Johnny Depp on stand: Ex-wife Heard’s allegations ‘heinous’

By MATTHEW BARAKAT
Associated Press

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — Actor Johnny Depp told jurors that he felt compelled to sue his ex-wife Amber Heard for libel out of an obsession for the truth after she accused him of physical and sexual assault. Depp on Tuesday flatly denied ever hitting Heard, calling the allegations against him disturbing, heinous and “not based in any species of truth.” Depp says Heard falsely accused him of domestic abuse when she wrote a 2018 op-ed piece in The Washington Post. The trial in Fairfax, Virginia, began last week but, prior to Tuesday afternoon, the jury had only seen Depp sitting silently with his lawyers. Heard is scheduled to take the stand later in the six-week trial.