LONDON (AFP) – A live-in friend who witnessed Johnny Depp's tumultuous marriage to Amber Heard told the Hollywood actor's libel trial on Friday (July 17) that the actress faked her injuries in order to blackmail him.
The Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise star is suing the publisher and executive editor of Britain's The Sun newspaper in London's High Court over a 2018 story branding him a "wife beater".
The Sun says it can prove the 57-year-old abused the 34-year-old model and actress on 14 occasions before their two-year marriage fell apart in 2017.
Depp kicked off proceedings last week by admitting he told Heard after a particularly stormy encounter the two were "a crime scene waiting to happen".
But the focus shifted from the actor's alleged tendency to smash things up while high or drunk to Heard's credibility as Depp's various bodyguards and staff took the stand this week.
Depp's childhood friend Isaac Baruch – an artist who lived in the couple's five penthouse apartment complex in Los Angeles – said pictures of Heard's injuries leaked to the media were "phoney baloney".
"She had filed a fraudulent domestic violence claim to push her hand and extort and blackmail him in the divorce," Baruch said.
'NOT A SINGLE BRUISE'[hhmc]
One photo in question shows the right side of Heard's face around her eye covered in red markings.
But Depp's friend said he saw Heard from "12 inches away" the next day and her skin was clear.
"I didn't see a single bruise, redness, mark or the red tinted cellphone imprint that was advertised in (magazines). Nothing. Not anything," Baruch said.
Lawyer Sasha Wass, representing The Sun's publishers News Group Newspapers (NGN), tried to cast Baruch as an unreliable witness who depended on Depp for his livelihood.
She noted that Depp gave Baruch free accommodation and tens of thousand of dollars a year in living expenses.
Wass also asked how Baruch could be sure Heard was not covering up her bruises with makeup.
Baruch said he was "100 per cent sure" because he saw Heard four more times over the next three days.
"I saw no marks of any kind on either side of the face," he said.
'I HID IT'[hhmc]
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