(Press Association) Elon Musk offered to provide Amber Heard with “24 hour security, 7 days a week” and told the actress “I really like you,” the High Court has heard.
The Tesla founder was said to have made the offer in May 2016, during a text message exchange in which Heard, 34, told him he was going to get a restraining order against Johnny Depp.
On her second day of evidence in her ex-husband’s successful defamation action against The Sun newspaper, the Aquaman The actress also dismissed suggestions that Musk visited her in 2015 while Depp was away, saying she wasn’t in contact with the businessman until the following year.
Depp, 57, is suing the editor of the tabloid News Group Newspapers (NGN) and its executive editor Dan Wootton over a 2018 article that called him a “handcuff puncher.”
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On Tuesday, Eleanor Laws QC, on behalf of Depp, read text messages between Heard and Musk on May 22, 2016, in which Heard tells Musk that he will get a restraining order against her then-husband.
This is the day after an alleged incident in the Eastern Columbia Building in Los Angeles, where Depp and Heard lived, in which the actress claims that Depp threw her mobile phone at her and hit her in the face, which the actor denies.
Questioning Heard, Laws said Musk offers “to organize security 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for you,” adding: “The offer would stand, even if he never wanted to see me again … anyway, I’m sorry for being an idiot. The radio silence hurts a lot. It only matters because I really like you.
The attorney then referred to the evidence given by Alejandro Romero, a janitor at the East Columbia Building, who said he saw Musk visiting Heard “when Mr. Depp was in Australia.” Heard replied: “You are wrong. I wasn’t even in communication with Elon until 2016. ”
In his written witness statement, Romero said: “From March 2015 onward, Mr. Elon Musk regularly visited Mrs. Heard late at night, around 11 pm to midnight.” The janitor said Heard gave Musk his own command to access the building.
Laws also asked Heard about actor James Franco, saying: “On the subject of what you say about his (Johnny Depp’s) jealousy, you mentioned in your statement that James Franco was someone that Mr. Depp accused you of having an adventure and he was quite wrong about it. “Heard said,” That’s correct. “
Laws then replayed CCTV footage in Heard’s court traveling down the stairs in the elevator at the Eastern Columbia Building on May 22, 2016 around 11 p.m., before traveling back shortly thereafter with Franco.
Heard confirmed that the man in the video was Franco. Laws asked, “Are you trying to prevent the camera from seeing you there?”
Heard replied, “We were talking. She was saying ‘oh my gosh, what happened to you?’ She saw my face … when I let her in. She saw my face and said ‘what the hell?’ ”
Laws asked, “Isn’t that talking secretly on that camera?” Heard said, “Yes, it is discreet.”
When asked what time Heard picked up Franco downstairs, he confirmed that it was after 11 at night and said, “In those days, I didn’t get much sleep at night.”
Heard continues to be questioned about 14 domestic violence allegations, on which the editor of the tabloid News Group Newspapers (NGN) relies on his defense against Depp’s claim.
She has accused Depp of verbal and physical abuse throughout their relationship, including yelling, name calling, punching, slapping, kicking, hitting the head and suffocation, as well as “extremely controlling and intimidating behavior.”
Depp, however, says that “he was not violent towards Ms. Heard, it was she who was violent towards him,” and claims that his ex-wife was “building a record” of false accusations as an “insurance policy for later.” “
Heard’s tests were initially due to end on Wednesday, but will now continue through Thursday morning, with friends Melanie Inglessis and Joshua Drew expected to appear via video link on Wednesday afternoon.
Depp is suing NGN and The Sun executive editor Dan Wootton for publishing an article on April 27, 2018, with the headline: “Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be the true and happy handcuff puncher Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts? Movie? “
Her lawyers say the article had the meaning that there was “overwhelming evidence.” Depp assaulted Heard on several occasions and left her “fearful for her life.”
NGN is defending the article as true, and says Depp was “controlling and verbally and physically abusive towards Ms. Heard, particularly when under the influence of alcohol and / or drugs.”
