Amber Heard's friend says Johnny Depp told him about blacking out and passing out face first in the sand in the Bahamas and staff having to whisk his kids away
- A friend of Johnny Depp's said the actor recalled blacking out in front of his children.
- iO Tillett Wright, who was not present during the incident, said his kids were then "whisked away."
Amber Heard's friend iO Tillett Wright testified Tuesday that Johnny Depp disclosed a time when he'd blacked out on an island in the Bahamas.
"He told me that he passed out face down in the sand while his kids were there and that the staff had whisked his kids away so that they didn't see it," Tillett Wright, a photographer, writer, and producer, said in a deposition that was recorded on March 10, 2022. Tillett Wright was not present during the incident and did not clarify if it occurred on Depp's private island.
The testimony was the latest in the explosive $50 million defamation case following Heard's 2018 op-ed insinuating that she was a victim of abuse. Though Depp was not named throughout the Washington Post piece, he claimed it ruined his career. Heard has countersued for $100 million and claimed Depp physically or sexually assaulted her before and during their 15-month marriage.
Tillett Wright said he'd known Heard since 2011 and eventually became friends with her.
Soon thereafter, he met Depp, became close with the pair, and briefly lived with the couple for a 9-month period between August 2013 and June 2014.
Tillett Wright added that Depp had a "misogynistic and cruel" side when he was under the influence of drugs but that he never witnessed Depp physically assault Heard.
"Johnny when sober was lovely and magical and very funny," Wright said. "Johnny when sober was incredibly lucid and imaginative and I felt a kindred connection with him," he continued.
Depp has two children — Lily-Rose and Jack — with his former partner Vanessa Paradis. Heard and Depp, whose relationship lasted from 2012 to 2016, do not have children together, but Heard welcomed a baby via surrogate in 2021.