Johnny Depp Claims Amber Heard Began a Relationship with Elon Musk 'One Month' Into Their Marriage

Johnny Depp is accusing Amber Heard of beginning a romantic relationship with Tesla founder Elon Musk “no later than one month after” she and Depp married in 2015.

The claims come from the 55-year-old’s defamation lawsuit against Heard, 32, in which he is seeking $50 million in damages after the Aquaman actress wrote an op-ed characterizing herself as a domestic abuse victim.

In the lawsuit obtained by PEOPLE, Depp claims Heard received “late night” visits from billionaire businessman Musk at the L.A. penthouse Depp and Heard shared while Depp was out of the country. Depp goes on to claim Musk was granted access to his home the same night Heard “presented her battered face to the public.” His lawsuit alleges Heard’s domestic violence allegations against Depp were false and “an elaborate hoax.”

Depp and Heard split in May 2016. A rep for Musk maintains that “Elon and Amber didn’t start seeing each other until May 2016, and even then it was infrequent. Their relationship didn’t become romantic until some time later.”

Heard’s attorney, Eric M. George said in a statement, “This frivolous action is just the latest of Johnny Depp’s repeated efforts to silence Amber Heard.”

“She will not be silenced. Mr. Depp’s actions prove he is unable to accept the truth of his ongoing abusive behavior,” the statement continued. “But while he appears hell-bent on achieving self destruction, we will prevail in defeating this groundless lawsuit and ending the continued vile harassment of my client by Mr. Depp and his legal team.”

Depp and Heard met on the set of 2011’s The Rum Diary and were married from February 2015 to May 2016.

The actress filed for a domestic violence restraining order against Depp in May 2016 after she accused him of abusing her. Depp denied the claims, and the former couple settled their divorce out of court in August 2016 for $7 million, which she donated to charity. Both actors signed NDAs barring them from discussing their relationship publicly.

Heard and Musk were first linked together in 2016. The two first broke up in August 2017 due to their busy schedules but rekindled their romance in January 2018 only to split for a second time a month later.

Musk stepped down as chairman of Tesla in October 2018 after charges were brought against him by the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to CNN. While he remains CEO of the carmaking company, Musk was fined $20 million.

In an interview with the New York Times in August, Musk said he had lived through “the most difficult and painful year of my career,” as he detailed a life filled with 120-hour work weeks. “It was excruciating.”

Depp is suing for compensatory damages following Heard’s Dec. 18, 2018 op-ed in The Washington Post titled, “I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change.”

He is also seeking punitive damages for the “willfulness and maliciousness that Ms. Heard demonstrated when she knowingly published the op-ed with the false implication that Mr. Depp violently abused her.”