Johnny Depp (L); Amber Heard.Photo: Marc Piasecki/WireImage; Phillip Faraone/Getty
Johnny Deppand his legal team have reportedly been granted access toAmber Heard’s phone records in an attempt to prove their claim that the actress “faked” photos of abuse.
A Virginia judge in Fairfax County granted Depp’s attorneys access to the records to have an expert assess whether photos showing Heard’s alleged injuries in 2015 were fabricated, according toThe Independent.
“Ms. Heard’s counsel has repeatedly used these phony photographs at deposition,” Benjamin Chew, an attorney for Depp, said in the court filing, according to the outlet.
Attorneys for Heard, who have denied Depp’s claims, and Depp did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Page Sixreports Chew alleged in the filing that when the LAPD responded to the 2015 incident between Depp and Heard, “they found no injury upon Ms. Heard and no disruption to the penthouses.”
“Ms. Heard and her friends then fabricated photos that she used to obtain an ex parte TRO [temporary restraining order] and a $7 million divorce settlement,” Chew alleged in his filing, viaPage Six.
“While legal hearings are protected from defamation, they are not protected from leaks to the press, which is exactly Mr. Depp’s intention—even though he lost every one of these arguments in the UK trial—his first choice of forum,” Bredehoft stated. “He is trying to interject out-of-context and already proven to be false pieces from his unsuccessful efforts in court to attempt to deceive the public, pretending these issues have not already been fully tried, in his court of choice, where he lost. Now, in yet another court of law, he is unable to submit his own evidence because he has nothing to prove his claims.”
Depp issuing Heard for defamationafter theAquamanactress wrote an op-ed for theWashington Postin 2018 about surviving domestic violence (Heard never named Depp in the op-ed, but she did accuse the actor of domestic violence amid their 2016 split, which he denied).
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
In November 2020, thePirates of the Caribbeanstar lost his case against the British tabloidThe Sun, which called him a “wife-beater.” The court upheld the outlet’s claims as being “substantially true.”
In August, a judge granted Depp the right to pursue his lawsuit against Heard, denying the actress' supplemental plea to dismiss the case after Depp lost his libel lawsuit.
Heard’s plea to dismiss Depp’s lawsuit, filed in Virginia in March 2019, came as the actress argued the U.K. judgment should hold sway on the proceedings in the U.S. since both lawsuits center on allegations of the actor as an abuser.
RELATED VIDEO: Johnny Depp Agrees to Resign from Fantastic Beasts Role After Losing ‘Wife Beater’ Libel Case
Three months after Heard’s op-ed was published, Depp filed a defamation lawsuit against the actress for $50 million. At the time, Depp’s lawyers said in the lawsuit, “Mr. Depp never abused Ms. Heard. Her allegations against him were false when they were made in 2016. They were part of an elaborate hoax to generate positive publicity for Ms. Heard and advance her career.”
Depp also agreed to exit the role of dark wizardGellert Grindelwald in theHarry Potterspinoff series,Fantastic Beasts.
If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
source: people.com
