Raging Johnny Depp texted that he would “burn” and “drown” ex-wife Amber Heard, then “f–k her burnt corpse” during their volatile relationship, a court has heard.
Previously unseen 2013 messages alleged to have been sent by the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star, 56, to actor friend Paul Bettany were read out in London’s High Court on Wednesday.
Depp, who attended the hearing, was in the room as his texts to Bettany were read aloud.
He allegedly wrote on Nov. 6, 2013, “Let’s burn Amber,” the court heard.
The court was told he allegedly texted Bettany again that day to say, “Let’s drown her before we burn her!!! I will f–k her burnt corpse afterwards to make sure she is dead.”
The court also heard further texts allegedly sent by Depp to Bettany in May 2014, which read: “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!!!”
Depp is in court in London for a preliminary hearing in his libel suit against British newspaper the Sun over an article that alleged Depp had been abusive to Heard, 33.
His lawyer David Sherborne said the case would feature “diametrically opposed” versions of events from Depp and Heard.
“One person, one side, is lying, and one is not,” Sherborne said. “Obviously, we say that it is Ms. Heard (who is lying), Mr. Depp is 100% clear about that.”
Sherborne claimed that Heard was not a victim but the “aggressor” in the couple’s relationship, which ended in May 2016. Depp and Heard divorced in 2017.
Depp’s lawyer Adam Waldman said, “What does the Sun do to keep Amber Heard’s hoax alive? [Wednesday] in court we learned the answer — cherry-picking a fragment of a single frustrated text message to a friend sent out of 500 gigabytes of text and email messages provided.
“Inconveniently for the Sun, here is what Mr. Depp actually said next in his text – that he could never harm Amber: ‘I am admittedly too f–ked in the head to spray my rage at the one I love’.”
The full hearing is due to start on March 23. Depp is also suing Heard for libel in the United States.
Adam Wolanski QC, representing the Sun, told the London court the May 2014 text to Bettany appeared to refer to an alleged “altercation” with Heard on a plane.
Wolanski said Depp is accused of “screaming obscenities” on the flight as he slapped Heard in the face, kicked her in the back and threw a boot at her, before allegedly “passing out” in the plane toilet. Depp denies he was drunk and abusive during the flight.
The texts were revealed in court after previous lawyers for Depp had accidentally shared 70,000 messages from and to the actor with the newspaper’s legal team
“These texts go to the very heart of the case, they are really very important and set out the claimant’s thinking in respect of a number of different incidents and his recollection,” Wolanski said.
Page Six has learned these texts have not been shared with Heard’s legal team in the US during the discovery process for their upcoming defamation trial.
Depp is suing Heard for $50 million in Northern Virginia, claiming he was defamed in an op-ed she wrote in the Washington Post in which she called for better support for domestic violence victims like herself, but without naming Depp in the piece.
In the US libel proceedings, Heard has previously alleged “violent” Depp became “the Monster” on drugs and booze, then beat, strangled and tormented her. She stated Depp repeatedly hit her, ripped out her hair, choked and nearly suffocated her in a Virginia court filing in response to his $50 million defamation lawsuit against her. He strongly denies her claims, arguing she was the aggressor.
In the US court filings Heard stated that she began dating Depp in early 2012 and “about a year into our relationship, I began to witness Johnny abusing drugs and alcohol … Whenever he was using, I worried for both of us. He would become a totally different person, often delusional and violent. We called that version of Johnny, ‘the Monster.’ Johnny often would not remember his delusional and violent conduct after he came out of his drunk or medicated states … Because I loved Johnny, I had believed his multiple promises that he could and would get better. I was wrong.”
On a private jet from Boston to Los Angeles in May 2014, Heard’s filing of Depp states: “On the flight, Johnny ordered the flight attendants to give him an oxygen tank, and drank heavily. Johnny’s handlers told me that he was upset that I was filming a movie with a romantic scene with James Franco the day before. At some point, I stood up, and Johnny kicked me in the back, causing me to fall over. Johnny threw his boot at me while I was on the ground. Johnny continued to scream obscenities until he went into the plane bathroom and passed out, locked in the bathroom for the remainder of the flight.”
Depp allegedly apologized in a later text message, writing, “Once again, I find myself in a place of shame and regret. Of course, I am sorry. I really don’t know why or what happened. But I will never do it again.”
Heard alleged in court filings that just a month into their marriage, in March 2015, Depp — who was supposed to be clean at the time, but didn’t believe taking ecstasy broke his sobriety — went on a three-day bender on MDMA/ecstasy in Australia.
“Johnny told me that I had not explicitly forbidden him from taking ecstasy. The argument heated up, and Johnny pushed me, slapped me, and shoved me to the ground before I retreated to a locked bedroom.”
The next morning, “I went downstairs to find that Johnny was still awake, and that he had stayed up all night, having taken about eight MDMA pills. He was also drinking again. We got into a fight that Johnny made physical, and I barricaded myself in one of the rooms. That didn’t stop Johnny from busting through the door of the room I was in. By nightfall, Johnny had hit me multiple times, shoved and pushed me to the ground, choked me, and spit in my face.”
“That night, Johnny shoved me into a ping pong table that collapsed underneath me. Johnny threw bottles through the window panels of a glass door, breaking two panes, and leaving glass everywhere. Johnny then grabbed me, gripping my body and nightgown. He tore the nightgown off, and at some point, I was naked and barefoot, covered in alcohol and glass.”
She continued, “In one of the most horrific and scariest moments of this three-day ordeal, Johnny grabbed me by the neck and collarbone and slammed me against the countertop. I struggled to stand up as he strangled me, but my arms and feet kept slipping and sliding on to the spilled alcohol and were dragged against the broken glass on the countertop and floor, which repeatedly slashed my feet and arms.”
Heard states that the actor was hospitalized, and she was left with “a busted lip, a swollen nose, and cuts all over my body … to this day, I still have scars on my arms and feet from this incident.”
However US lawyers for Depp have stated, “Mr. Depp never abused Ms. Heard. Her allegations against him were false when they were made in 2016. They were part of an elaborate hoax to generate positive publicity for Ms. Heard and advance her career.”
A series of recordings of Heard in 2015 allegedly admitting to “hitting” Depp were recently been released to media outlets.
In the audio, the “Aquaman” actress is heard saying, “I’m sorry that I didn’t, uh, uh, hit you across the face in a proper slap, but I was hitting you, it was not punching you. Babe, you’re not punched … I don’t know what the motion of my actual hand was, but you’re fine, I did not hurt you, I did not punch you, I was hitting you. I can’t promise you I won’t get physical again. God I f–king sometimes get so mad I lose it.”
Depp is heard saying, “I left last night. Honestly, I swear to you because I just couldn’t take the idea of more physicality, more physical abuse on each other … Because had we continued it, it would have gotten f–king bad. And baby, I told you this once. I’m scared to death we are a f–king crime scene right now.”
He later states, “If things get physical, we have to separate. We have to be apart from one another. Whether it’s for f–king an hour or 10 hours or f–king a day. We must, there can be no physical violence towards each other. All I’m saying is we need to take whatever time we need. You need, I need, to kind of let things settle for a minute. So that we don’t f–king kill each other or f–king worse, you know, f–king really kill each other or f–king break up or whatever.”
They reconcile in the recordings and vow to work on their marriage, but soon after Heard filed for divorce after 15 months of marriage. The estranged couple eventually agreed to a $7 million divorce settlement in August 2016.
Reps for Depp didn’t immediately get back to us.