Johnny Depp took the stand yesterday in his $50 million defamation trial against Amber Heard, and denied being an abuser.
He said, quote, "Never did I myself reach the point of striking Ms. Heard in any way nor have I ever struck any woman in my life."
Johnny said he filed the suit because it was his responsibility to fight the, quote, "heinous and disturbing" allegations against him . . . not only for himself, but for his children.
He also testified that the allegations damaged his career. Quote, "It's very strange when one day, you're Cinderella and in zero-point-six seconds you're Quasimodo."
He added, quote, "Truth is the only thing I'm interested in. Lies will get you nowhere, but lies build upon lies and build upon lies. I'm obsessed with the truth."
Johnny spent a lot of time talking about his mother, who was constantly abusing him, his siblings, and their father . . . both physically and emotionally.
And he suggested that any substance use may have been tied to his childhood. Quote, "I've taken these substances on and off to numb myself; to numb myself of the ghosts, the wraiths that were still with me from my youth."
But he said that Amber's depictions of him as a substance abuser were "grossly embellished." Quote, "I am not some maniac who needs to be high or loaded all the time."
Johnny said that when he met Amber on the set of the movie "The Rum Diary", she seemed "too good to be true." Quote, "She was attentive. She was loving. She was smart. She was kind. She was funny. She was understanding."
But within a year and a half, he said, quote, "It was as if she had become another person."
Johnny is suing Amber over an op-ed piece she wrote for the "Washington Post" in 2018, claiming she was a victim of domestic violence and sexual assault.
It never mentions Johnny by name, but he says it's clearly a reference to her allegations against him. Amber's defense is, quite simply, that the allegations are true.
Johnny's testimony continues today, and Amber is expected to take the stand at some point as well.