Johnny Depp's 'monster would come out when he was drinking' and taking drugs, lawyers for ex Amber Heard said in court

• Johnny Depp's defamation trial against Amber Heard kicked off with opening statements on Tuesday.
• Heard's lawyer told the jury that Depp's "monster" would arrive when he drank and used drugs.

A lawyer for Amber Heard said that "the monster would come out" of her ex-husband, Johnny Depp during their relationship when he drank and took drugs in the opening statements of the pair's defamation trial on Tuesday.

"Amber Heard never wanted to unearth for the public who the real Johnny Depp is," Ben Rottenborn, one of Heard's lawyers, told the court, convening in a Fairfax County courthouse in Virginia, Tuesday. "But that's going to come out over the course of this trial. You are going to see who the real Johnny Depp is."

Elaine Bredehoft, a second lawyer on Heard's defense team, later added to the statement by discussing Depp's drinking habits and drug use.

"The monster would come out when he was drinking and when he would take the drugs," Bredehoft said, Deadline reported.

The outlet continued to report that Heard's attorneys said that they will show that Depp was an "obsessed ex-husband hellbent on revenge" who engaged in "crushing drug and alcohol abuse."

As Insider previously reported, Depp filed the defamation suit against Heard in response to an op-ed she wrote for the Washington Post that detailed her experience with domestic violence. Depp's name wasn't mentioned, but the article was widely interpreted as being about him.

In January of 2021, Heard countersued Depp for $100 million due to statements her ex's lawyers made about her. The suit came after her motion to move the case to California was denied.

Elsewhere during the opening statements, Rottenborn told the 11-person jury that Depp is "going to try to turn this case into a soap opera," but that the lawsuit is centered around the question of whether Heard was exercising her First Amendment right to Free Speech by writing the op-ed, Insider reported.

"The answer is very clearly yes," Rottenborn said.

Depp's lawyer Benjamin Chew, on the other hand, described Heard as a liar Tuesday during opening statements and said her claims ruined the actor's career and alienated him from producers who once favored the movie star.

"When, like Mr. Depp, your career depends on your image and your reputation, or whether movie producers want their movie associated with you, that can be particularly harmful," Chew told the court.

"By choosing to lie about her husband for her own personal benefit, Amber Heard chose to ruin his reputation," he added.