While answering questions from his lawyers on the stand Monday, Depp, 58, described Heard’s past interactions with Bettany as “abominable,” saying that they often butted heads when together.
Depp said, “Ms. Heard despised Mr. Bettany, mainly because we had become such close friends, and for her he was a threat and would take me away from her, with regard to if Paul Bettany were getting the attention from me, that was a show-stopper. It would cause all kinds of unpleasantries.”
He recalled one instance when they were with Bettany, 50, his wifeJennifer Connellyand their kids. Depp said Heard and theWandaVisionactor got into a “debate over lunch” and “whenever Mr. Bettany tried to make a point, she would talk over him.”
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“And then it started to get quite rude. She got mean and she got loud,” said Depp of Heard, 36, adding that Connelly and Bettany’s then-18-year-old “brilliant” son Kai entered the conversation to speak on something he’d studied about in school.
“He voiced his opinion, and Ms. Heard demeaned that young man to the point of where he burst into tears and walked away,” the actor said. Depp said he later told Heard that “behavior was unacceptable” and that she “had no right.” He said he told her, “You cannot always be right. You should try being wrong sometime, because you might learn something.”
Bettany was brought up last week while Depp was being cross-examined, and Depp confirmed that the actor, whom he met while making the 2010 movieThe Tourist, is afriend he has done recreational drugs withat times. Their text messages were also made into evidence, including one in which they joked about drowning and burning Heard. Depp said in court Monday that that was aMonty Pythonreference not to be taken literally.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty; John Phillips/Getty; Ilya S. Savenok/Getty
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Bettany has previously expressed that itwas “embarrassing” to havehis texts made public when they were used in the U.K. libel case Depp brought againstThe Sun, which he lost in November 2020. Bettany clarified that he “didn’t know Johnny when he was married to” Heard.
“I knew him before. But we hadn’t spoken for years. During the marriage I didn’t know them. So I wasn’t around for any of that,” Bettany added to U.K.‘sThe Timesin February, after saying, “We live in a world without context.”
Heard and Depp met while making the 2011 movieThe Rum Diary, and they wed in 2015. They broke up in May 2016, when Heard sought a domestic violence restraining order against him, accusing him of abusing her. Depp denied the claims, and the former couple settled theirdivorceout of court in August 2016.
source: people.com
