Another bizarre moment. Johnny Depp‘s defamation trial against Amber Heard took an unexpected turn when a woman claimed the actor fathered her child.
As the court’s morning break started on Monday, May 23, the woman began her outburst as the Oscar nominee, 58, and his legal team prepared to leave the room. “All of a sudden, this woman … stands up in the back of the courtroom with her baby, and she says, ‘Johnny I love you, our souls are connected,’” Law & Crime‘s Angenette Levy recalled in a segment for the news outlet.
When the Pirates of the Caribbean star turned to wave to the fan, the woman reportedly told the actor that he fathered her child. “She held up the baby and she said, ‘This baby is yours,’” Levy said, adding that the deputy then escorted the woman out of the courtroom.
The incident wasn’t captured on the live feed from inside the trial because cameras had already been switched off for the break, but Levy tweeted that the woman later told a Law & Crime assistant that she was “joking.”
The trial between Depp and Heard, 36, has been full of shocking moments since it began earlier this year. The Secret Window actor is suing his ex-wife for defamation in connection with a 2018 op-ed she wrote for The Washington Post. The Aquaman star didn’t mention Depp by name in the article, in which she described herself as a survivor of domestic abuse and sexual assault.
The Magic Mike XXL actress and the 21 Jump Street alum were married from February 2015 to January 2017. Two days after Heard filed for divorce in May 2016, she accused Depp of domestic violence and obtained a temporary restraining order against him.
A rep for the Kentucky native denied the allegations in a statement at the time, saying: “Given the brevity of this marriage and the most recent and tragic loss of his mother, Johnny will not respond to any of the salacious false stories, gossip, misinformation and lies about his personal life. Hopefully the dissolution of this short marriage will be resolved quickly.”
Last week, Depp’s ex-girlfriend Ellen Barkin testified about her romance with the actor in a deposition that was recorded in November 2019. The Hollywood Vampires musician and the Drop Dead Gorgeous actress, 68, dated in 1994 and later worked together on the 1998 film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
“He was just a jealous man,” she claimed, adding that Depp would ask her where she was going and who she was going with. The Animal Kingdom star also alleged that her ex once got “very, very angry” when he found a scratch on her back.
“He insisted it came from me having sex with a person who hasn’t him,” Barkin said, claiming that Depp exhibited “demanding” and “controlling” behavior during their relationship.
The Black Mass actor previously denied Barkin’s claims during his U.K. libel trial against the Sun newspaper. “I do not have an anger management problem,” he said in July 2020.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support.
