Amid weeks of intense testimony in Johnny Depp‘s ongoing defamation trial against Amber Heard, one witness left the courtroom shocked by an unusual reaction to a question about the actor.
“I’ve only seen him interact [with people in interviews]. When he wasn’t in movies,” the psychologist said, to which the attorney responded, “Willy Wonka doesn’t matter to you? You see him in that movie, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? Did you look at that one when you were looking at his [cognitive] processing speed?”
Instead of answering immediately, a confused Spiegel began smacking his lips and opening and closing his mouth while he rubbed his chin. “Do I have to answer that question, your honor?” he then asked the judge, while Depp shook his head in bewilderment while observing the interaction in court. Speigel was directed to answer the question and told the court that he had not seen any of the projects mentioned by the actor’s legal team.
Before his awkward interaction with the Edward Scissorhands star’s legal team, Spiegel testified about the actor’s documented behavior and its relation to Heard’s claims of domestic violence. (Depp has denied the allegations on multiple occasions, calling them “heinous” while testifying in April.)
“Based on my review of the evidence, based on my clinical experience, based on my publishing experience [and] based my teaching experience that Mr. Depp has behaviors that are consistent with someone that both has substance use disorder as well as behaviors of someone who is a perpetrator of intimate partner violence,” he claimed.
The 21 Jump Street alum, who was married to Heard from February 2015 to January 2017, is currently suing the Aquaman actress for defamation based on a 2018 op-ed that she wrote for The Washington Post in which she claimed she was a survivor of domestic violence. Though she did not mention Depp in the article, he claims that her words have negatively impacted his career and life.
Before his awkward interaction with the Edward Scissorhands star’s legal team, Spiegel testified about the actor’s documented behavior and its relation to Heard’s claims of domestic violence. (Depp has denied the allegations on multiple occasions, calling them “heinous” while testifying in April.)
“Based on my review of the evidence, based on my clinical experience, based on my publishing experience [and] based my teaching experience that Mr. Depp has behaviors that are consistent with someone that both has substance use disorder as well as behaviors of someone who is a perpetrator of intimate partner violence,” he claimed.
The 21 Jump Street alum, who was married to Heard from February 2015 to January 2017, is currently suing the Aquaman actress for defamation based on a 2018 op-ed that she wrote for The Washington Post in which she claimed she was a survivor of domestic violence. Though she did not mention Depp in the article, he claims that her words have negatively impacted his career and life.
“It’s not about Johnny. The only person who thinks it is about Johnny is Johnny,” the Texas native said while on the stand earlier this month. “It’s about me and what happened to me.”
On Friday, May 20, a deposition from Ellen Barkin — who dated Depp for several months in 1994 — was played in court, in which she alleged that the actor was “controlling” during their relationship. “He was just a jealous man,” the Animal Kingdom star, 68, claimed, adding that Depp would ask her: “Where are you going? Who are you going with? What did you do last night?”
Barkin alleged that her ex once got “very, very angry” when he discovered that she had a scratch on her back. “He insisted it came from me having sex with a person who hasn’t him,” she claimed, adding that he exhibited “demanding” and “controlling” toward her during their romance.
The Emmy winner also testified that Depp was frequently under the influence of drugs and alcohol while they were dating. “He was always drinking and smoking a joint,” she told the court, alleging that the Sweeney Todd actor once “threw a wine bottle across the hotel room” in her direction during a fight between him and his friends.
Depp has previously denied Barkin’s claim about the wine bottle incident, saying that it was “untrue” during court proceedings for his libel trial against the U.K. newspaper The Sun. “I do not have an anger management problem,” he said in July 2020.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support.
