At this point, it’s safe to say that Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s legal battle has lasted longer than their entire relationship and roped in many people that were there in the heat of the conflict.
A couple of weeks ago, the Aquaman actress came under a lot of fire after an audio clip from one of her conversations with Depp revealed that she was emotionally and physically abusive towards her then-husband. After allegedly ruining Depp’s career due to her accusations during their court battle for divorce, the Pirates of the Caribbean star recently filed a multi-million defamation lawsuit against Heard and accused her of abusing him and twisting the truth.
As a result, many things have recently surfaced that give us a closer look at their personal life together. Now, it would appear that actor Paul Bettany, who’s been a close friend of Depp’s for years, has also been dragged into the new lawsuit.
This time, Depp was in a London court as a part of his lawsuit against The Sun, accusing a senior editor of libel for writing a false article that called the actor a “wife-beater.” According to a news outlet, several messages that Depp sent to Bettany in 2013-2014 were read aloud in court as part of the pre-trial review.
The actor was in the courtroom as the texts were read and some of the messages sent to Bettany in 2013 included sentences like “Let’s burn Amber” or “Let’s drown her before we burn her!!! I will f–k her burnt corpse afterward to make sure she is dead.”
In another instance, Depp texted the following to Bettany, which shows his frustration with his former wife:
“I’m gonna properly stop the booze thing, darling… Drank all night before I picked Amber up to fly to LA, this past Sunday…Ugly, mate. No food for days…powders…half a bottle of whiskey, a thousand red bull and vodkas, pills, 2 bottles of Champers on plane and what do you get..??? An angry, aggro Injun in a f–kin’ blackout, screaming obscenities and insulting any f–k who got near…I’m done. I am admittedly too f–ked in the head to spray my rage at the one I love…For little reason, as well I’m too old to be that guy But, pills are fine!!!”
According to The Sun’s attorney, Adam Wolanski, the above text, which was sent to Bettany in May 2014, refers to a flight incident on the same month during which Depp allegedly got drunk and abused his wife before passing out in the plane’s bathroom.
However, the actor’s lawyers firmly denied these allegations, saying that they’re “part of an elaborate hoax to generate positive publicity for Ms. Heard and advance her career.”
In any event, we don’t know what turn this messy court battle will take next, but considering that the petitions which ask for justice for Johnny Depp have skyrocketed since the new revelations, we’ll have to wait and see what repercussions await Heard and her future career.