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Thanks for signing up! Go to newsletter preferences Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app AdvertisementOne of Amber Heard's former friends, who got to know Johnny Depp during the couple's relationship, testified on Tuesday about how Depp would become "very mean" and "very surly" under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
Depp has taken his ex-wife, Heard, to trial for defamation, claiming she ruined his career and reputation when she insinuated in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed that she had been the victim of domestic violence. Heard is fighting the lawsuit, and spent several days on the stand describing multiple incidents where she said Depp physically or sexually assaulted her before and during their 15-month marriage.
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On Tuesday, Heard's former friend, iO Tillett Wright, testified about his experiences with the couple. Tillett Wright says he first met Heard in 2011 and became friend with her soon after. When Tillett Wright moved to Los Angeles in 2013, he says he hit it off with Heard's then-boyfriend Depp, and even lived in one of Depp's homes for nine months.
Tillett Wright, who said he doesn't do illegal drugs or alcohol, said he witnessed Depp get inebriated and take drugs including marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy, and mushrooms, during the time he knew the actor.
AdvertisementHeard on the other hand, according to Tillett Wright, would drink regularly but he didn't see her drunk often. He remembered her doing ecstasy during a birthday once, but otherwise didn't see her do drugs.
Alcohol and cocaine brought out Depp's bad side, Tillett Wright said.
"Cocaine and any kind of alcohol would bring out a very, very ugly side of him," Tillett Wright said of Depp. "He would get very misogynistic and cruel and other things when he would take any kind of psychedelic like ecstasy or MDMA he would become paranoid. When he drank alcohol he would become paranoid."
Tillett Wright said he would sometimes get called to help the couple work through fights and remembers one instance in which Depp took him aside and said some really nasty things about Heard.
Advertisement"Things like . all she's got is her looks. She has no talent and when her tits start to sag and her face gets wrinkly nobody's going to be interested in her for anything, so she better figure out another way to survive. Shit like that," Tillett Wright said.
Tillett Wright went on to say that when Mr Depp would drink or take drugs "he would get very mean, very surly, very paranoid, extremely paranoid."
"He would weave these elaborate situations in which Amber was having affairs with every man she every worked with, any woman she ever came in contact with," Tillett Wright said.
Tillett Wright said Depp could be "very demeaning" and would make jokes about Heard's "appearance" and "her lack of talent as he perceived it."
AdvertisementTillett Wright said Depp would make comments about why Heard "was actually famous" and his impression "was it was just because of her looks and because he thought everyone wanted to have sex with her."
And it wasn't just Heard that drew his ire in these drunken states.
"He would insult his fans . he would rail against his mother and his sisters, pretty much anyone he felt had crossed him or could cross him he became very nasty about."
Tillett Wright also said that Depp confessed to experiencing jealousy in past relationships that led him to drink and "a lot of rage activities." He said he had these issues in his former relationships with Winona Ryder, Kate Moss, and Vanessa Paradis.
AdvertisementTillett Wright said he never witnessed Depp physically abuse Heard, though he said Depp made a comment referencing domestic violence at the couple's wedding in 2015.
Tillett Wright said after the ceremony Depp said "we're married, now I can punch her in the face and no one can do anything about it."
Tillett Wright said he stopped being friends with Depp following his breakup with Heard, who he continued being friends with until around the spring of 2021. It was unclear Tuesday what led to the end of their friendship.