Johnny Depp Says He Never Hit Amber Heard

Johnny Depp has claimed he never hit Amber Heard while on the stand during his $50 million defamation lawsuit against the actress.

Taking to the stand for the first time in the trial, Depp called Heard's allegations against him - that she had been a victim of domestic abuse within their marriage - 'quite heinous and disturbing'.

Today (19 April), the 58-year-old stated the claims Heard made six years ago are not based in 'any species of truth'.

Depp denied that anything 'of the kind' of what Heard has accused him of 'ever happened'.

He said: "Through the relationship... There were arguments and things of that nature. But never did I myself reach the point of striking Miss Heard in any way, nor have I ever struck any woman in my life.

"It was a complete shock that it would, it just didn't need to go in that direction [the accusations]."

The Pirates of the Caribbean actor reflected on how the news of Heard's accusations 'permeated the industry' and 'made its way through social media' on a global level.

"Since I knew there was no truth to it whatsoever, I felt it was my responsibility to stand up for myself, not only in that instance, but to stand up for my children, who at the time were 14 and 16 so they were in high school," he explained.

He continued: "I thought it was diabolical that my children would have to go to school and have their friends or people in the school approach them with the infamous People magazine cover with Miss Heard with a dark bruise on her face."

Depp reflected how the accusations and scandal 'just kept multiplying, it just kept getting bigger and bigger'.

"So it was my responsibility I felt to not only attempt to clear my name for the sake of many reasons, but I wanted to clear my children of this horrid thing that they were having to read about their father which was untrue," he said.

He also felt a responsibility to clear his name for the people he had befriended and given advice to during his 35 years in the industry.

Depp resolved that in taking the stand today - which is 'the first opportunity that [he's] been able to speak about this case' - his 'goal is the truth' and that he is 'obsessed with the truth,' despite the truth being 'quite exposing' for not just him and his family, but also for 'Miss Heard'.

He resolved: "My goal is the truth because it killed me that the people I'd spoken to over the years [...] all I could think was that those people would think that I was a fraud and that I had lied to them.

"And so I had to wait for my opportunity to address the charges, which were criminal charges and they just weren't true. I felt the responsibility of clearing the record as the only way I could get to the point where I could speak.

"I didn't deserve that nor did my children nor did the people who've believed in me for all these years. I didn't want any of those people to believe I'd done them wrong, lied to them or was a fraud."

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