Audio Appears to Show Johnny Depp Saying He Chopped Off His Own Finger

Johnny Depp faced a major grilling on his third day on the stand Thursday, answering questions about his recreational drug-use with famous celebrities, disturbingly gruesome text messages about Amber Heard, and about head butting his ex-wife.

But in what could prove to be a crucial moment in his $50 million civil defamation trial in Fairfax County, Heard’s lawyers quizzed Depp about how he sustained his now infamous finger injury in 2015. Depp previously testified that he had to undergo surgery after Heard hurled a bottle of vodka at him during an argument in Australia—but jurors were shown a message and heard audio that suggests that the actor may have actually chopped off his own finger.

“I have chopped off my left middle finger as a reminder that I should never cut my finger off again!!” Depp wrote in an email to his doctor, which was shown in court on Thursday.

In a separate audio recording, Depp can be heard saying “I chopped off my finger.” Depp, however, insisted to the court that he heard himself saying, “I got my finger chopped off.”

The conflicting statements align with previous comments from Heard, who alleged that Depp cut his finger during a three-day bender. After the injury, Depp testified he dipped his finger in paint and wrote messages about Amber on walls and mirrors. In one photo shown in court of the messages, Depp wrote “Starring Billy Bob and Easy Amber,” in reference to the 2018 film London Fields that Heard filmed with Billy Bob Thornton.

The injury is among several instances of abuse Depp testified Heard inflicted upon him during their short-lived union that ended in 2016. The testimony has come amid a civil trial in Virginia, in which Depp has alleged Heard “devastated” his career after she penned a 2018 Washington Post op-ed calling herself a domestic violence survivor.

Jurors will be tasked with deciding whether Heard acted with “actual malice” when she wrote the Post editorial—meaning that the actress knew what she had written in piece was false—or that she published the piece with “reckless disregard” for the truth about the Pirates of the Caribbean star. The jury will also be asked to review some issues raised in Heard’s 2020 countersuit against Depp for defamation.

Heard has long insisted that Depp was the abuser in the relationship, including one occasion where he broke her nose after head butting her. Depp also has denied all allegations of wrongdoing, testifying on Thursday that Heard broke her nose after their head collided—and that it was an accident.

“I was trying to restrain Ms. Heard,” Depp said. “Once I had restrained her, if she’s trying to still move around or kick at me… It’s not impossible for them to bump. But a head butt? That’s pretty extreme.”

The trial continues.