Johnny Depp's spokesperson has accused his ex-wife Amber Heard of delivering "the performance of her life" during the ongoing defamation trial.
During her second day on the witness stand on Thursday, the Aquaman actress gave an explosive testimony about the abuse she allegedly suffered at the hands of the Pirates of the Caribbean star. Among other allegations, she claimed he slapped her face and kicked her in the back during a flight in 2014 and sensationally alleged that he sexually assaulted her with an alcohol bottle during a fight in 2015.
Following her testimony, Depp's spokesperson issued a statement to media outlets slamming Heard's "performance" on the stand.
"As Mr. Depp's counsel correctly predicted in their opening statements last month, Ms. Heard did indeed deliver 'the performance of her life' in her direct examination," the statement reads, reports People. "While Ms. Heard's stories have continued to grow new and convenient details, Mr. Depp's recollections have remained exactly the same throughout the six painful years since her first allegations were made.
"His truth — the truth — is the same no matter the environment in which it has been presented. The upcoming cross examination from Mr. Depp's team will be most telling, and will certainly highlight the many fallacies Ms. Heard has now attempted to pass off as fact throughout her convoluted testimony."
A spokesperson for the 36-year-old actress responded with their own statement in which they said, "Mr. Depp's defamation claim is falling apart so rapidly that his counsel are turning from prosecutor to persecutor."
The spokesperson went on to accuse the actor of "attacking the victim" and failing to take "responsibility for his own conduct". They said Heard was disappointed by Depp's "inability to distinguish fact from fiction — a malady which appears to have spread to his legal team."
"That same team is so panicked they are fighting tooth and nail to prevent compelling evidence and photos from being introduced," the statement continues. "Small wonder Mr. Depp does not have the fortitude or courage to even look at Ms. Heard at all throughout the proceedings — as he could not in the UK trial — and, instead he doodles and snickers.
"Mr. Depp's behavior in this trial has been as pitiful as it was in their marriage. Apparently, they feel they must double-down on their demonstrably losing two-part strategy: distract the jury and demonize the victim."
Depp is suing his ex-wife, to whom he was married between 2015 and 2016, for defamation over a 2018 op-ed in which she called herself a public figure representing domestic abuse. She is countersuing him.
He previously lost a libel trial against The Sun newspaper in the U.K. in 2020 over an article labelling him a "wife beater" as the judge ruled Heard's allegations were "substantially true".
The court is out on Friday and all of next week so the trial will resume the following week.
