Actor Johnny Depp has claimed he lost ‘nothing less than everything’ amid his defamation case against Amber Heard.
The Pirates of the Caribbean actor took to the stand at Fairfax County Court, claiming that regardless of the outcome of the trial, the impact was irreversible.
In 2018, Heard wrote a piece for The Washington Post where she described herself as a ‘public figure representing domestic abuse’.
The essay didn't name him directly, however he says it damaged his professional reputation.
When an attorney asked Depp: “What have you lost as a result of Miss Heard making these allegations against you?”
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Depp replied: “Nothing less than everything.”
The Black Mass star outlined the impact Heard's allegations had on his career and his personal life.
He said: “When the allegations were made, rapidly circling the globe, telling people I was a drunken cocaine-fuelled menace who beat women – suddenly in my 50s, it’s over. You’re done.
“So what did it do to me? What effect did it have on me? I put it to you this way, no matter the outcome of this trial, the second the allegations were made against me, the accusations, the second that more and more metastasised and turned into fodder for the media, once that happened, I lost then."
Depp said he knew those allegations wouldn't have only short-term consequences.
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“That is to say, I lost because that is not a thing that anyone is just going to put on your back for a short period of time," he said.
“I will live with that for the rest of my life because of the allegations and because it was such a high profile case.
"So I lost then, no matter the outcome of this trial. I’ll carry that for the rest of my days.
“It never had to be that way. It never had to happen, and I don’t quite understand why it did in the way that it did.”
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When asked how the allegations made him feel when they first came out, Depp said: “I felt sick. Sick in the sense that...there was no truth in it.
“The fact that it was coming down on me so hard, and so quickly, and how it gained momentum around the world.”
He added: “It controlled my every waking second, from the moment I woke up to the moment I dropped."
Depp is expected to return to the stand for a third day to have Heard’s team to continue their cross-examination.
Topics: Johnny Depp, Celebrity
Jayden Collins