Depp’s bodyguard tells court lied about star’s severed finger
Johnny Depp’s security guard reveals that he lied to Aussie doctors about how the actor sliced his finger off while staying at a Gold Coast house as a shocking new video is played in court.
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A new video showing actor Johnny Depp kicking a kitchen cupboard and slamming glass panelled cabinets was played to a London court as he sues over an article that called him a “wife beater.”
The video, which Depp’s ex-wife Amber Heard recorded, was used to ask a witness about his character.
In the footage, Depp, 57, was wearing sunglasses and a large hat inside a room where the couple were staying.
He crashed around the room, kicking waist high cupboards and then slamming overhead cupboards that had glass panelling.
Heard, 34, asks him what is wrong, before he goes to fill up a glass of wine from a near empty bottle.
“Have you drunk this whole thing this morning?” Heard said in the video which she recorded on a phone.
Depp then sees the phone and stops the recording, saying: “Do you want to see something?”
The actor, who was sitting at the back of the court, listened to evidence in a dark suit and tie as his libel case against The Sun over an article that labelled him a “wife beater”, continued.
Johnny Depp’s security guard had earlier revealed that he lied to doctors that the actor had severed his finger while slicing onions at a Gold Coast house to avoid negative publicity.
Witness Malcolm Connolly looked uncomfortable as he was grilled by Sasha Wass, QC, for The Sun over how the top of Depp’s finger was cut off as the actor’s libel case continued in London.
And he said that he had heard of claims that his ex-wife Amber Heard, 34, had attacked
Depp, 57, in Australia and in Los Angeles.
The former British prisoner officer said he had not seen any evidence of Depp attacking Heard while they were together.
“I wouldn’t tolerate any man striking a woman, I don’t care who it is. Not even if it’s the Pope,” he said.
“I don’t depend on Johnny for my income.”
He said it was “absolutely untrue” he had been pressured to change his story to protect Depp.
He was repeatedly pointed to witness statements in large, thick folders, next to the cramped witness box inside London’s High Court on Tuesday night Australian time.
Depp is suing The Sun over a 2018 article that labelled him a “wife beater”.
Mr Connolly claimed in his statement sworn in February this year that Depp had told him Heard was to blame for the damage to his finger in 2015.
In court, Mr Connolly stood by the statement, saying: “He stood in the driveway, holding his hand saying, ‘She’s just cut my f***ing finger off’.”
He also claimed that Depp had said Heard had put a cigarette out on his cheek, while she claims that the actor did it to himself.
Connolly, who said he counted Depp as a friend as well as his boss, had found him in a “distraught” state at the Gold Coast property.
Depp stayed at the mansion while filming Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, which was filmed on the Gold Coast.
“It’s hard to tell with Johnny because it takes some volume of alcohol. He didn’t appear that drunk to me,” he said.
“I wouldn’t say rational because he was in shock.”
Depp’s team told staff at the hospital that he had cut his finger slicing onions to avoid negative publicity.
“I thought it was fairly obvious that this was not true given the severity of the injury and suggested we say he jammed it into a car door,” he said.
“However we went with the onion cover story. The specialist didn’t believe us for one second.”
Connolly had sent Heard a message saying he did not want to “get dragged into this.”
Depp claimed that Heard was violent towards him, but Connolly’s message to Heard said: “You have never been anything but respectful and professional in my company.”
The court also heard details of text messages that Depp had sent about Heard.
“She’s as full of s*** as a Christmas goose,” Depp said, adding that Heard was a “manipulative evil and vindictive c***.”
Depp said that Heard was ambitious and was trading off his success while she also subjected him to “hideously and purposeful, hurtful tirades”.
“She’s so desperate for success and fame that’s probably why I was acquired,” the text message said.
“I cut the top of my middle finger off, what should I do other than go to hospital, I’m so embarrassed.”
The case continues.
stephen.drill@news.co.uk