- Asian markets track Wall Street record to extend global rally
- Guirassy and Anton to return to Stuttgart with new side Dortmund
- Marseille bidding to continue 'almost perfect' Ligue 1 start
- Arnold quits as coach of Australia men's football team
- Harris and Oprah hold star-studded US election rally
- Allies to remember failed WWII parachute operation
- Perez leading new-look Villarreal charge against leaders Barca
- Man City face Arsenal in Premier League title showdown, Postecoglou under pressure
- Fake celebrity endorsements, snubs plague US presidential race
- Documentary brings Argentine 'death flights' to the big screen
- Strike shows challenge to Boeing 'reset' of labor relations
- World leaders to gather at UN as crises grow and conflicts rage
- How plastic pollution poses challenge for Canada marine conservation
- Scientists track plastic waste in pristine Canada marine park
- South Africa's Buhai grabs LPGA Queen City lead
- Japan inflation firms to 2.8% ahead of BoJ rate decision
- Russia's Kadyrov accuses Musk of 'remotely disabling' his Cybertruck
- Titan sub had to abort a dive days before fatal implosion: testimony
- Ohtani makes MLB history with first 50-homer, 50-steal season
- Ohtani eyes MLB history after surpassing 50 stolen bases, 49 homers
- Ohtani eyes MLB history after surpassing 50 stolen bases
- Barca downed by Monaco as Arsenal held in Champions League stalemate
- Head's 'good night at office' after century seals win over England
- Dubois seeks legitimacy with Joshua scalp
- Rate cut could lift consumer spirits before US elections
- Last-gasp Gimenez strike sends Atletico past Leipzig
- Barca stumble at Monaco after early red card
- Raya heroics save Arsenal in Champions League opener at Atalanta
- Cathay Airbus engine fire linked to cleaning: EU regulator
- Guardians beat Twins to secure MLB playoff berth
- Jihadist attack in Mali capital killed more than 70: security sources
- Alonso hails 'efficient' Leverkusen after Feyenoord rout
- Head's hundred seals Australia win over England in 1st ODI
- Ex-Man United striker Anthony Martial joins AEK Athens
- NFL unbeatens meet as Texans visit Vikings, Steelers host Chargers
- Head's hundred seals Australia win over England in 1st ODI after Labuschagne strikes
- Dream debut for Wirtz as Leverkusen thump dire Feyenoord
- Myanmar flood death toll climbs to 293: state media
- Israel army says West Bank air strike kills 4 militants
- LIV golfers get green light for US Ryder Cup team, PGA Championship
- US accuses social media giants of 'vast surveillance'
- Ten Hag to bed Hojlund, Mount in carefully when they return for Man Utd
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- EU chief announces $11 bn for nations hit by 'heartbreaking' floods
- Spanish PM, Palestinian leader urge Mideast de-escalation
- New study reinforces theory Covid emerged at Chinese market
- World Bank boosts climate financing by 10 percent
- Bagnaia eyeing summit on home ground in 100th MotoGP
- 'Something was wrong', defendant in French mass rape tells court
- Hezbollah chief admits 'unprecedented' blow in device blasts
Johnny Depp says abuse allegations have cost him 'everything'
"Pirates of the Caribbean" star Johnny Depp said Wednesday that domestic abuse allegations made against him by his ex-wife Amber Heard had cost him "nothing less than everything" and claimed that she was the one who was frequently violent.
Depp, taking the witness stand for a second day of testimony in his defamation case against Heard, said she would regularly insult him and once threw a vodka bottle at him, severing the tip of one of his fingers.
The 58-year-old Depp filed the defamation suit against Heard over a column she wrote for The Washington Post in December 2018 in which she described herself as a "public figure representing domestic abuse."
Heard, who starred in the movie "Aquaman," never named Depp, whom she met in 2009 on the set of the film "The Rum Diary," but he sued her for implying he was a domestic abuser and is seeking $50 million in damages.
Heard, who turns 36 on Friday, countersued, asking for $100 million and claiming she suffered "rampant physical violence and abuse" at his hands.
Depp, who was wearing a grey suit with a black shirt and tie, was asked by one of his lawyers what the domestic abuse allegations had cost him.
"Nothing less than everything," he replied. "When the allegations were rapidly circling the globe, telling people that I was a drunken cocaine-fueled menace who beat women -- suddenly in my 50s – it's over.
"I lost then, no matter the outcome of this trial," he said.
He said that a "couple of days" after the Post column appeared, Disney announced he would no longer appear as Captain Jack Sparrow in the blockbuster "Pirates" franchise.
- 'Verbally decimate me' -
Heard's lawyers have claimed that Depp would become a "monster" during drug- and alcohol-fueled benders and physically and sexually abuse Heard. She filed a temporary restraining order against him in May 2016 after he told her he was filing for divorce.
Depp said his relationship with Heard began to deteriorate shortly after their 2015 marriage.
"I was suddenly just wrong about everything," Depp told the jury hearing the case in Fairfax County Circuit Court in Virginia.
He denied ever striking Heard and said she was the one who was abusive.
She would "verbally decimate me" with a "rapid fire, endless parade of insults," he said.
The thrice Oscar-nominated actor, who was married to the Texas-born Heard from 2015 to 2017, said he would often retreat to another room to escape her rage.
"I would just go and lock myself in the bathroom," he said.
"If I stayed to argue, eventually I was sure that it was going to escalate into violence," he said. "In her rage and her anger she would strike out.
"She would begin with a slap. It could begin with a shove," he said. "It could begin, you know, with throwing a TV remote at my head. It could be throwing a glass of wine in my face."
- 'Madness, chaos and violence' -
Depp recounted one incident for the jury in detail which took place while he was in Australia filming the fifth installment of "Pirates."
Heard was angry because one of his attorneys had discussed a possible post-nuptial agreement with her, he said.
"It escalated and escalated and turned into madness, chaos and violence," he said.
Depp said he had been sober for "many months" but after arguing with Heard he had "two or three stiff shots" of vodka.
Heard was upset to see him drinking again, he said, and threw a vodka bottle at him, which shattered and severed the tip of the middle finger on his right hand.
"I was looking directly at my bones sticking out," Depp said, displaying the crooked digit for the jury.
Depp said he was in "shock" and "started to write in my own blood on the walls" -- "lies that she told me" and "little reminders of my past."
Heard listened attentively, taking occasional notes on a yellow legal pad as Depp testified in a slow and measured voice.
Depp filed the defamation complaint in the United States after losing a separate libel case in London in November 2020 that he brought against the tabloid The Sun for calling him a "wife-beater."
O.Lorenz--BTB