The Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation trial wrapped up over a month ago with Depp being awarded $10.35 million in damages.
But the case continues to make headlines for a number of reasons.
The trial and its outcome remain hot topics of debate on social media, especially in the wake of the publication of 6,000 pages of court documents that were sealed until earlier this week.
The documents contain further allegations against both parties, but they’re mostly damaging to Depp.
The filings reveal that Depp’s lawyers tried to have nude photos of Heard introduced as evidence.
They were blocked from doing so or from mentioning her brief career as an exotic dancer.
For their part, Heard’s lawyers were not permitted to allege in open court that Depp suffered from erectile dysfunction, a fact that they say was pertinent as his frustration over the condition led to acts of abuse.
Now, there’s further damage to Depp’s reputation in the form of newly revealed testimony from a former girlfriend of his, actress Ellen Barkin.
The two met while they were filming 1997’s Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas, and according to Barkin, the role of the perennially-intoxicated writer Hunter S. Thompson was not exactly a stretch for Depp.
“He was drunk all the time,” she said in her testimony, which was recorded for Depp’s 2020 libel suit against UK tabloid The Sun.
She noted that during one incident, Depp hurled a wine bottle across their hotel room.
“I wasn’t shocked,” Barkin said of Depp , according to a transcript of the deposition.
“There is always an air of violence around him. He’s a yeller. He is verbally abusive. And those things you can see,” she added.
“There is just a world of violence.”
Barkin also recounted her first sexual encounter with Depp, which she says began with an offer of drugs.
“He gave me a Quaalude and asked me if I wanted to f–k,” she recalled.
“He came on to me in the living room of my house, pulled me onto his lap and said something like, ‘Oh, come on Ellen,’ or whatever,” Barkin said in her deposition.
“I protested a little and then – not too much. And that was that.”
During his trial against The Sun, Depp disputed claims from Barkin and others that he tends to become aggressive during arguments, especially while drinking.
“I do not have an anger management problem,” he said.
Depp lost his case against The Sun but was victorious in his trial against Heard two years later.
He sued his ex-wife for $50 million, alleging that she lied and did irreparable damage to his career when she identified herself as a victim of domestic abuse in a 2018 Washington Post essay.
The jury sided with Depp but awarded him only a small fraction of the damages he requested.
Now, Heard is appealing the verdict, but she’s fighting an uphill battle.
The actress’ first request for a new trial was rejected by the judge, but her legal team has vowed to continue fighting.
And if they’re successful, you can be certain that they’ll call Ellen Barkin to the stand at some point in their second trial.
