Celebrity News

Winona Ryder, Vanessa Paradis won’t get to defend Johnny Depp in ‘wife beater’ lawsuit

Johnny Depp’s famous exes Winona Ryder and Vanessa Paradis are no longer being called to defend him in his explosive court case denying he is a “wife-beater,” Depp’s legal team announced Thursday.

Actresses Ryder, 48, and Paradis — the 47-year-old mother of Depp’s two children — were both due to give evidence via videolink this week having already given witness statements insisting the “Pirates of the Caribbean” was never violent to them.

But the case ran over schedule — and Depp’s legal team conceded that Depp’s ex-wife Amber Heard is only accusing him of beating her, not his previous partners.

“There is no need to reschedule those witnesses, much as it would have been a pleasure to have them here,” Depp’s lawyer David Sherborne told London’s High Court early Thursday.

The pair have already both submitted witness statements to the case, in which Depp is suing The Sun newspaper over a 2018 article that referred to him as a “wife-beater” — which he vehemently denies.

Depp and Ryder, who starred together in 1990’s “Edward Scissorhands,” were one of Hollywood’s hottest couples in the early-90s. Ryder called it “one of the more significant relationships of my life” in her statement.

Depp even had “Winona Forever” tattooed on his arm — which the trial was told sparked a fight when Heard mocked him for changing it to “Wino Forever” after he split from Ryder.

She said she was “absolutely shocked, confused and upset” when she learned of Heard’s claims against Depp because they were “so wildly different” than her own.

“The idea that he is an incredibly violent person is the farthest thing from the Johnny I knew and loved,” she wrote. “I cannot wrap my head around these accusations.

“He was never, never violent towards me. He was never, never abusive at all towards me. He has never been violent or abusive towards anybody I have seen.

“I truly and honestly only know him as a really good man – an incredibly loving, extremely caring guy who was so very protective of me and the people that he loves, and I felt so very, very safe with him.”

Depp was with Paradis for 14 years — raising their children Lily-Rose, 21, and John Christopher, 18 — before their split in 2012, shortly before he and Heard were together and he is first accused of turning violent.

“I have known Johnny for more than 25 years,” Paradis said in her statement.

“Through all these years I’ve known Johnny to be a kind, attentive, generous, and non-violent person and father.”

She added, “He was never violent or abusive to me.”

Before the trial started last week, a spokeswoman for Heard, 34, had already insisted that the two women’s experiences had nothing to do with the claims of domestic abuse.

“We are glad they did not have the same experience as Ms. Heard,” the spokeswoman said of Ryder and Paradis.

“However, one woman’s experience does not determine the experience of another woman.”

With Post wires