AMERICA IS Under Siege

[mr40]

Johnny Depp accuses Amber Heard of severing his finger by hurling a bottle of vodka at him when 'asked to sign a post-nuptial agreement in attack that resulted in actor contracting MRSA three times and nearly losing his life'

WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGE
Johnny Depp claims in a declaration filed in his $50 million defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard that the actress is responsible for severing his finger
Depp claims that Heard began throwing bottles at him in 2015 just one month after they were married when asked to sign a post-nuptial agreement
The bottle exploded and tore off his finger claims Depp, who said he had to undergo multiple surgeries and almost died after contracting MRSA three times
Depp had to fly home to the US from Australia after the attack, forcing the set of Pirates of the Caribbean to shut down and costing Disney millions
'The increasingly desperate attempts by Depp and his enablers to revive his career by initiating baseless litigation ... are not fooling anyone,' said Heard's lawyer

Johnny Depp is firing back at his ex-wife Amber Heard in new court papers, claiming that he nearly lost his life to MRSA after she threw a bottle of vodka at him and severed his finger.

One month after the Oscar nominee was hit with new abuse claims by Heard in response to the $50 million defamation lawsuit he filed against the actress, Depp is now detailing the injuries he allegedly suffered at his then-wife's hands.

Court papers obtained by DailyMail.com reveal that Depp claims he severed his finger back in 2015 not because he was partying with friends, but rather because his wife was enraged that his lawyer had asked her to sign a post-nuptial agreement.

Depp alleges that she was so angry she threw bottles at him, claiming one of those bottles hit a marble countertop and exploded, ripping off the tip of his finger in the process.

He also claims he had to undergo multiple surgeries as a result of this attack and contracted MRSA three times, which nearly caused him to lose his life.


lOOKS LIKE DEPP NEVER WASHED HIS HANDS OR CLEANED HIS NAILS! NO WONDER HE GOT AN INFECTION!


Finger after surgery, didn't even damage the fingernail!

While I was in Australia filming a movie approximately one month after I married Ms. Heard, on a day where my then-lawyer tried to discuss with Ms. Heard the need that she sign a post-nuptial agreement with me, she went berserk and began throwing bottles at me,' reads the filing.

'The first bottle sailed past my head and missed, but then she threw a large glass vodka bottle. The bottle struck the marble countertop where my hand was resting and exploded.'

The filing goes on to state: 'The projectile’s impact shattered the bone in my finger and entirely severed the tip of my finger.'

A photo submitted with the filing show's just how severe the injury was, with Depp clearly missing a large chunk of his finger.

'I had to have 3 surgeries to reconstruct my finger and contracted MRSA three times,' states Depp in his declaration.

'I feared that I would lose my finger, my arm, and my life.'

Heard had previously claimed in court papers that Depp cut off the tip of his finger during an argument while he was 'drunk and high on ecstasy.'

He was angry at the actress because he believed she had been sleeping with Billy Bob Thornton, according to Heard.

Thornton and Heard both deny that claim.

Depp did not have the finger treated until almost 24 hours after he sliced off the top of the digit, according to Heard, and doctors had to use a flap of skin from his hand to fashion a new tip.

In photos taken a month after the incident when the pair returned to Australia, Depp and Heard are seen getting off a private jet with his finger wrapped in a scarf.

Depp traveled back to the states to have what was described as an on-set injury treated by doctors after the incident.

The film, which initially had a massive production budget of $250million, reportedly went over by $70million, costing $320million in total.

Depp managed to deliver in the end however, with the film grossing $794 million worldwide.

He addressed Heard's claim in his declaration, saying: 'To conceal the fact that her domestic violence against me caused me grievous bodily injury, Ms. Heard has concocted various, shifting, false stories claiming that I cut off my own finger.

'First, in the midst of our divorce case, Ms. Heard caused to be leaked to the media a fake story that I cut off my finger by punching a hole in a wall.

'Now, Ms. Heard has crafted a new, but equally fake, story that I cut off my finger by smashing a plastic phone to smithereens while violently beating her in a “three-day ordeal.

Depp called both

Heard's lawyer Eric George responded to Depp's claims in a statement.

'The evidence in this case is clear: Johnny Depp repeatedly beat Amber Heard. The increasingly desperate attempts by Mr. Depp and his enablers to revive his career by initiating baseless litigation against so many people once close to him – his former lawyers, his former managers, and his former spouse – are not fooling anyone,' said George.

'In light of the important work done by the #TimesUp movement highlighting the tactics abusers use to continue to traumatize survivors, neither the creative community nor the public will be gaslit by Mr. Depp’s baseless blame-the-victim conspiracy theories.'

Photos submitted back in April by Heard and her attorneys in response to Depp's defamation suit also showed a number of injuries that were allegedly caused during altercations between the pair.

In one group of photos taken just days after the severed finger incident, broken clothing racks and scattered designer clothing, shoes and purses are seen covering the floors of the $3million Los Angeles penthouse where Heard kept her wardrobe and accessories.

It was one of the five connected penthouses formerly owned by the actor in the Eastern Columbia building in Downtown Los Angeles.

The images were shared in text messages between an employee of the couple and a worker in the building.

'Good morning sir... So ... Um ... Johnny destroyed Amber's closet. And there's some other damage to PH5,' wrote the individual working for the couple.

That person then added: 'You're the person I should talk to about that, correct?'

Kevin, who worked for the building where Depp was living at the time, responds that he will deal with the situation, prompting the other individual to text: 'Insanity. Just f***ing insanity.'

This happened on March 23, 2015, a month after Heard and Depp tied the knot on a private island in the Bahamas.

Heard had asked the judge to dismiss the $50million defamation lawsuit filed by Depp in response to an op-ed she wrote for The Washington Post.

That piece never once mentioned Depp by name but did reference Heard's tumultuous split from the actor, with the actress writing: 'I spoke up against sexual violence - and faced our culture's wrath.'

Depp and his legal team claim that Heard caused further damage to his already declining career, which he accuses his ex-wife of derailing when she she first accused him of abuse in her 2016 divorce filing.

Heard filed those papers just 15 months after the couple were married, and five years after they first began dating on the set of The Rum Diaries.

In another claim made in the filings, she describes him attacking her days before Christmas in 2015.

She says he chased her around their home, dragged her by her hair and hit her repeatedly, causing lumps of her scalp to come out and clumps of hair.

He had picked a fight with her, she said.

Describing what transpired next, Heard wrote: 'Hoping to avoid the violence, I tried to calm Johnny down, and then went upstairs to try to remove myself from the situation. Johnny followed me, hit me in the back of my head, grabbed me by my hair again, got in front of me on the steps, and then dragged me by my hair up the last few steps.

'At the top of stairs, Johnny shoved me twice, which made me fear I would fall. I told Johnny that he had broken my wrist in an attempt to get him to stop.

'Johnny kept hitting me, and each time he knocked me down, I chose to react by simply standing up and looking him in the eye. Johnny responded by yelling: "Oh, you think you’re a f***ing tough guy?"

'He reeled back and head-butted me in my face, bashing my nose, which immediately began bleeding, sending searing pain through my face. I instantly started tearing up, and I thought that I would have to go to the hospital.

'I told Johnny I wanted to leave him, and that I would call the police if he ever touched me again. When I began to walk away toward the guest apartment, he responded by pushing me, then grabbed me and pulled me from one room to the next, gripping me by my hair.

'By the time Johnny had dragged me into the upstairs office, I told Johnny that I was leaving him, since I could not put up with his behavior any longer. Johnny reacted by grabbing me by my throat, pushing me down to the ground, and punching me in the back of my head. He grabbed me by my hair, slapping me in the face, and screaming at me something like: "I f***ing will kill you — I'll f***ing kill you, you hear me?" There were chunks of my hair everywhere and indentations in the carpet where I was dragged.

Heard said the fight continued on a bed, where Depp 'got on top of me with his knee on my back and the other foot on the bedframe, while repeatedly punching me in my head, and he screamed—as loudly as I’ve ever heard him scream— "I f***ing hate you" over and over again.

'The bedframe splintered under the weight of the pressure of his boot. Johnny hit me with his closed fists, and I remember being unable to hear myself screaming because he had pushed my face into the mattress. I screamed as loudly as I could, hoping Johnny would realize he was severely hurting me.

'For a while, I could not scream or breathe. I worried that Johnny was in a blacked-out state and unaware of the damage he was doing, and that he could actually kill me.'

Two friends found her, she said, and saw the hair on the ground.

She does not remember how the fight ended, she said, but she thought Depp would kill her.

Depp tells a much different version of the same story in his declaration, with the building manager Kevin Murphy confirming some of the claims.

Murphy previously testified that 'Heard’s face was utterly uninjured and unmarked, and appeared makeup free, as they spoke face to face and in good light the day after she alleged the brutal attack. '

He also stated that Heard showed him 'the clump of hair on the floor but not the place that hair was pulled from.'

Then, upon viewing the hair image submitted to the court versus the one he saw, and photographed, Murphy said that he believed they were different clumps of hair.

This was all concreted after Depp claims he was assaulted by Heard.

'On that date, I was at my penthouse and Ms. Heard screamed at me and then violently assaulted me, scratching my cheek, chin and nose. My security guard, a former long time LA Sheriff’s Deputy, whom I called to pick me up the evening of December 15, 2015 insisted on taking photographs of my injuries, which are attached hereto as Exhibit C' wrote Depp.

'There was nothing particularly memorable to me about this incident, given the sheer volume of violent assaults and other abuse I endured from Ms. Heard during our relationship.'

Another incident in March 2015 involved what she said was the only time she hit him in the face.

The actress told how she and Depp were having one of their many fights which involved him beating her when he approached her sister, Whitney, on a landing between two staircases in their home in Los Angeles in March 2015.

She feared he might push her so she hit him in the face, she said, adding that she would have done 'anything' to stop her sister coming to harm.

In the video obtained by DailyMail.com last month, Heard is seen going red with emotion and fighting tears as she recalled the incident.

It begins with Depp's attorney's and her own squabbling and Depp's attorney asking if she had ever hit him with a closed fist.

'One time Johnny was hitting me and he was hitting me hard and repeatedly and I was screaming.

'Security walks in and they don't do anything about it and they're, he, makes this motion when Jerry Judge yells "Boss", or Sean, I can't remember who it was.

'All we had was a little bit of separation and my sister runs down the stairs. We're on a landing in between two flights of stairs...'

Depp's attorney then interrupted her saying: 'Miss Heard I must interrupt you because I asked you a yes or no question.'

Heard's attorney fought back: 'Well you can't. Withdraw your question then because she is answering.'

As the lawyers argued, she looked around the room, silently.

Depp's lawyer pushed: 'I'm asking for a yes or a no answer.'

Heard is seen looking at her lawyer, off camera, as he tells her: 'You don't have to answer it the way she wants you to answer it.'

The actress nodded then continued with her description of the incident.

'He was about to push my sister down the stairs. She was attempting to break us up. I am protective over my baby sister.

'When he laid hands on her, I don't know what I did. But I know I jumped in between the actions which I saw could lead to a fatal injury for my sister.

'She was standing at the top of a flight of stairs. She has never hurt anyone in her life and she does not deserve to be pushed down a flight of stairs. It looked like she was about to be.

'I would have done what anybody who has a child or a sister would have done. I acted defensively in her life.

'I saw her standing at the top of a flight of stairs, trying to interrupt a fight between him and I.

'I don't know what part of my body I put in between me and her but I would have done anything. I would have done anything to prevent her from being pushed down a flight of stairs.

She also told the lawyers that she hid the alleged abuse from everyone but her mother, initially, but that it became too difficult to conceal.

'My select group was starting to become more and more informed of it. At the very beginning I would only tell my mom who is somebody who understands this situation.

'I would tell her from almost at the very beginning. That's why I had pictures.

'I probably hid the first few instances but very soon into it I started to. Therapists until it became problematic,' she said.

Heard specifically describes one morning in May 2014 when she and a visibly intoxicated Depp clutching a bottle of champagne boarded a private jet from Boston to Los Angeles.

She said that once they were on the flight, Depp ordered the flight attendants to give him an oxygen tank and continued to drink heavily.

'Johnny's handlers told me that he was upset that I was filming a movie with a romantic scene with James Franco the day before,' wrote Heard, who was filming The Adderall Diaries with Franco at the time.

'Soon, Johnny began to throw objects at me. Instead of reacting to his behavior, I simply moved seats.

'That didn't stop him. He provocatively pushed a chair at me as I walked by, yelled at me, and taunted me by yelling out the name "James Franco".'



She continued: 'At some point, I stood up, and Johnny kicked me in the back, causing me to fall over. Johnny threw his boot at me while I was on the ground.

'Johnny continued to scream obscenities until he went into the plane bathroom and passed out locked in the bathroom for the remainder of the flight.'

Heard claimed that Depp later apologized to her over text message, writing: 'Once again, I find myself in a place of shame and regret. Of course, I am sorry. I really don’t know why or what happened. But I will never do it again.

'My illness somehow crept up and grabbed me … I must get better . . . Again, I am so sorry, so sorry. … I love you and I feel so bad for letting you down.'

Heard also claimed that Depp’s assistant Stephen Deuters messaged her and claimed that the actor didn't remember what he'd done, saying he was 'appalled' when he learned about the incident.

Deuters allegedly said: 'When I told him he kicked you, he cried. He’s a little lost boy. And needs all the help he can get.'

He has claimed in the past that the texts were doctored and that he never had any such conversation with her.

Another took place over three days in March 2015, just one month after Heard and Depp tied the knot.

Heard claims that Depp was supposed to be clean when he went on a three-day ecstasy bender in Australia during which he cut off his finger and used the blood to write messages across the walls.

'By nightfall, Johnny had hit me multiple times, shoved and pushed me to the ground, choked me, and spit in my face.

'Johnny then handed me a liquor bottle that he was drinking from, and asked me: "What are you going to do?" I threw the bottle on the floor. Johnny responded by starting to throw cans and unopened glass bottles at me.'

Heard continued: 'That night, Johnny shoved me into a ping pong table that collapsed underneath me. Johnny threw bottles through the window panels of a glass door, breaking two panes, and leaving glass everywhere.

'Johnny then grabbed me, gripping my body and nightgown. He tore the nightgown off, and at some point, I was naked and barefoot, covered in alcohol and glass.

'Johnny grabbed me by my hair and choked me against the refrigerator in the kitchen. I tried to stand myself up but I was sliding around the glass-strewn floor and countertop. Johnny threw me away from him, and I tried to run away as Johnny continued to throw objects and alcohol at me.

'In one of the most horrific and scariest moments of this three-day ordeal, Johnny grabbed me by the neck and collarbone and slammed me against the countertop. I struggled to stand up as he strangled me, but my arms and feet kept slipping and sliding on to the spilled alcohol and were dragged against the broken glass on the countertop and floor, which repeatedly slashed my feet and arms. Scared for my life, I told Johnny: "You are hurting me and cutting me."

'Johnny ignored me, continuing to hit me with the back of one closed hand, and slamming a hard plastic phone against a wall with his other until it was smashed into smithereens. While he was smashing the phone, Johnny severely injured his finger, cutting off the tip of it. Once I was able to get away, I barricaded myself in an upstairs bedroom.

The next morning, which marked the third day Depp had gone without sleep, Heard stated: 'I came downstairs to find numerous messages Johnny had written to me around the house, on the walls and on my clothes, written in a combination of oil paint and the blood from his broken and severed finger. Johnny also urinated all over the house.'

Heard said Depp was hospitalized after the incident and she walked away with 'a busted lip, a swollen nose, and cuts all over my body'. She said many of those scars still haven't healed four years later.

He later said that he didn't believe he broke his sobriety because his new wife hadn't 'explicitly forbidden' him from taking ecstasy.

'The argument heated up, and Johnny pushed me, slapped me, and shoved me to the ground before I retreated to a locked bedroom,' Heard wrote.

The following morning Heard allegedly found that her new husband hadn't slept at all because he'd taken 'about eight MDMA pills' and was drinking again.

'We got into a fight that Johnny made physical, and I barricaded myself in one of the rooms. That didn’t stop Johnny from busting through the door of the room I was in.'

'By nightfall, Johnny had hit me multiple times, shoved and pushed me to the ground, choked me, and spit in my face.

'Johnny then handed me a liquor bottle that he was drinking from, and asked me: "What are you going to do?" I threw the bottle on the floor. Johnny responded by starting to throw cans and unopened glass bottles at me.'



In December 2018, Amber penned an op-ed for The Washington Post about being a survivor of abuse. She did not mention him by name in it.

The pair had finalized their divorce which bound her from sharing details of their acrimonious split.

The op-ed is published in full below:

'I was exposed to abuse at a very young age. I knew certain things early on, without ever having to be told. I knew that men have the power — physically, socially and financially — and that a lot of institutions support that arrangement. I knew this long before I had the words to articulate it, and I bet you learned it young, too.

'Like many women, I had been harassed and sexually assaulted by the time I was of college age. But I kept quiet — I did not expect filing complaints to bring justice. And I didn’t see myself as a victim.

'Then two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out.

'Friends and advisers told me I would never again work as an actress — that I would be blacklisted. A movie I was attached to recast my role. I had just shot a two-year campaign as the face of a global fashion brand, and the company dropped me. Questions arose as to whether I would be able to keep my role of Mera in the movies Justice League and Aquaman.

'I had the rare vantage point of seeing, in real time, how institutions protect men accused of abuse.

'Imagine a powerful man as a ship, like the Titanic. That ship is a huge enterprise. When it strikes an iceberg, there are a lot of people on board desperate to patch up holes — not because they believe in or even care about the ship, but because their own fates depend on the enterprise.

'In recent years, the #MeToo movement has taught us about how power like this works, not just in Hollywood but in all kinds of institutions — workplaces, places of worship or simply in particular communities. In every walk of life, women are confronting these men who are buoyed by social, economic and cultural power. And these institutions are beginning to change.

'We are in a transformative political moment. The president of our country has been accused by more than a dozen women of sexual misconduct, including assault and harassment. Outrage over his statements and behavior has energized a female-led opposition. #MeToo started a conversation about just how profoundly sexual violence affects women in every area of our lives. And last month, more women were elected to Congress than ever in our history, with a mandate to take women’s issues seriously. Women’s rage and determination to end sexual violence are turning into a political force.

'We have an opening now to bolster and build institutions protective of women. For starters, Congress can reauthorize and strengthen the Violence Against Women Act. First passed in 1994, the act is one of the most effective pieces of legislation enacted to fight domestic violence and sexual assault. It creates support systems for people who report abuse, and provides funding for rape crisis centers, legal assistance programs and other critical services. It improves responses by law enforcement, and it prohibits discrimination against LGBTQ survivors. Funding for the act expired in September and has only been temporarily extended.

'We should continue to fight sexual assault on college campuses, while simultaneously insisting on fair processes for adjudicating complaints. Last month, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos proposed changes to Title IX rules governing the treatment of sexual harassment and assault in schools. While some changes would make the process for handling complaints more fair, others would weaken protections for sexual assault survivors. For example, the new rules would require schools to investigate only the most extreme complaints, and then only when they are made to designated officials. Women on campuses already have trouble coming forward about sexual violence — why would we allow institutions to scale back supports?

'I write this as a woman who had to change my phone number weekly because I was getting death threats. For months, I rarely left my apartment, and when I did, I was pursued by camera drones and photographers on foot, on motorcycles and in cars. Tabloid outlets that posted pictures of me spun them in a negative light. I felt as though I was on trial in the court of public opinion — and my life and livelihood depended on myriad judgments far beyond my control.

I want to ensure that women who come forward to talk about violence receive more support. We are electing representatives who know how deeply we care about these issues. We can work together to demand changes to laws and rules and social norms — and to right the imbalances that have shaped our lives.'

Depp claims it is defamatory.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7053927/Johnny-Depp-accuses-Amber-Heard-severing-finger-hurling-bottle-vodka-him.html