By Canadian Press

Depp cross-examined in libel case over Heard ‘abuser’ label

Jul 8, 2020 | 3:38 AM

LONDON — Johnny Depp faced a second day of cross-examination Wednesday by lawyers for British tabloid The Sun, which is defending a libel claim after calling the Hollywood star a “wife beater.”

Depp is suing The Sun’s publisher, News Group Newspapers, and its executive editor, Dan Wootton, over an April 2018 article that said he had physically abused ex-wife Amber Heard.

The case opened Tuesday at the High Court in London, with Depp sitting in the witness box and denying Heard’s allegations that he assaulted her on multiple occasions.

The “Pirates of the Caribbean” star said Heard’s “sick” claims were “totally untrue.” He called his ex-wife sociopathic, narcissistic and emotionally dishonest.

The Sun’s lawyer, Sasha Wass, has tried to paint Depp as a volatile personality with a longstanding drug habit and an anger-management problem.

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Depp acknowledged taking both prescription and illegal substances since childhood, but denied Heard’s clam he became a “monster” when he drank and took drugs.

“I was angry, but that doesn’t mean I have an anger problem,” Depp said Tuesday. “I also express myself by laughing. I don’t have a humour problem.”

Depp, 57, and Heard, 34, met on the set of the 2011 comedy “The Rum Diary” and married in Los Angeles in February 2015. They divorced in 2017, and now bitterly accuse one another of abuse.

The Sun’s defence relies on Heard’s allegations of 14 incidents of violence by Depp between 2013 and 2016, in locations including Los Angeles, Australia, Japan, the Bahamas and a chartered jet. He denies them all and says Heard, an actress and model, attacked him with items including a drink can and a cigarette, and severed his finger by throwing a vodka bottle at him.

Heard is attending court and is expected to give evidence later in the trial, which is scheduled to last three weeks.

Jill Lawless, The Associated Press