Johnny Depp‘s current court case against his ex-wife Amber Heard continues, with Heard’s lawyer Ben Rottenborn using his time with Depp on the stand to question the actor and musician about his past drug use with other famous musicians and actors. Among the names that came up during the testimony were Marilyn Manson and Keith Richards.
Depp is currently in court, filing a defamation claim after Heard penned a 2018 op-ed piece for the Washington Post chronicling her experience as a domestic violence survivor. Though the actress never mentioned Depp by name, his lawyers claimed that references to him and her public abuse allegations were clear, thus damaging his career and reputation in the process.
During his line of questioning Rottenborn attempted to establish a history of substance abuse by asking questions about his experiences doing drugs with some other well-known names. One of those names was Marilyn Manson, who is currently dealing with his own legal issues related to sexual abuse claims made against him.
When asked if he’d done drugs with Manson, Depp responded, “Yes, we drank together and we’ve had cocaine together maybe a couple of times.” When the lawyer then asked if they were pills, Depp offered, “Um, I once gave Marilyn Manson a pill so that he would stop talking so much,” which elicited some laughs from those in the courtroom. Rottenborn also shared text exchanges between Depp and Manson from 2012 to further show his point of an established relationship between the pair pertaining to drugs.
Later within the testimony, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards name was brought up when the lawyer showed a photo that featured a Richards demo CD next to four lines presumed to be cocaine and a couple of glasses of beer. That same photo featured a box with the initials “J.D.” that had a skull and crossbones. The lawyer then asked Depp if he carried cocaine in the box, with the actor responding, “I can’t say that I carried cocaine in it … but it looks like it would fit some cocaine.”
According to EW, the lawyer also cited some of Depp’s own testimony from his 2020 libel lawsuit against The Sun in which he had stated that he was “abusing alcohol, for sure.”
Depp is currently suing Heard for $50 million related to her 2018 op-ed piece. The former couple had starred together onscreen in 2011’s The Rum Diary and were wed in 2015. The relationship severed two years later when the couple divorced. Heard had obtained a domestic violence restraining order against Depp, accusing him of “violent and volatile” episodes while under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Depp has countered that the accusations were “not based in any species of truth.”
The trial is expected to last over five weeks, with the trial going dark on Friday (April 22). There will also be a pause in proceedings between May 9-12 as the judge has a conflicting conference that was previously scheduled.
Timeline of Abuse Allegations Against Marilyn Manson
After actress Evan Rachel Wood first publicly accused rock singer Marilyn Manson of sexual abuse in February 2021, similar allegations by others against the musician also surfaced. Below is a timeline of those accusations, beginning with Wood’s 2018 testimony that disclosed her alleged abuse but had yet to name an abuser. Manson denied the allegations. He subsequently sued Wood for fraud and conspiracy in March 2022.
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