If you thought all the dust had settled, or at least all the drama had been uncovered during theJohnny Deppvs.Amber Hearddefamation trial, think again. Over the weekend, more than 6,000 pages ofcourt documents were unsealedand viewed byThe Daily Beast,and they showlegal strategiesand reams of evidence that were excluded from the trial, including the fact that Heard walked away from tens of millions during their divorce proceedings.
Among the documents are exhibits of text messages, including an exchange between Heard and Depp’s then-assistant Stephen Deuters about Depp allegedly kicking Heard during a fight aboard a private jet. Deuters texted:
“If someone was truly honest with him about how bad it really was, he would be appalled. I’m sad he does not have a better way to really know the severity of his actions yesterday. Unfortunately for me, I remember them in full, in full detail, everything that happened. He was appalled, when I told him he kicked you, he cried.”
Depp subsequently texted Heard:
“Once again, I find myself in a place of shame and regret. Of course, I am sorry…I will never do it again…My illness somehow crept up and grabbed me…I feel so bad for letting you down.”
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Depp’s legal teamwas somehow able to convince the court to exclude the jury from taking into account the testimony of actress Ellen Barkin, who had claimed Depp angrily threw a bottle in her direction while they were dating. There were texts between Depp and his actor/pal Paul Bettany wherein Bettany suggested they submit Heard to a “drowning test” to determine whether or not she’s a “witch,” to which Depp replied:
“Let’s drown her before we burn her!!!…”
There is audio evidence, including one of Heard telling Depp to “go put your f****g cigarettes out on someone else.” Also excluded was the testimony of Dr. Dawn M. Hughes, a psychologist who met with Heard for 29 hours over four sessions and determined that she suffered from PTSD due to “intimate partner violence” by Depp. And there were text messages from Depp to Heard like one where he called her a “whore” who was “begging for total global humiliation,”
Documents also reveal that Depp wanted to submit nudes of his ex-wife into evidence, but Heard’s team argued to the judge that evidence of a number of “irrelevant personal matters” should be excluded from the defamation trial. The legal team also alleged that the actor sought to introduce other irrelevant personal matters such as “Amber’s brief stint as an exotic dancer years before she met Mr. Depp and Mr. Depp attempting to frivolously and maliciously suggest or imply that Ms. Heard was at one time an escort.”
