Johnny Depp took the stand in Fairfax County Court, Virginia on Tuesday. Image Source: New York Post 

Actor Johnny Depp took the stand in Fairfax County Court, Virginia in a defamation lawsuit he filed against ex-wife Amber Heard over an op-ed she wrote for The Washington Post in 2018 where she described herself as a survivor of domestic violence.

During the trial, Johnny Depp took the stand on Tuesday and while he talked about how his relationship with Amber Heard was too good to be true, and he never struck her or any woman in his life. He went on to describe how he had been taking pills since the age of 11, and by the time he was 15, he had tried every drug he knew.

In his testimony, Johnny Depp went ahead to describe the abuse he and his siblings had endured from their mother, Betty Sue Palmer, who passed away in 2016. Johnny Depp described how he had learned that whatever his parents did to raise him and his siblings, he had to do just the opposite when he had kids, and he did exactly what he had planned when his then-girlfriend, Vanessa Paradis, was pregnant with his children.

The actor explained that he had learned never to raise his voice in front of his children and to talk to them to understand them. During his opening statement, Johnny Depp mentioned that he wanted to take a stand not only for himself and the people who believed in him but also for his kids, who did not deserve the treatment they got in school when people would show them the covers of Amber Heard’s bruised picture and question them.

Johnny Depp and mother Betty Sue Palmer. Image Source: People 

Johnny Depp went ahead to explain the verbal abuse, bullying, and name-calling by his mother and described her as very unpredictable and mentioned that she took every opportunity to be cruel to them as anyone could be and recalled an incident where an ashtray was thrown at him that hit him in the head and she'd beat him up with high heels, telephone, or whatever came in her way to hit him.

The actor, whose childhood was traumatic and abused, said that in their house they were never exposed to any sort of safety or security and the only thing to do was stay out of the line of fire (mother) and if anything got riled up, someone was going to get caught in it, and most of the time it was him. He said physical violence and abuse were a constant thing he had faced and all of them would shield themselves as their mother was crossing them because they would never know what could happen.

Johnny Depp explained that his mother had a habit of giving cruel names to her children like she called his sister Violet, whose real name is Christi. Johnny said that his mother despised his father’s parents and that his grandmother’s name was Violet, which is why she called Christi Violet so that she could ask Violet to do her work. His brother wore specs, so she would call him "four eyes" and his teeth were missing, so she called him "bucktooth" as well. When it came to Johnny, he had a lazy eye and at one stage had to wear a patch over his good eye to strengthen the other, so his mother would call him "Cock eye" or "One Eye" and she added she called them anything to humiliate them. 

Johnny Depp with his mother, father and then girlfriend Vanessa Paradis. Image Source: New York Post 

The actor explained that physical abuse was still bearable, but the psychological abuse was worse and sort of tore them apart. Johnny Depp described his father, John Christopher Depp, as a kind, stoic man who would never lose his temper or attack their mother until he decided to walk away from the marriage when Johnny Depp was just 15 years old.

He explained that he took his mother’s car and sat in front of his father where he worked and that he said to him that he was done and now he was the man, to which Johnny said that he was not ready to hear those words at the age of 15. Johnny saw his mother slip into a deep, dark depression when his father walked away and recalled one afternoon waking up to drool coming out of her mouth.

Betty had swallowed a multitude of pills to commit suicide and described herself as a firecracker of a woman, but when she got out of the hospital she was so deep in her depression that she lived on the couch and weighed around 70 pounds, and added that it was cowardly of his father to have left and that incident touched him deeply.

Johnny Depp is going to take the stand once again for cross examination. Image Source: Entertainment Weekly 

According to sources, Johnny Depp took the stand post-lunch and struggled to get his thoughts in order, which was very painful to watch, but he mentioned very clearly that he was obsessed with the truth and he had waited six years to get his name clean. Johnny Depp’s sound engineer, Keenan Wyatt, who has been associated with the actor for almost 25 years, said that his humor is relatively dark, essentially British, and also explained that he has seen Johnny Depp with his ex, Vanessa Paradis, and the kids in a very happy place.

Keenan said that he was a very loving father and that everything was fine and added that they were a loving couple. He also mentioned that he had never witnessed any physical or verbal abuse from the actor towards his two children or the mother of his children. The trial is expected to last up to six weeks, and Amber Heard is soon going to take the stand.

Briana Wall spoke to New York Post and shared that Johnny Depp's testimony was hearfelt and one could hear the raw emotions in his voice and he was tearng up a little but. She added that it was hard to hear about the abuse he had to face from his mother and she wanted to go and wipe his tears and remind him that he has come so far and ask him to set yourself apart from his mother.