Johnny Depp Admits To Doing Drugs With Marilyn Manson And Paul Bettany In Defamation Trial

During another day of cross-examination, Johnny Depp was questioned about his drug and alcohol consumption throughout his relationship with ex-wife Amber Heard.

credit: Abaca Press / Alamy

On Thursday, Depp, 58, took the stand at his $50 million defamation trial against Heard, 35, and admitted to one of the Aquaman actress' lawyers Ben Rottenborn that he had taken cocaine and alcohol with WandaVision star Paul Bettany.

When asked by Rottenborn if Bettany was a "good friend you've done drugs with," Depp said "yes" and proceeded to remark: "That's a strange question. Paul Bettany is a good friend, yes."

The two - who both starred in the films The Tourist (2010), Transcendence (2014), and Mortdecai (2015) - took drugs together "at times," Depp confirmed.

Rottenborn: You would sometimes drink whiskey in the mornings, too, right?

Depp: Isn't happy hour anytime?

Laughter from the gallery. #JohnnyDepp v #AmberHeard @LawCrimeNetwork pic.twitter.com/T7XpsjuPgX

— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) April 21, 2022

Rottenborn even read out to the court some rather extreme text messages Depp had written about Heard to Bettany.

Bettany had previously said that he found it "embarrassing" that some of his text messages were made public when they were used in the UK libel case that Depp waged against British tabloid The Sun, which he ultimately lost.

The 50-year-old actor also claimed that he "didn't know Johnny when he was married to" Heard.

"I knew him before. But we hadn't spoken for years. During the marriage I didn't know them. So I wasn't around for any of that," Bettany told The Times in February, after commenting: "We live in a world without context."

In any case, during the trial, Rottenborn also asked the Pirates of the Caribbean star about his drug use with metal musician Marilyn Manson.

Johnny Depp had to give drugs to marilyn manson just to shut him up. pic.twitter.com/MECqt8UFqn

— マヤンク。 (@IncorrectWeeb) April 21, 2022

"We drank together, we've had cocaine together, maybe a couple of times," Depp replied.

When Rottenborn asked if he and Manson had ever taken pills together, Depp responded: "I once gave Marilyn Manson a pill so he would stop talking so much."

Depp is suing Heard for defamation over a 2018 op-ed she penned for the Washington Post about being a domestic violence survivor. She didn't mention Depp by name in the op-ed, but he insists the piece cost him "nothing short of everything."

Heard claims she was both sexually and physically assaulted by Depp during their relationship, allegations which the Fantastic Beasts star denies. Depp says that, in actual fact, it was he who was the victim.

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