Attorneys for actor Amber Heard resumed their cross-examination of her ex-husband Johnny Depp in a Virginia courtroom on Thursday, taking aim at his alcohol and drug use as well as texts he sent to a friend about wanting to kill and defile his then-wife.
Heard’s attorneys are trying to derail Depp’s libel lawsuit against her after she wrote a 2018 Washington Post opinion piece that Depp says indirectly defamed him and ruined his lucrative acting career. In the article, Heard referred to herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.”
Depp has testified that Heard was the aggressor in the relationship and that he never physically or sexually assaulted her, despite her claims. Heard’s lawyers argue that Depp can’t deny what happened because he was often drunk and high on drugs to the point of blacking out.
Heard lawyer J. Benjamin Rottenborn focused on a 2013 text exchange between Depp and the actor Paul Bettany in which Depp said: “Let’s burn Amber!!!”
Bettany responded: “Having thought it through I don’t think we should burn Amber “