Johnny Depp was expected to be questioned byAmber Heard 's lawyers for a second time on Monday.- But Heard's team said at midday Monday that the actor would no longer be called to the stand.
Amber Heard's legal team decided not to call Johnny Depp to the stand in what appeared to be a last-minute U-turn, multiple reports said.
The "Pirates of the Caribbean" actor was expected to sit through a second round of questioning by Heard's lawyers on Monday, Deadline reported last week.
But by midday, Heard's team — without explanation — said they had changed their minds.
Depp is suing his former wife for $50 million after she wrote a 2018 op-ed for The Washington Post in which she discussed being a victim of domestic abuse. Heard, who did not name Depp in the article directly, has countersued.
"Calling Depp back to the stand would be as relevant to us as a bicycle to a fish," a source close to Heard said in a Monday statement tweeted by the Court TV reporter Chanley Shá Painter.
"Everything Depp has testified up to this point has been irrelevant to the heart of this case, and there's no reason to believe it would be any different now."
The Law & Crime correspondent Angenette Levy tweeted that Heard's lawyers may have made the last-minute decision in an effort to buy time as the trial enters its last week.
"They don't have a lot of time left and Johnny Depp was largely regarded to be uncontrollable as a witness by Amber Heard's lawyers," Levy tweeted. "Many legal observers felt he did well on the stand."
Depp's lawyers are is still expected to bring up several high-profile witnesses in the final days of the trial, including the actor's ex-girlfriend, the model Kate Moss.
Moss is expected to virtually take the stand on Wednesday and lawyers representing both Depp and Heard will have the opportunity to question her.
Representatives for Depp and Heard did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.