‘Let’s burn Amber!’ Johnny Depp’s explicit texts read out in court

Johnny Depp discussed burning and drowning Amber Heard in explicit messages sent to his celebrity friends that were read out as part of a bitter defamation case.

Actor Johnny Depp, 58, has been depicted by Amber Heard’s lawyers as a prodigious drug user who was prone to violence. Picture: AFP

Johnny Depp discussed drowning his ex-wife, Amber Heard, and burning her corpse, in graphic texts sent to British actor Paul Bettany, an American court was told yesterday (Thursday).

Lawyers for Heard sought to depict Mr Depp, 58, as a prodigious drug user who was prone to violence as the Hollywood actor spent a third day giving evidence in a $US50 million ($68 million) defamation trial.

He is suing Ms Heard, 35, for claiming she was a victim of domestic abuse. She has countersued for $US100 million.

Benjamin Rottenborn, one of Ms Heard’s lawyers, showed the court in Fairfax, Virginia, messages between Mr Depp and his celebrity friends including Mr Bettany, Sir Elton John and the musician Marilyn Manson.

Under cross-examination, Mr Depp admitted he had taken cocaine with Mr Bettany, his co-star in films including The Tourist (2010) and Mortdecai (2015).

In June 2013, Mr Depp texted Mr Bettany: “Let’s burn Amber!!!” Another read: “Let’s drown her before we burn her!!!”

Amber Heard listens to her ex-husband, Johnny Depp, during his defamation trial against her. Picture: AFP

Mr Rottenborn apologised to the court before reading another explicit message which said: “I will f*** her burnt corpse afterwards to make sure she is dead.”

The exchange also referred to Mr Depp’s use of drugs and alcohol around the time of a flight from Boston to Los Angeles on which Ms Heard alleges he was abusive.

Mr Bettany addressed the messages in an interview with The Times earlier this year. “We live in a world without context,” he said, adding that no one would “feel comfortable having a team of lawyers scour their private text messages”.

Mr Depp also admitted he had taken cocaine with Mr Manson, “maybe a couple of times”.

“I once gave Marilyn Manson a pill so that he would stop talking so much,” Mr Depp said to laughter in the courtroom. Mr Depp described Sir Elton, 75, as a “dear friend” who had helped him get sober. Mr Rottenborn read out an email from Mr Depp to the singer in July 2013 in which he referred to his former partner, Vanessa Paradis, the French singer who is the mother of his two children.

He said his children had “fallen head over heels in love with Amber” but worried the “French extortionist” would attempt to “brainwash them against her”.

Mr Depp used an explicit term to refer to Ms Paradis.

The jury was shown a picture taken in Ms Heard’s apartment in Los Angeles in March 2013, a point when Mr Depp’s sobriety had faltered. The image showed a glass table with a glass of amber liquid and four lines of white powder. Asked if he drank whiskey in the morning, Mr Depp quipped: “Isn’t happy hour any time?”

Mr Rottenborn later displayed a picture taken at Mr Depp’s recording studio of “four giant bags of pot”.

In another image, Mr Depp was seen unconscious on a black leather couch with ice cream spilled over him.

Mr Depp said he had worked 17 hours and taken opiates while working on the film Black Mass in Boston. He told the court that Ms Heard set up the picture and handed him the ice cream when she knew he was about to fall asleep.

The trial was previously told Mr Depp needed to take the opiates to feel “normal” after becoming addicted to them.

Mr Rottenborn also depicted Mr Depp as having a violent temper and said he had a history of smashing up hotel rooms.

“I have assaulted a couch or two, yes sir,” Mr Depp replied.

Mr Depp, in a text to Ms Heard in December 2014, described himself as a “f****** savage”.

In separate messages to friends, Mr Depp said that Ms Heard believed his “Peruvian period” – a reference to cocaine use – made him a “monster” and he was “ruining the relationship”.

Mr Depp and Ms Heard married in 2015 and divorced two years later.

The trial continues.

The Times