Not going down without a fight: Johnny Depp contests ‘wife beater’ case

Johnny Depp is trying to overturn the UK High Court’s decision in his libel case with The Sun which said the tabloid was justified in using the phrase “wife beater” in a 2018 article about his relationship with ex-wife Amber Heard.

The ruling was made last year following a high-profile trial in which The Sun’s defence used Heard’s allegations of 14 incidents of violence between 2013 and 2016.

Amber Heard’s charitable donations a ‘manipulative lie’ – Depp

On Thursday, the actor’s legal team told the UK Court of Appeal why they think he should be granted a retrial in his libel case with The Sun publisher News Group Newspapers.

The central focus of their argument was Heard’s supposed failure to pay $7 million (R102.3 million) in charitable donations from her divorce settlement with Depp. His lawyers described the incident as a “calculated and manipulative lie” which “tipped the scales” when presented in the original case as evidence.

Johnny Depp’s lawyer leaves court after filing application to appeal

Move could be an attempt to damage Heard’s credibility

The move could be seen as an attempt to damage Heard’s credibility, but the actress’s lawyer Elaine Bredehoft had admitted to a delay in donations in an interview with Deadline earlier this year.

According to Bredehoft, the hold-up is due to Depp’s legal action against the actress, which had cost her millions of dollars in legal fees.

But the Pirates of the Caribbean star will have to wait a little longer to see if his motion for an appeal has been successful. At the end of the three-hour hearing, Lord Justice Underhill of the UK Court of Appeal said, “We are not going to reach an immediate decision today but we will make it very shortly and it will be handed down in writing.”

Since the verdict, Depp was dropped from Warner Bros’ Fantastic Beasts franchise and replaced by Mads Mikkelsen. In the U.S, Depp’s separate $50 million (R731 million) defamation trial against Heard has been delayed until 11 April 2022. The actress is also pursuing a $100 million (R1.5 billion) countersuit.

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard first met as co-stars on the set of The Rum Diary back in October 2009. The pair were cast as love interests in the film adaptation of the Hunter S. Thompson novel. The actor has repeatedly denied physically assaulting Heard during their four-year relationship.