Johnny Depp‘s libel battle with the British tabloid The Sun was dealt a setback by a High Court judge who ruled that he failed to properly disclose all of his texts.
Depp is suing Dan Wootton, the executive editor of The Sun, and the paper’s publisher, News Group Newspapers, owned by Rupert Murdoch. He claims the paper defamed him when it referred to him as a “wife beater” in an April 2018 article. His ex Amber Heard, as many will recall, accused him of abusing her, a charge he strenuously denies.
The paper wants the case thrown out, claiming Depp failed to disclose texts that allegedly showed him attempting to buy drugs while he was in Australia with Heard in 2015. He was allegedly texting his assistant Nathan Holmes in a bid to score, shortly before Heard claimed she was subjected to a “three-day ordeal of physical assaults” from Depp while he was “under the influence of drink and/or drugs.”
Justice Nicol ruled Monday that Depp’s team should have disclosed the texts. He said: “The Australian drug texts were adverse to the claimant’s pleaded case and/or were supportive of the defendants’ pleaded case,” the judge said. “I agree that the timing is significant. The exchanges with Mr Holmes began shortly before the alleged incidents in Australia.”
He did not strike out the case and instead gave Depp the opportunity to continue the suit by applying for “relief against sanctions” ahead of a three-week trial, set to kick of July 7th.
One of the texts read: “We should have more happy pills!!!??”, while in another he added: “May I be ecstatic again???” In a separate message, Depp said: “Need more whitey stuff ASAP brotherman.”
