ABC/Randy Holmes(LONDON) — Johnny Depp wrapped up a total of 25 hours on the witness stand in a London courtroom today, in his libel case against News Group Newspapers.
As has been the case regarding his nasty split with ex-wife Amber Heard, Depp’s testimony wasn’t short on the fireworks — and this time, The Sun reports he claimed Heard threw “haymaker” punches at him when he revealed to her at her 30th birthday party that he was not only broke, but $100 million in debt.
“It was put to me this way. It was put to me since Pirates [Pirates of the Caribbean] II and III I had made — and it seems a ludicrous number — $650 million,” Depp said, referring to revelations from his former financial team. “When I fired them for the right reasons I had not only lost the $650 million but I was $100 million in the hole because they had not paid the government my taxes for 17 years.”
In 2017, Depp settled a $25 million fraud case against his former accountants.
On the stand Monday, Depp said heard started swinging “haymakers” at him for revealing the news and “ruining” her party.
Depp is suing News Group Newspapers for a 2018 story in one of its publications, The Sun, that branded him a “wife beater,” something the actor denies.
Throughout the case, both parties had leveled abuse claims against the other. Heard showed bruises purportedly caused by the actor, while Depp insists it was Heard who got physical with him, at one point cutting off the tip of his finger with a thrown vodka bottle, which led him to contract a post-surgical case of the virulent infection MRSA.
Depp reportedly joked after his five days of testimony was over, “I’m going to miss this.”
By Stephen Iervolino
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