??? Leers??? Jeers??? Peers??? Queers??? Here’s??? Faquirs??? Mouseketeers ears???
…I can go all night… DJ Maxipad!!
The old vintage motherfucker you went for… Dumbass.
Don’t call me again and do NOT expect anything from me.
Eat salad with your equine a d bovine yurps…
And thanks for the support… Have a great shoot!!!
You sicken me…
Leave me fuckin’ be, Officer square head…
Your display of guilt and matronliness as as a lesbian camp councilor was plenty… Your future is on display. Best if luck… and… Thanks for the tunes…
Bye.
JD
Don’t call me again… I will begin to feel embarrassed for you… Go away, Coach!!!
D O N E .
Hup!!!
Done.
This sort of reaction from Johnny – telling Amber she sickens him and that their relationship is over – is undeniably extreme and demonstrates why Amber would start feeling anxiety over periods of separation.
More evidence of Amber leaving during a fight, and proof that Depp would be extremely upset when she did so, comes from February 2014. Johnny texted Amber’s sister Whitney:
I'm good, just can't deal anymore. She's crossed the line again, always too much. She told me she was leaving again and she did. She's made the choice. A person needs to think before they go squirrely. So fucking sad. I have never done anything but love her.
We see this pattern of behavior from Depp again in May of 2014. While the nature of the plane ride from Boston to LA is contested (fully covered under Incident #6), the facts that Amber did not go home with Depp and instead went to a hotel are not. In response to her leaving him, Depp sent her this:
I see that understanding and forgiveness ain’t on the menu… I’m disappointed to see that, but, not too surprised, I suppose…
And then 30 minutes later followed with:
I hear, sadly, through others that you will be flying back to NYC tonight. Unfair for you to run away… But, perhaps you’re right…
Again, I’m sorry… But, I don’t deserve this.. It’s an ugly decision
This is my last text.
I love you so much
Be well
JD
During a December 2014 fight over Amber meeting with Clive Barker, Amber was also the one to leave, as evidenced by a series of texts they exchanged. First Depp texts Amber that he is sorry he upset her, apologizing for his “agony” and “rage.” Amber replied that she was out and would see him when she got home. He responded:
Wish you were in this Lunatic’s proximity
Later that day Johnny went to see his therapist, who noted:
"Big fight with girlfriend yesterday," "Struggling with how to separate," "Let her tell you her feelings," "Relationship needs to take care of you," "Her to go to a safe zone, withdraw,"
Relevant information pertaining to the “splitting” issue can be found in Depp and Amber’s audio from Toronto. From this recording, we get evidence as to why Amber does not like to leave fights:
AH: What was it when you asked me to stay? In Australia, you said, “do you promise me not to leave?” What did I do?
JD: I thought you would change.
AH: What did I do?
JD: Not change
AH: What did I do?
JD: Not change
AH: Did I stay or did I leave? Did I stay or did I leave?
JD: You stayed, and you didn’t change, and you were a fucking pain in the ass, and you were a cunt.
AH: So I stayed. And I’ve been a cunt ever since?
JD: Pretty much.
(Based on context, the “Australia” referred to here is the second trip, not the first. Both agree the second trip to Australia in April 2013 was a real “honeymoon” phase.)
A few minutes later in this same argument, they have this exchange:
JD: Every time I do this? Really?
AH: Yes.
JD: You were the one to leave in Australia.
AH: Every time you do this—
JD: You were the one to leave in Australia.
AH: That was months ago. That was like six months ago.
This argument shows Depp holding it against Amber that she left him in Australia, and that afterward Depp asked Amber not to leave him again, a promise she took seriously. More evidence of this comes from the 4-hour long recording from September 2015 (chronologically falls after the Toronto fight). Amber says:
We got married so we could have stability. So the relationship wasn’t on the line every time.
Then later:
If I ran from you the way I used to, before the marriage, we would not be together. When I used to run away when you would… Whatever. When I felt like it was justified. Every time we would almost break up. How terrible was that? How terrible was it for you? We would not be together if I did that.
It is also clear from this audio that when Amber speaks of Depp “splitting,” she does not mean simply leaving a fight to cool down. This excerpt is very long, but I think the full quotation is necessary:
AH: It’s because I come over. And last time, I didn’t – which is what I should always do, and I am learning my fucking lesson is just, when you walk, fucking let you walk. And I – that time, I can’t tell you how done I was. It was like this time in Toronto. I was looking for apartments, I was preparing to tell my parents, my folks, my parents. I was done. And you called me and said “I’m about to go out of town” and ended up, like, whatever. I told you I wasn’t ready to see you because it had gotten so much worse. That I was basically calling—I was—needed to change my life. My life was different, “I am now single, I am no longer with this person, I need to get my shit together, find an apartment, do all this stuff.” It got so much worse, and honestly if that happens one more time, we will break up. I know it. I know we won’t survive it. That was so severe. The damage was so severe when you spent a week here [referring to the Sweetzer house]. You said “I’m gonna go away for a day,” you wrote me a note and left it on the kitchen counter, said “I just need to clear my head for a night, maybe two.” I didn’t hear from you for six.
JD: Oh, when I went with Bruce?
AH: No. This was here, you came here, I stayed Downtown. This is, you were gone for six, seven days. And then I didn’t even let you spend the night in the house, remember? You came over, we talked. I wasn’t even ready. You know how long it took me to take down those walls I built up? It took forever to build those. I was so, it took me so long to trust you even a little bit again. I resented you so much. The damage was very deep. And I know if I let that happen again, in my heart, I know we wouldn’t survive it. So you walk out, and I have one option. That’s why I come to you. If I let it go, which I did last time, which is what I should do, because if you’re willing to walk out, you should be walking out. But I let it go, and it was a fucking week. And it took – I’ll never get some of that back, I’ll never have that trust quite the same way. You left me a note saying “I’m gonna be gone for a night,” we didn’t speak for a week. You didn’t check on me, nothing.
JD: So you thought we were broke up?
AH: Oh yeah, I was preparing to have that conversation with you and be done.
JD: Oh, you just said you were single.
AH: No I said I was preparing to think that way. You know, take care of my own life. Get my own, you know, apartment, that sort of thing.
JD: Well I hope it doesn’t get to that.
AH: No, of course, but I’m just saying. When I didn’t fight for it, when I let it go, it was devastating. Devastating to my heart, my soul, my trust. I can’t do it again. You probably wouldn’t want me to do it again. At least you have, in the back of your mind, that I come. That I show up. I fight, I come. I don’t have that.
JD: I don’t take that for granted, by the way. I don’t always know that you’ll come, that you’ll be knocking, that you’ll wanna talk. I go -- I go because I think “fuck, we’re screwed. Can’t live like this.”
AH: What’s to stop you from doing that again, from thinking that again?
JD: Like I said, like you said, you walk out the door, you walk out the door. That’s the same as rings off, same thing as mentioning divorce.
Note Depp does not dispute his disappearing on her for six or seven days. Amber explains very clearly and calmly here why she doesn’t want him to leave and why she will go to him after fights. It is not to continue the fight, but to prevent the dissolution of their marriage. That is a characterization of her actions Depp not only doesn’t dispute, but actively endorses at the end (“I don’t take that for granted”). On every submitted audio, there is no evidence that Amber followed him places to continue fights – they both agree she would go to him to end fights.
The only evidence besides Depp’s testimony his side could provide for the more violent characterization of her actions, is this short audio from 1/4/16, in which Amber is extremely upset and crying that Depp is leaving an argument. Her language is very extreme, and she does beg him to stay, but as you can hear for yourself as soon as Depp calls Sean Bett over to drive her home, Amber does not fight him. Depp’s team also presented this clip extremely out of context. As you can see from the date it was recorded, 1/4/16, it is a mere two weeks after the 12/15/15 incident (INCIDENT #13), which Amber alleges is only behind the events of Australia as the worst night of physical abuse she endured, and mere days after the Bahamas incident (INCIDENT #14). Earlier in this very same recording, Amber told Depp:
By the way, my family, my friends, everyone around me, saw all the bruises and broken blood vessel under my eye, the bruises on my head, the missing chunks of hair, the split lip, the black eye, the swollen nose, all that shit
The idea that this out-of-context recording, taken at the most physically volatile point of their relationship, is somehow more reflective of Amber’s average mental state than the many other audios spread across 2015, is ridiculous.
Johnny and Amber’s different perspectives on the “splitting” issue is also not an entirely he said/she said situation. One of these instances is caught on tape, again from their argument in Toronto in September 2015.
The audio of this clip is laid out over three different exhibits – Plt342, Plt345, and Def839 – I recommend listening to the full 18 minutes so you have a full understanding of the fight’s tenor (here and here). I will briefly summarize here – Depp is very intense, calling Amber a cunt and throwing his wedding ring at the ground and upset about her “rules,” and Amber is accusing him of running away, saying she does not want a fight, and that he took something small and made it blow up.
(For added context: This fight began because Depp and Amber originally planned on staying in for the night. They ordered pizza, Amber invited her mom to come up, and she took her dress, shoes, and lipstick off. Then Depp changed his mind and wanted to go to an afterparty downstairs at the festival. Amber was upset and at first said she would not go, then went and put her dress and lipstick back on. Once she was ready, Depp said he didn’t want to go with her and that she would have to stay behind in the room. This information comes from the 4-hour long audio recording, roughly 20 minutes in.)
Roughly four minutes into Def839, you will hear that Depp leaves the fight and goes into the bathroom. Amber tells him she’s left a Xanax by the door if he changes his mind and wants to take it. Depp says something impossible to make out on the tape, and this exchange follows (most everything Depp says while he is in the bathroom is impossible to make out, for obvious reasons):
AH: Well, if you choose to take it. I don’t know what I’ve said to make you mad now. But since you’re clearly not responding progressively[?]
JD: [inaudible]
AH: What else can I do but try and tell you I care about you?
JD: [inaudible]
AH: Okay, but you hear how ridiculous you are? You do hear it? You fucking ran away again, because I told you you can’t calm down. It’s a case in point.
JD: [inaudible]
AH: Okay, well, your behavior is making you sick
JD: [inaudible]
AH: Don’t worry, you’re basically [inaudible]. It’s right there, through the door, okay?
JD: [inaudible]
AH: Water? It’s right here.
[footsteps]
AH: There’s some wine in there. Did you just take one? (Pause) Did you just take one? Did it help?
JD: What?
AH: A Xanax
JD: I don’t know. You’ve got wine in here?
AH: I don’t know which one.
JD: May I have a glass?
AH: Yeah, of course.
JD: Do you mind? Are you sure?
AH: I was gonna pour you one.
JD: I’m an alcoholic, are you sure?
AH: I don’t have any control over how much you drink. But you don’t have any control over whether I tell you the truth or not. Have you changed lately? Yeah, you’ve changed.
JD: Alright. Well, your truth is really interesting, too.
AH: Okay, yeah. Well I’m the first person that’s noticed--
JD: Give me a glass of wine please, so I can go downstairs.
AH: Okay. [Glass clinks, pouring heard]. Yes, your escape route, I see.
JD: I’m not escaping. I’ll be back in ten minutes.
AH: Of course. Fifteen minutes? Just like last time?
JD: Fifteen?
AH: Just like last time, when I had to pull you out of the bathroom.
She does continue trying to talk to him through the bathroom door, but after a few sentences exchanged tells him there is Xanax, wine, or water if he wants it, and then walks away (I think context makes it pretty clear he is vomiting in there). The argument only continues when Depp leaves the bathroom and comes back to what is presumably the kitchen area (because there is wine and glasses). Amber even relents to pouring his wine for him, even though she is upset by his drinking and trying to explain how it is affecting his behavior.
As you can hear for yourself, this recording does not line up with Depp’s claim that he only left fights when they were out of control, or physical, and that Amber was relentless in pursuing him to escalate the fight. What you hear on the tape is a belligerent Depp and frustrated Amber, who inch by inch gives in to everything he demands of her.
Now I’m not saying this is definitive proof that every fight between them went this way, but it is the only recorded instance we have of Depp, as he says “retreating” to a bathroom, or “splitting” as Amber calls it, and it is far from the narrative Depp paints.
Here I find it relevant to remind readers that it is literally a pleaded part of Depp’s testimony that you cannot take anything he says at face value because he has an “abstract” and “exaggerated” way of speaking. If you are willing to believe that excuse when it comes to his threats to mutilate several men he perceived as threats to his relationship with Amber, his texts saying he will rape her burnt corpse, his texts saying he wants her corpse rotting in the trunk of a car, etc., why are you not willing to believe he is using this same voice when – in the middle of heated arguments with Amber – he characterizes her as a relentless harpy? It is just a very ridiculous pill for me to swallow that every time he talks about being violent or abusive with Amber and explains his drug use, that is all over-stated and misinterpreted; but every time he is explaining something his horrible, nagging, “cunt” wife did to him, I am expected to accept that as the gods-honest truth?
The last point I want to briefly touch on here is the one part about Depp’s testimony, in regard to Amber’s alleged “emotional abuse,” that is actually true. She did consistently accuse the people in his life of being “yes men” who catered to his wishes. Because that is a true and demonstrable fact. This will come up often in Incidents #1 through #18, but here I will briefly outline their enabling behavior. This is also especially relevant because Depp relies on the presence of his security/assistants often in his testimony, suggesting that these people would “never” allow harm to come to Amber or anyone else.
In 2020, a producer on one of Depp’s recent projects told The Hollywood Reporter:
He’s just never been told no for the past 35 years. That’s typical in Hollywood. But I’ve never seen it to this extent
After going through Depp’s August 2014 Detox, Dr. Kipper emailed Christi that:
There’s also an issue of patience. He is driven also reflexively by his ID. He has no patience for not getting his needs met, has no understanding of delayed gratification, and is quite childlike in his reactions when he does not get immediate satisfaction.
And that:
For my two cents, I think he needs to remain committed, endure some discomfort. He’s actually ever had very little.
In February of 2015, after Depp had been more than seven hours late to many days of filming on Pirates 5, both the President and Vice President of Disney got in contact with Tracy Jacobs and Christi Dembrowski, expressing serious concern over Depp’s behavior. In an email exchange, Christi still told Tracy Jacobs not to call or email Depp or put too much pressure on him:
I know you could call or e-mail, or go through the guys, but not sure how that would go over if it’s just telling him what he needs to do to be better. That’s not always helpful with all people, to be honest.
A few days later, when Nathan Holmes expressed to Depp that he couldn’t get him more than 2 grams of cocaine at a time due to Queensland felony laws, Depp and Nathan had this exchange:
JD: I don’t need you for that ... no more
NH: I’m sorry you feel that way.
JD: No, you’re not Why?? That is not part of the job description. And I’m telling you now ... Any ONE of ANY of you guys start to lecture me ... I just do not want to hear it ... No stupid bullshit about sappy bollocks.
NH: I am not and never would lecture you ... Have I not been helping, I’m trying to keep the supply coming ... But it’s not the same here. Sorry.
JD: I am a grown fucking man and I will NOT BE JUDGED.
NH: I have never judged you and never will!! I fucking love you and do everything I can to make you happy.
JD: AND I WILL NEVER ... EVER ... LIVE... IN THIS WORLD CAGE ANY LONGER.
NH: Do you honestly think I ever want to upset you!! You have been nothing but good to me for my entire career ... It is because of you that I am still in this industry!! I only want you to be happy.
JD: I’ll do whatever I damn well please.
NH: I would encourage you to do it!! You are my legend!! Fuck Disney ... I know you will ... And I will never stop you from doing whatever you please
JD: That’s very sweet and you know I love you
NH: I know you do!! That’s why it upsets me when you get like this ... You know I would die for you ... For your kids!! I will do anything in my power ever to make you happy ... ANYTHING!!!’
Focus particularly on this exchange:
JD: I’ll do whatever I damn well please.
NH: I would encourage you to do it!! You are my legend!! Fuck Disney ... I know you will ... And I will never stop you from doing whatever you please
Again, Depp was consistently up to seven hours late to Pirates filming and was costing Disney hundreds of thousands of dollars a day, as well as forcing 300 extras (who made SIGNIFICANTLY less money than Depp to work in MUCH worse conditions) to wait in the heat for those seven hours. And Nathan Holmes is not only encouraging the behavior, but actually egging it on.
Stephen Deuters similarly sent Depp this message:
When I was a kid I loved my writers, my directors, my musicians ... But there was only one actor I loved. ONE actor whose films I would go and see every single one of, at the cinema. And I was not alone. Nor am I now. You are a MAVERICK. An ARTIST. A bona fide FUCKING LEGEND. One of the ALL TIME GREATS ... ALL TIME!!! You are LOVED out there in the world and all anybody wants to see on the screen is the Johnny Depp they know and LOVE. That said you DESERVE some time off - take a break, look after yourself for a while – then we can discuss other stuff, you need to be less harsh on yourself and remember and salute all that you have accomplished in life. No one has achieved what you have managed to achieve from critical hero to box office juggernaut, all the while managing to retain the people’s touch. A phenomenal, unprecedented, never to be repeated feat!!! You’ve inspired MUTIPLE generations of young artists, from actors to musicians, to wannabe writers ... In fact similar to Keith in that respect, you’ve transcended all genres – you’re the one who everybody loves, been accepted by every niche. So, as I’ve told you before, to call it an honor to work for you, doesn’t do my feelings on the topic any justice whatsoever. But safe to say, I wouldn’t work for anyone else. You’re the reason I’m in this business, and by fuck does this business need you.
Which shows a complete inability on the part of Christi, Nathan Holmes, and Stephen Deuters to ever hold Depp even remotely accountable for his actions.
Sean Bett acknowledges in his testimony that a night of drinking in 2017 caused Depp to engage in behavior that led to police nearly being called, until Bett stepped in and did something to talk people down. Which shows that his security guards, as well as his family and assistants, were involved in shielding Depp from ever facing consequences for his actions.
Pirates of the Caribbean was also not the only time Depp struggled to be on time for projects, as 2015 emails between Tracy Jacobs and Christi reveal:
Jerry has said he’s been late every day at least two hours. He also referenced his lateness on Alice 2 and Mordecai, which clearly is out there.
This email supports the statement of one executive who worked with Depp:
One studio executive who has worked with Depp in recent years says his inner demons had long ago bled into his professional life, making him “a huge liability” thanks to frequent tardiness and costly behavior
Peter Weir, the director of Dead Poets Society, quit working on Depp’s ill-fated project “Shantaram.” According to Ethan Hawke, good friend of Weir, Johnny is a huge part of why he no longer makes movies:
I think he lost interest in movies. He really enjoyed that work when he didn’t have actors giving him a hard time. Russell Crowe and Johnny Depp broke him
In their countersuit against Depp, his former managers said he has a “clear and epic” sense of entitlement. That very thing is displayed in his “negotiations” for a $5 million loan from United Talent Agency, who represented him for most of his career:
Q. And what did Mr. Depp say at this meeting?
A. He walked into the – he walked into the room, and he asked us to give him $20 million.
Q. As a loan?
A. No, to give him $20 million.
Q. And did he say why he wanted UTA to give him $20 million?
A. Because he felt we should, because we had made so much money together over the years.
When UTA explained they were in no financial position to be giving away $20 million, Depp did not take it well:
A. He was angry.
Q. Visibly Angry?
A. Yes
Q. And how did the – how did that meeting end, at his office?
A. He was furious.
Another example of Depp’s entitlement comes from 2018. For reasons that will soon become clear, it is important to know that both Aquaman/DC Comics and the Fantastic Beasts franchise are owned by Warner Bros.
At Comic Con that year, Warner Bros. surprised fans by bringing Depp out on stage as Grindelwald.
They also surprised Amber Heard, who was there for her role as Mera in Aquaman. Nobody cared enough about her allegations to give her a heads-up that Johnny would be there, much less celebrated on stage.
If anyone had a right to be upset that day, it was undeniably Amber. Instead, something happened that made Depp extremely upset and he yelled at a Warner Bros. executive:
Backstage, tensions erupted between Depp and Rich, according to eyewitnesses, and Rich later complained to colleagues that Depp spoke to her in a menacing manner.
Instead of doing anything to reprimand Depp for accosting and making a female executive feel unsafe, Warner Bros. gave Depp a cushy deal:
Nevertheless, Warners — then headed up by CEO Kevin Tsujihara — brought Depp back for a third outing in a move approved by creator J.K. Rowling and gave him a pay-or-play contract that did not contain a morality clause. As a result, the studio was stuck paying his entire $16 million payday for the film even after firing him in the wake of the U.K. verdict.
There is also evidence that Depp’s security, which he often suggested were true professionals who would never allow misconduct, are extremely unsafe. For instance, the fact that one of them accidentally discharged his weapon on Depp’s property and shot himself:
Plaintiffs themselves were exposed to unsafe conditions and situations. As an example, on one occasion while he was in the security control room located on Depp’s compound with his direct supervisor, Leonard Damian, Sanchez heard a gunshot. He looked to Damian who had taken his gun out of its holster for some unknown reason. Damian, shocked and confused asked Sanchez “Are you hit? Are you hit?” Damian then frantically started looking for where the bullet from his gun had gone. Suddenly Sanchez and Damian noticed the hole in Damian’s pants and the blood gushing from his leg. Unbelievably, while playing with his weapon in a small control room on Johnny Depp’s property, Leonard Damian, head of Depp’s security detail shot himself in the leg. Although stunned to find himself in such an unsafe and life threatening situation at work, Sanchez had no choice but to rush Damian to the hospital in response to Damian’s demands.
Leonard Damian is still employed by Depp.
Here I will point out how weird it is that Depp has almost no normal friends – everyone in his “inner circle,” such as Jerry Judge, were all people he paid to be with him. Even his “friend” Isaac Baruch considers Depp his “patron” because he pays all of his expenses. People such as Stephen Deuters are paid to be Johnny’s assistant and friend, and only have “careers” in Hollywood because Johnny is willing to give them vanity credits on his productions. They literally owe everything in their lives to him.
For the entirety of their marriage, Amber was the only person consistently in Depp’s life who wasn’t financially dependent on him – and as I’ve demonstrated, he tried very hard to prevent her from taking roles, which would have resulted in her becoming dependent on him.
One final anecdote that I believe really captures how helpless Depp is without his endless ring of enablers. When Stephen Rodrick (writer for Rolling Stone) was leaving Depp’s estate, he called for his guards to see Stephen out. None of them were in earshot, and Depp had to do it himself. Upon making it to the gate, he realized he had no idea how to open the entrance to his own home. He never did figure it out, and Rodrick had to jump the fence to leave:
For the next 15 minutes, Depp tries to figure out how to open the gates to his mansion fortress. He clicks buttons and pushes the fence, but nothing budges. He is a lost boy who won’t find his way home before dark. I finally tell him I can shimmy over the fence. I clamber over and jump down. Through the bars we say good night.
“Take care, man,” he says. He goes silent for a moment. “Thank you for listening.”
He then turns around and walks back into his gilded prison and pushes open the heavy door. After a moment, it slams shut behind him.
