Johnny Depp was taken to hospital by his doctor after they could not find his missing finger – sliced off by a bottle his wife Amber Heard threw at him, a court has heard.
The actor’s private physician David Kipper told how he helped the star clean up the wound before taking him for medical attention.
The top of Depp’s finger was later found by his personal chef on the kitchen floor.
Dr Kipper, a Beverly Hills physician who treats celebrities for addiction, told a US court through a video deposition of the incident that took place while in Australia.
He gave evidence in the explosive defamation trial in Fairfax, Virginia, between Depp and his former wife, Heard.
(Image: PA)
Depp, 58, hired the physician to treat him for opioid addiction in May 2014 and was behind a plan whereby he would detox on his island in the Bahamas.
The following year, while the star was filming Down Under, Kipper recalled finding the actor bleeding profusely from the finger but said he was unsure how the injury occurred.
The doctor said Depp told hospital doctors he cut his finger with a knife.
It contradicted what the star’s attorneys told the jury during opening statements that Heard, 35, threw a bottle at him, severing part of his finger.
(Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
The doctor said he spoke to Heard the same day but did not observe any wounds on her.
The actress had said Depp threw her against a ping-pong table and shoved her into a fridge.
Dr Kipper said she never sought medical attention from him for alleged abuse.
At one point during Monday’s (April 18) evidence, Kipper was asked about texts he exchanged with Depp.
On March 7, 2015, Depp messaged: ”Hi f*ck man had another one. I cannot live like this. She is as full of s**t as a Christmas Goose.
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“I’m done. NO MORE!!!! Constant insults released from a malicious evil and vindictive c***!!!!! You know what’s far more hurtful than her venomous and degrading educational ranting???
“Her hideously and purposely hurtful tirades and her goddamn shocking treatment of the man she was meant to love above all.”
Depp added: “Here’s the real deal mate…her obsession with herself is far more important. She is so f**king ambitious!!!!
“She’s so desperate for success and fame. That’s probably why I was acquired, mate. She has hammered me with what a sad old man has been I am.
“I’m so very sad.”
(Image: REUTERS)
Kipper first started treating Depp in May 2014 and told the court his initial diagnosis for him was: “ADHD, Bipolar 1, depression, insomnia, chronic substance abuse disorder, chronic reflux.”
The physician said that during a consultation in person with Depp and Heard in June 2014, she made no mention of Depp being violent.
Asked if he would have documented it if she had mentioned it, he replied: “Yes.”
Under questioning from Depp’s attorneys, Dr Kipper said he “never” witnessed abuse between the actor and Heard over the six years he treated them.
(Image: PA)
He said neither Depp nor Heard ever reported abuse to him either.
Depp’s former nurse, Debbie Lloyd, later provided testimony via pre-recorded video.
She was assigned to help treat the actor by Dr Kipper.
Ms Lloyd said she began working with the actor in 2015 or 2016.
She recounted the March 2015 incident in which Depp was treated for a severed finger.
(Image: REUTERS)
She said she arrived at the home to find it in disarray but did not remember many details about that.
She said she was told several rumours about how Depp sustained the injury, including that Heard had thrown vodka bottles at him.
Ms Lloyd said she did not remember who told her that story or whether she spoke directly to Depp about the incident.
The trial stems from a complaint Depp filed in 2019 in which he alleges Heard defamed him in an op-ed piece she wrote for The Washington Post a year earlier.
(Image: REUTERS)
The actress, 35, described herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse” in the article, although she did not name him by name.
He has asked for £38.4 million in damages.
Heard filed a counterclaim, accusing Depp of allegedly orchestrating a “smear campaign” against her and describing his lawsuit as a continuation of “abuse and harassment.”
She has asked for £76.7 million in damages and immunity from Depp’s claims.
The trial comes after Depp lost a libel case in which he sued News Group Newspapers, publisher of the Sun, for publishing a 2018 story with the headline “Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be ‘genuinely happy’ casting wife-beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
