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This was published 2 years ago

Kate Moss denies Johnny Depp pushed her down staircase

By Matthew Barakat
Updated

Falls Church: Supermodel Kate Moss said she was never pushed or assaulted by actor Johnny Depp during their relationship in a brief testimony to the defamation trial between her ex-boyfriend and Amber Heard.

Moss testified as a rebuttal witness in Depp’s libel lawsuit against ex-wife Heard on Wednesday (AEST).

Kate Moss testifies via video link at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse on Wednesday.

Kate Moss testifies via video link at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse on Wednesday.Credit: AP

“He never pushed me, kicked me or threw me down any stairs,” said Moss, who appeared via video from England.

Moss, who dated Depp from 1994 to 1998, testified that she slipped on a staircase and injured her back during a vacation the couple took in Jamaica.

“I screamed because I didn’t know what had happened to me and I was in pain,” she said. “He came running back to help me and carried me back to my room and got me medical attention.”

Kate Moss and Johnny Depp at a film premiere in 1995.

Kate Moss and Johnny Depp at a film premiere in 1995.Credit: (AP Photo/Rhonda Birnbaum

Later in the day, Depp called Heard’s accusations of sexual and physical abuse “insane” as he returned to the witness stand.

“Ridiculous, humiliating, ludicrous, painful, savage, unbelievably brutal, cruel, and all false,” Depp said when asked about his reaction to hearing Heard’s allegations when she testified earlier in the trial.

Depp was testifying as a rebuttal witness — both he and Heard each testified extensively earlier in the trial.

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He gave some specific responses to some of the particular allegations levied by Heard and also her sister, Whitney Henriquez, who provided some of Heard’s strongest corroborating testimony.

He concluded his testimony with a final denial of the allegations.

Johnny Depp watches as his ex-girlfriend Kate Moss testifies via video link.

Johnny Depp watches as his ex-girlfriend Kate Moss testifies via video link.Credit: Evelyn Hockstein/Pool photo via AP

“I have never in my life committed sexual battery, physical abuse, all these outlandish, outrageous stories of me committing these things,” he said. “And living with it for six years, and waiting to be able to bring the truth out.”

He said that “no matter what happens I did get here and I did tell the truth and I have spoken up for what I’ve been carrying on my back, reluctantly, for six years”.

Depp is suing Heard in Fairfax County Circuit Court over a December 2018 op-ed she wrote in The Washington Post describing herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse”. His lawyers say he was defamed by the article even though it never mentioned his name.

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Depp has denied he ever struck Heard and says she was the abuser in the relationship. Heard has testified about more than a dozen separate instances of physical abuse she says she suffered at Depp’s hands.

Depp also disputed a claim made by Heard that Depp had nothing to do with getting her a role in the superhero blockbuster Aquaman. When Heard testified, she was clearly offended by a question from Depp’s lawyers insinuating Depp got her the role.

Depp, though, said that after Heard auditioned for the role, he talked to the studio on her behalf. He was barred from discussing the details of his conversations when Heard’s lawyers objected, but said that “ultimately she did get the job, so hopefully, I suppose, I had curbed their worries to some degree”.

Depp also addressed the accusation in his testimony, saying the staircase incident happened just as Moss said.

He said he’d told the story about Moss to Heard years ago and “Ms Heard took the story and turned it into a very ugly incident, all in her mind”.

Moss testified for less than five minutes and was not cross-examined.

AP

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Original URL: https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/kate-moss-denies-johnny-depp-pushed-her-down-staircase-20220525-p5aoku.html