Johnny Depp takes his honor seriously: the Hollywood star created the surprise Wednesday by going in person to a court of London, where the actor pursues for defamation a tabloid who had portrayed him as violent husband. The Pirate of the Caribbean actor accuses The Sun and its owner News Group Newspapers of having presented as a proven fact, in an article published in April 2018, that he had struck the one who was then his wife, the American actress Amber Heard.
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The couple had divorced their parents in 2016, just over a year after their marriage. The 33-year-old actress spoke of "years" of "physical and psychological" violence , which Depp denies. Dressed in a dark blue suit, the 56-year-old star sat behind his lawyers during a preliminary hearing during which his ex-wife was described as "the aggressor".
His lawyer David Sherborne said he would present evidence to that effect at the trial, which is scheduled to last ten days from March 23. "There is such a contrast between the version of events provided by Ms. Heard and that of Mr. Depp," he said. "It's black and white. One person (...) lies, and not the other, " he continued. "Obviously, we say that it is Mrs. Heard (who is lying), Mr. Depp is 100% clear about this".
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He made reference to a recording recently unveiled in the media, in which the actress admits to hitting Johnny Depp. This "demonstrates in her own voice that she was not a victim of domestic violence, but rather that she was the aggressor". Johnny Depp's defamation lawsuits against his ex-wife in the United States are also continuing, according to Sherborne.
Depp and Heard had met on the set of Rhum Express (2011), while the actor was still living with French actress and singer Vanessa Paradis, mother of her children Lily-Rose and Jack. The French star had publicly supported her ex-boyfriend, claiming that he had never been violent with her.