Johnny Depp blamedAmber Heard for poop found in their bed after a fight.- Heard blamed it on her dogs, but Depp said each weighed 4 pounds and couldn't produce that much.
Johnny Depp in his trial testimony Wednesday blamed Amber Heard for fecal matter found on their shared bed after a fight in which he said he was leaving her, adding that his ex-wife's explanation of blaming her dogs was absurd.
"My initial response to that was, I laughed," Depp said, describing the reaction to seeing a photo of the feces. "It was so outside, it was so bizarre and so grotesque that I could only laugh."
Depp filed the lawsuit against Heard in March 2019, accusing her of defaming him in a Washington Post op-ed article in which she described herself as a victim of domestic violence.
Depp alleged that in reality Heard instead physically and verbally attacked him throughout their relationship, culminating with the fight following a dinner party for Heard's 30th birthday on April 21, 2016, in one of their shared penthouse apartments in Los Angeles.
Depp testified Wednesday that it was after that celebration when Heard fought with Depp and later defecated on their bed.
Heard has denied the allegations and countersued, laying out in court filings at least 10 instances in which she says Depp physically abused her, often in what she described were alcohol- or drug-fueled rages.
On the stand Wednesday, Depp said he was more than an hour late to the dinner party because of a meeting with his financial advisors. His accountants and business manager said an "inordinate amount of money was gone" from his accounts and Depp was in worse financial shape than he believed, Depp testified.
"After 30 years of working in the industry, I was pretty shocked to learn exactly where I was financially," Depp said.
Depp testified that he texted Heard, telling her he was running late to the celebration. In response, Heard told him to pick up wine and weed before arriving, he said.
After the dinner, he said, Heard flew into a "verbal barrage" because Depp was late and because of other perceived slights. Depp said he didn't engage with her. He testified that when she hit him he grabbed her shoulders, sat her down on the bed, and told her he was leaving.
"I said I was leaving, please don't follow me," Depp said.
He testified that Heard punched him in the face repeatedly as he tried to leave but that he ultimately left her in the apartment as he fled to his house in Hollywood Hills.
Depp, knowing that Heard was leaving with her friends to Coachella, believed that the next day would be a good time to return to the penthouse and retrieve his personal belongings, he said.
But when he told his bodyguard Sean Bett to drive him there, Bett told him it was a bad idea, Depp testified.
Bett showed Depp a photograph sent by his housekeeper.
"It was a photograph of the bed, our bed," Depp testified. "And on my side of the bed was human fecal matter."
'They're teacup Yorkies'
Depp didn't see Heard again until May 21, he testified. It was the day after his mother, Betty Sue Depp, had died. Depp said the death helped him reassess his life and decide he wanted to formally file for divorce and end the 15-month marriage.
According to Depp, Heard blamed the fecal incident on Pistol and Boo, her two dogs — an explanation Depp said he found ridiculous.
"She brought up the fecal matter on the bed. She tried to blame it on the dogs," Depp said. "They're teacup Yorkies. They weigh about 4 pounds each."
"I lived with those dogs. I picked up their funk. It was not the dogs," he added later in his testimony.
The source of the bed poop also came up in Depp's 2020 defamation trial in the UK against a British tabloid, which described Depp as a "wife beater." Heard alleged that Depp showed up late to the party, beat her, and then left. Depp said that never happened and he believed Heard or one of her friends defecated in their bed.
Depp ultimately lost the UK case. The judge ruled that it was unlikely Heard or one of her friends pooped on the bed because "it was Ms. Heard who was likely to suffer from the feces on the bed, not him" — even though they had several apartments on the same floor — and there was evidence one of the dogs, Boo, "had an incomplete mastery of her bowels after she had accidentally consumed some marijuana."
On May 23, 2016, before Depp could file for divorce, Heard filed for a restraining order against him and initiated separation proceedings. She said he assaulted her and included in the filings photos of her bruised face that went viral. Depp said he was caught off guard, promoting his new "Alice in Wonderland" movie in Europe. The divorce was finalized in January 2017, which Depp testified included a $7 million payout to Heard.
Depp has maintained that the bruising incident was fabricated.
"I was 20 feet away. She was still sitting on the couch. And that was when the screaming started," Depp said.
He said Heard started screaming "Stop hitting me, Johnny," before his bodyguards Jerry Judge and Bett entered the room.
"She seemed quite surprised and said, 'That's the last time you'll hit me,'" Depp said. "And then Jerry said, 'Let's just go, boss.'"