The 'Pirates of the Caribbean' actor originally listed his two famous exes among witnesses to testify on his behalf amid his legal feud with British tabloid.
- Jul 17, 2020
AceShowbiz - Johnny Depp's former partners Vanessa Paradis and Winona Ryder will no longer testify at his libel trial against British newspaper The Sun.
The actor is suing News Group Newspapers over a story published in The Sun in 2018 which branded him a "wife beater," and had called on his exes to give evidence in his favour.
Paradis had been due to give evidence in Britain's High Court via video-link from her home in France on Thursday (16Jul20) while Ryder had also been due to testify.
However, Depp's lawyer David Sherborne has confirmed that, despite the actor's wishes, he no longer needs to call either woman.
According to Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper, the decision was made as the publishers accepted that neither of the women was ever assaulted by the "Pirates of the Caribbean" star.
Depp dated French singer/actress Paradis for 14 years from 1998 until 2012 and they share two children together, model Lily-Rose and son Jack. The couple split in 2012 but, in a witness statement, she called the actor "kind, attentive, generous and non-violent."
"I have known Johnny for more than 25 years. We've been partners for 14 years and we raised our two children together," she insisted. "Through all these years I've known Johnny to be a kind, attentive, generous, and non-violent person and father. He was never violent or abusive to me."
Sherborne says the extent of the allegations against Depp rests solely on ex-wife Amber Heard, who has accused him of behaving violently towards her 14 times, which he has vehemently denied.
Instead, Depp has insisted she was the one abusing him, accusing her of striking him with a glass vodka bottle, leaving him with a severed finger, among other incidents.
The trial continues.
