Johnny Depp Claims Amber Heard ”Painted-On Bruises” as Defamation Lawsuit Escalates

The war of words between Johnny Depp and ex-wife Amber Heard continues to escalate.

The Pirates of the Carribean star has submitted a lengthy declaration of support for his defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife. In the documents, which E! News has obtained, Depp alleges Heard “painted on bruises” and that she caused him “serious bodily injury.” He further claims that her actions took place while she was under the influence of a mix of “prescription amphetamines and non-prescription drugs with alcohol.” He alleges that incidences of abuse took place on multiple occasions, and with a variety of weapons, including soda cans and paint thinner cans.

Moreover, he alleges that the abuse was not just physical, but emotional. He cites one incident in which Amber or one of her friends allegedly “defecated” in his bed as “some sort of a sick prank.” This alleged event was apparently the final straw for the 55-year-old actor. “As a result of the years of domestic abuse I had suffered at the hands of Ms. Heard—most recently the April 21 physical attack and defecation on my bed sometime before she and her friends left the next morning—I resolved to divorce Ms. Heard,” Depp explains. 

His allegations contradict Heard’s previous court filing, which requested the dismissal of the lawsuit based on her claims against him. The supporting documents she submitted included photos of her sporting bruises, pictures of property damage she blames on Depp, screenshots of text messages describing the incidents and excerpts of her divorce deposition, in which she talks about the alleged abuse. Her lawyer said in a statement, “It is regrettable that it will take a judge to finally end the persistent harassment of Ms. Heard by Mr. Depp, but Ms. Heard will take whatever action is necessary to vindicate the truth.”

Today, the star’s lawyer, Eric George, released another statement denying all allegations made against Amber. “The evidence in this case is clear: Johnny Depp repeatedly beat Amber Heard. The increasingly desperate attempts by Mr. Depp and his enablers to revive his career by initiating baseless litigation against so many people once close to him — his former lawyers, former managers, and his former spouse — are not fooling anyone,” the statement reads. “In light of the important work done by the #TimesUp movement highlighting the tactics abusers use to continue to traumatize survivors, neither the creative community nor the public will be gaslit by Mr. Depp’s baseless blame-the-victim conspiracy theories.”

While the pair settled their contentious divorce in August 2016 — with Amber receiving a $7 million dollar settlement — they continue to engage in a battle of he-said-she-said. At the center of their defamation lawsuit is a perspective piece that Heard wrote for the Washington Post, which detailed the alleged domestic abuse she suffered. Depp’s name was never specifically mentioned in the article, but the defamation lawsuit claims that her op-ed “depends on the central premise that Ms. Heard was a domestic abuse victim and that Mr. Depp perpetrated domestic violence against her.”

E! News has reached out to Depp’s attorney for comment.