“I have never hit Miss Heard or any other woman in my life.
Hollywood actor Johnny Depp on Tuesday categorically dismissed in a US court the accusations of violence made by his ex-wife Amber Heard, assertions which would have "deeply shocked" him.
Amber Head's allegations are "odious and disturbing" and "based on no kind of truth", he insisted at the start of his testimony.
Read alsoOn the first day of the trial, the figure of the “monster” at the center of the debates
The former couple accuses each other of defamation during this trial, which is being held in Fairfax, near Washington, following a column published in the Washington Post in 2018. In this text, the 35-year-old actress does not did not name Johnny Depp, 58, whom she had married in 2015. But she mentioned the accusations of domestic violence that she had brought against her husband in 2016.
"Set the facts"
Questioned by one of his lawyers, Johnny Depp assured Tuesday that he had filed a complaint to "restore the facts", declaring himself "obsessed with the truth".
"It's strange how one day you are Cinderella, so to speak, and, in a split second, you are Quasimodo", lamented the actor who added that he wanted to "defend (his) children", exposed to the media on these charges.
Read alsoAmber Heard: "I was afraid that Johnny Depp would kill me"
From the physical and psychological violence that his mother inflicted on him during his childhood to the consequences that his fame would have had on his private life, the 58-year-old actor testified at length on Tuesday, sometimes seeming to seek his words.
Smiling on rare occasions, when he evoked episodes of his professional career, Johnny Depp, hair pulled into a ponytail, dressed in a dark suit and a pale yellow tie, kept a serious face.
Amber Heard, present in the courtroom, listened carefully and impassively to the story of the man who was her husband for two years.
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Opiate user
Invited by one of his lawyers to talk about his drug use, Johnny Depp told how his addictions started at the age of 11, with painkillers taken by his mother.
“It was to escape the chaotic nature of what we were going through,” confessed the actor who defended himself from having “never been a weirdo who needed to be stoned all the time”.
If he admitted to having been dependent on opiates for several years, before his relationship with Amber Heard, he explained to the court that he took these drugs as "self-medication" and "never lost control".
"Miss Heard's characterization of my so-called drug addiction is grossly exaggerated and, I'm sorry to say, but a large part of it is just plain wrong," Johnny Depp criticized.
In court last week, lawyers for his ex-wife described Johnny Depp as a "monster" when he drank or took drugs, pushing him into outbursts that culminated in physical and sexual abuse.
