Johnny Depp Details Alleged Explosive Fight with Amber Heard, Shows Off 'Mangled' Finger to Court

Johnny Depp testified about an explosive fight he and Amber Heard had in 2015 that he says resulted in a severed finger.

Continuing his witness testimony on Wednesday, the actor, 58, recalled an infamous alleged fight that happened between himself and Heard while in Australia for work back in March 2015. Depp held up his right hand to show his "funny-looking" middle finger, which appeared slightly shorter.

He testified that Heard, 35, threw a vodka bottle at him that went past his head. Then, after he drank a shot from another bottle, he said she grabbed the larger bottle and again threw it, making contact with his hand resting on the bar top.

"Blood was pouring out," he said. "I think I went into some sort of... I don't know what a nervous breakdown feels like, but that's probably the closest that I've ever been. Nothing made sense."

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In that state of mind, Depp began writing on the walls in his own blood, he said. He wrote "little reminders from our past that essentially represented lies that [Heard] had told me, lies that I had caught her in."

Depp said he hid in a bathroom and called his doctor. When he was taken to a hospital to treat the "mangled" finger (which they showed graphic photos of in the courtroom), Depp said he told the doctor it happened when his finger was caught in large accordion doors.

He said, "I lied because ... I didn't want to disclose that it had been Ms. Heard that had thrown a vodka bottle at me and took my finger off. I didn't want to get her in trouble. I tried to just keep things as copacetic and easy as possible for everyone. I did not want to put her name in that mix."

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In part of a deposition played in court on Monday (it was recorded Feb. 22), Depp's doctor Dr. David Kipper said he didn't know how Depp had gotten injured when he cleaned the actor's wound. When asked in the deposition about a text message to Kipper from Depp that claimed the actor cut his own finger, Kipper responded, "I think that's what it said, yes." Kipper also said that the actor told the ER doctor he'd cut his own finger with a knife.

Depp — who has said multiple times under oath that he has never struck Heard or any other woman — is suing Heard for defamation over a 2018 op-ed she wrote for the Washington Post about surviving domestic violence, though she never mentioned Depp by name in the article. Depp originally filed the $50 million lawsuit in March 2019.

Heard has not yet taken the stand in this court case. Her legal team will cross-examine Depp next.

During opening statements last week, her attorney Ben Rottenborn said evidence will show she suffered domestic abuse by Depp that "took many forms," including physical, emotional, verbal and psychological, as well as "sexual violence at the hands of Depp." A spokesperson for Depp denies the allegation as "fictitious."

When discussing the headline used for the online version of Heard's op-ed, the attorney explained that she did not write that headline herself or get to approve it. It read: "Amber Heard: I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture's wrath. That has to change." However, the attorney claimed Heard has indeed been the victim of sexual violence by Depp.

About the headline, "tragically, it's true," Rottenborn told the courtroom. "Amber did suffer sexual violence at the hands of Depp. ... You will hear in the most graphic and horrifying terms about the violence that she suffered. You'll hear that straight from her. She will get on the stand and she will tell you that. It happened."

Shortly after, Rottenborn listed a time when Depp allegedly had a three-day, alcohol-fueled blackout while in Australia in 2015 toward the end of their marriage, when Depp "abused and sexually assaulted Amber, all because she had the courage to confront him about his drinking."

Heard and Depp, who met while making the 2011 movie The Rum Diary and wed in 2015, broke up in May 2016, when Heard sought a domestic violence restraining order against him, accusing him of abusing her. Depp denied the claims, and the former couple settled their divorce out of court in August 2016.

Back in November 2020, Depp lost his highly publicized U.K. libel lawsuit case against British tabloid The Sun for calling him a "wife-beater." The court upheld the outlet's claims as being "substantially true" and Heard testified to back up the claims. In March 2021, his attempt to overturn the decision was overruled.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.