After filing a $50 milliondefamation lawsuitagainst ex-wife Amber Heard, Johnny Depp is doubling down on claims of abuse.
PerPeople, court documents pertaining to the case contain Depp's first official declaration, in which he denied Heard's claims ofabuse."I have denied Ms. Heard’s allegations vehemently since she first made them in May 2016 when she walked into court to obtain a temporary restraining order with painted-on bruises that witnesses and surveillance footage show she did not possess each day of the preceding week,”the statement reads. “I will continue to deny them for the rest of my life."
After he claimed to have "never abused Ms. Heard or any other woman," theFantastic Beastsactor said he was the victim of abuse at the hand of Heard. "She was the perpetrator, and I was the victim,” he alleged. “While mixing prescription amphetamines and non-prescription drugs with alcohol, Ms. Heard committed innumerable acts of domestic violence against me, often in the presence of a third-party witness, which in some instances caused me serious bodily harm."
Eric George, Heard's lawyer, denied Depp's allegations. "The increasingly desperate attempts by Mr. Depp and his enablers to revive his career by initiating baseless litigation against so many people once close to him — his former lawyers, former managers, and his former spouse — are not fooling anyone," he said.
Last month, Depp's lawyersstatedthey had 87 surveillance tapes, 19 witness statements, and audio tapes that prove Heard's claims of abuse to be baseless.
Depp's ongoing legal battles are not limited to his current defamation suit with theAquamanactress.Varietyreportsthat he was hit with a $350,000 lawsuit from a law firm he previously retained. In 2017, the actor recruited Buckley LLP to help in his suit against his previous law firm (Bloom Hergott LPP), which he accused of swiping $30 million without a written agreement.
Buckley LLP says after they succeeded in getting a trial date set in September 2019, Depp dropped the firm because he wanted to "contract the number of law firms providing services to him and his entities." The firm's legal fees came out to $535,697.28, of which Depp is said to have paid about $187,000.