Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. Image Source: USA Today  

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard returned to the Fairfax County Court on Monday for their defamation trial, which is in its third week already. Johnny Depp sued Amber Heard for an essay she wrote for The Washington Post in 2018 and described herself as a survivor of domestic abuse and violence.

On Monday, a member of Johnny Depp’s security team who had worked for him for nine years appeared as the first witness. Travis McGivern, who testified via video call in court, said that he witnessed one incident where Amber Heard spit on Johnny Depp and threw a can of Red Bull at him. He added that he had heard Amber Heard call Johnny Depp a "fucking deadbeat dad" and a "fucking cunt."

Travis McGivern revealed that the former couple's fights escalated after they returned from Australia, and he was forced to intervene between them while they were arguing, but he also revealed that Amber Heard did not like his involvement in their matter and had expressed it to him very clearly. Travis shared in the courtroom that Amber Heard had basically tried to demean his career and him as well. He mentioned that when she mentioned to him, how would he feel if someone got in between his relationship and his career, to which he said that he understood, but Travis said that she threw some shade at him and his career. He added that Johnny Depp would sometimes call him because he’d want to get out of the penthouse because Johnny and Amber had started to fight more than usual.

Travis McGivern recalled that Amber Heard would prevent Johnny Depp and Travis from leaving by holding up the elevator door, physically stopping the actor by grabbing him. The security team member mentioned that one night at around 4 AM, Johnny Depp had sent him a text to ask him to come to the apartment, and while going to the apartment, Travis ran into Amber Heard in the lobby, who was talking to the security, and all Travis wanted to do was get the actor out of that situation. Travis mentioned that Johnny Depp’s nurse, Debbie Lloyd, was with Amber Heard at the time, whereas Johnny had his bags packed like he just wanted to get out.

Travis recalled the fight at the penthouse where Amber and her sister tried to argue with Johnny Depp; that was the same time when Travis noted that Amber had spit on Johnny and threw a Red Bull can, after which Johnny got upset and mad, so he threw Amber’s clothes and shoes down the stairs. Travis added that they were at the office level of the penthouse when Amber and her sister returned to argue, and Amber was agitated. As he stepped in between them to stop the argument, he saw a fist and an arm come across his right eye, which hit Johnny Depp on his left face. Travis got him out of the penthouse and described his face as swollen and red, and said to Travis while pointing to the left side of his face, that it was his fault. (Probably because he did not stop the argument earlier and let him get hit by a red bull can and later a punch, or maybe because he stepped between them, which agitated Amber more. It was not clarified why he said that but Travis seemed to have agreed with him.)

When Travis was asked if Johnny used drugs (marijuana and cocaine), he said that he had seen him use marijuana daily and, for cocaine, said that a couple left him leveled out. He talked about the infamous birthday party of Amber Heard, which had turned into a verbal argument at home, and it was reported that some phones had been thrown out of the window (Starling Jenkins testified the same). Under cross-examination, Ben Rottenborn stated that the Red Bull incident was not correct as Johnny was trying to reach for Amber’s hair while trying to hit her with a cast on his right finger, to which Travis added that it’s not correct.

Next was Johnny Depp’s talent manager, Jack Whigham, who disclosed the figures for Johnny Depp for movies he had done from 2017–to 2020:

$10 million for "Murder on the Orient Express" (2017):

"City of Lies" (2018): $8 million

"Waiting for the Barbarian" (2019): $1 million

"Minamata" (2020): $3 million

"Pirates of the Caribbean 6" (canceled): $22.5 million, had the film been made

Jack shared that Amber Heard’s op-ed that came out in 2018 destroyed Johnny Depp’s ability to book big movies and added that he was not successful in rescuing Pirates 6 for the actor. Jack added that the op-ed was not from a journalist or an observer but from someone who had experienced it first-hand and it was catastrophic for him. After the op-ed was published, Disney decided to drop Johnny Depp from the franchise, and Warner Bros. also decided to recast him in 'Fantastic Beasts'.

Since the publication of the op-ed, Johnny has been relegated to roles in lower-paying independent movies and has not filmed since 2020, Jack shared. During cross-examination, Ben Rottenborn asked Jack if the payment that the actor was supposed to get was only based on a verbal agreement, but there was no written contract, and he added that Bailey was noncommittal about developing Pirates 6 with Johnny, to which Jack replied that it was trending badly in the late fall, but Jerry Bruckheimer and she were hopeful for the movie to happen, but in 2019 it was over.

Johnny Depp has mentioned that he will no longer return as Capt. Jack Sparrow, even if he offered $300M. The trial is still ongoing and is expected to last still six weeks, Amber Heard is expected to take a stand on Wednesday.