Depp filed a $50 million suit against his former wife, alleging that her 2018 Washington Post opinion piece, in which Heard described herself as "a public figure representing domestic abuse”, caused irreparable damage to his career and cost him "everything".
Last week Heard’s lawyers spent most of the trial producing witnesses who said his star was waning before the article and that Depp was frequently jealous, unable to control his anger and often drunk and or under the influence of illicit drugs.
Depp testified that he has never been violent towards anyone and that it was Heard who was physically abusive in the relationship. She is counter-suing him for $100m. The trial is now in its sixth week.
Kathryn Arnold, a long-time entertainment industry expert, testified that Hollywood had already begun to turn its back on Depp before the article was printed.
“His behaviour, both on and off the set, in his personal life and in his professional life, started to interfere with what everybody saw was his great talent … between 2006 and 2010,” Ms Arnold testified.
Last week Tracey Jacobs, Depp’s talent agent of 30 years, said that his actions began harming her ability to get him roles in about 2010.
“Initially, crews loved him because he was always so great with the crew," Ms Jacobs said. "But crews don’t love sitting around for hours and hours and hours waiting for the star of the movie to show up.
“And it also got around town. I mean, people talk, it’s a small community. And it made people reluctant to use him.”
On the witness stand for close to two hours, Ms Arnold affirmed Ms Jacobs testimony, talking of Depp’s tardiness, drinking, drug abuse and “other issues in his personal life”.
“It got more complicated for her to find him work and I think it got harder for production companies and studios to hire him due to the challenges that he put on a production,” Ms Arnold said.
It was after Depp’s bizarre appearance on the 2014 Hollywood Film Awards that Ms Jacobs received “many phone calls from producers, casting directors and production executives” inquiring about the star.
“They all wanted to know, ‘What is going on with your client? Do you know what's going on with his behaviour? Can we get them under control?’” Ms Arnold testified.
Given the task of presenting an award for best documentary film to Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon, Depp swerved and stumbled his way across the stage, stared down at the microphone and tried to slur his way through the live event.
CBS eventually cut to a commercial after he dropped several expletives.
“And then I think it really started to shift around the Pirates V movie in Australia, with again the lateness and the issues with the finger that stopped production, and things of that nature, and then it just got harder and harder,” Ms Arnold said.
In her opinion, Depp’s unpredictable conduct, absences and intoxication were not the only things to make him unpopular with film executives.
There was also his parade of legal filings against long-time associates, business partners, publications and his former wife.
Depp lost a libel case against the Sun, a British paper that wrote he was a "wife beater". A London High Court judge ruled that he had repeatedly assaulted Heard.
“There's a lot of publicity around anything that he does … and whether it was about erratic behaviour or domestic abuse or drugs and alcohol, and even spending habits, the press and publicity has just been charged up and brought everything back to light,” Ms Arnold said.
Heard’s article never mentioned him by name, but Depp says it cost him a lucrative payday on the sixth Pirates of the Caribbean film.
Tina Newman, a Walt Disney Studios production executive, was asked last week by Heard’s lawyers if any decision maker at the studio said he was not cast because of the article.
“No,” Ms Newman said.
Ms Arnold said that to the best of her knowledge, no one even knew about The Washington Post article until Depp brought it up.
She said it was an October 2108 article in The Hollywood Reporter in which two of the film’s writers gave their opinions that Depp’s character would go away.
Another derogatory piece appeared in Rolling Stone magazine and then a second in The Hollywood Reporter delivered the death knell.
Earlier in the trial, Depp’s lawyers called Richard Marks, who testified that it was the opinion piece that fuelled The Hollywood Reporter’s findings and led to Disney firing Depp.
“It was actually printed in the Reporter the same morning that the Washington Post article was printed," Ms Arnold said.
"So there's no way that the Washington Post article had any impact on what The Hollywood Reporter journalist wrote as they were on the same morning, they were released simultaneously, interestingly enough."
Earlier in the day, jurors were shown graphic photos of Depp's bloody finger and heard testimony from orthopaedic surgeon Dr Richard Moore, who had reviewed Depp's medical records.
"Looking at the images, there's really no, no significant injury to the dorsal or the finger," Dr Moore said.
"And to create the type of injury with that, with that type of a crush injury, we would anticipate both injury to the fingernail and other parts of the finger."
During cross examination by Depp's lawyer, he said: "I can't rule out that a vodka bottle caused the injury, but I can rule out that it was caused in the manner described in his testimony."
Depp claims that he lost the tip of his finger when Heard hurled a vodka bottle at him while the couple were having an argument in Australia.
Heard testified that they did have a vicious argument, but that Depp may have injured himself when he smashed a wall-mounted phone into "smithereens".
Depp and Heard met in 2011 while filming The Rum Diary and married in February 2015. Their divorce was finalised less than two years later.
Heard's lawyers have argued that she told the truth and that her opinion was protected free speech under the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Why are asylum seekers being housed in hotels?
The number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high, driven by those illegally entering the country in small boats crossing the English Channel.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation while their claim is assessed.
The Home Office provides the accommodation, meaning asylum seekers cannot choose where they live.
When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to hotels or large sites like former military bases.
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
THE SPECS
Engine: 3-litre V6
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 424hp
Torque: 580 Nm
Price: From Dh399,000
On sale: Now
The low down
Producers: Uniglobe Entertainment & Vision Films
Director: Namrata Singh Gujral
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Nargis Fakhri, Bo Derek, Candy Clark
Rating: 2/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Results
Men's finals
45kg:Duc Le Hoang (VIE) beat Zolfi Amirhossein (IRI) points 29-28. 48kg: Naruephon Chittra (THA) beat Joseph Vanlalhruaia (IND) TKO round 2.
51kg: Sakchai Chamchit (THA) beat Salam Al Suwaid (IRQ) TKO round 1. 54kg: Veerasak Senanue (THA) beat Huynh Hoang Phi (VIE) 30-25.
57kg: Almaz Sarsembekov (KAZ) beat Tak Chuen Suen (MAC) RSC round 3. 60kg: Yerkanat Ospan (KAZ) beat Ibrahim Bilal (UAE) 30-27.
63.5kg: Abil Galiyev (KAZ) beat Nouredine Samir (UAE) 29-28. 67kg: Narin Wonglakhon (THA) beat Mohammed Mardi (UAE) 29-28.
71kg: Amine El Moatassime (UAE) w/o Shaker Al Tekreeti (IRQ). 75kg: Youssef Abboud (LBN) w/o Ayoob Saki (IRI).
81kg: Ilyass Habibali (UAE) beat Khaled Tarraf (LBN) 29-28. 86kg: Ali Takaloo (IRI) beat Emil Umayev (KAZ) 30-27.
91kg: Hamid Reza Kordabadi (IRI) beat Mohamad Osaily (LBN) RSC round 1. 91-plus kg: Mohammadrezapoor Shirmohammad (IRI) beat Abdulla Hasan (IRQ) 30-27.
Women's finals
45kg: Somruethai Siripathum (THA) beat Ha Huu Huynh (VIE) 30-27. 48kg: Thanawan Thongduang (THA) beat Colleen Saddi (PHI) 30-27.
51kg: Wansawang Srila Or (THA) beat Thuy Phuong Trieu (VIE) 29-28. 54kg: Ruchira Wongsriwo (THA) beat Zeinab Khatoun (LBN) 30-26.
57kg: Sara Idriss (LBN) beat Zahra Nasiri Bargh (IRI) 30-27. 60kg: Kaewrudee Kamtakrapoom (THA) beat Sedigheh Hajivand (IRI) TKO round 2.
63.5kg: Nadiya Moghaddam (IRI) w/o Reem Al Issa (JOR).
Kat Wightman's tips on how to create zones in large spaces
- Area carpets or rugs are the easiest way to segregate spaces while also unifying them.
- Lighting can help define areas. Try pendant lighting over dining tables, and side and floor lamps in living areas.
- Keep the colour palette the same in a room, but combine different tones and textures in different zone. A common accent colour dotted throughout the space brings it together.
- Don’t be afraid to use furniture to break up the space. For example, if you have a sofa placed in the middle of the room, a console unit behind it will give good punctuation.
- Use a considered collection of prints and artworks that work together to form a cohesive journey.
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
The specs: 2018 Range Rover Velar R-Dynamic HSE
Price, base / as tested: Dh263,235 / Dh420,000
Engine: 3.0-litre supercharged V6
Power 375hp @ 6,500rpm
Torque: 450Nm @ 3,500rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 9.4L / 100kms
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
QUARTER-FINAL
Wales 20-19 France
Wales: T: Wainwright, Moriarty. Cons: Biggar (2) Pens: Biggar 2
France: T: Vahaamahina, Ollivon, Vakatawa Cons: Ntamack (2)
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'Worse than a prison sentence'
Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.
“It was worse than a prison sentence, where at least someone can deal with a set amount of time incarcerated," she said.
“They were living in perpetual mystery as to how their futures would pan out, and what that would be.
“Because of coronavirus, the world is very different now to the one they left, that will also have an impact.
“It will not fully register until they are on dry land. Some have not seen their young children grow up while others will have to rebuild relationships.
“It will be a challenge mentally, and to find other work to support their families as they have been out of circulation for so long. Hopefully they will get the care they need when they get home.”
Day 3, Dubai Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Lahiru Gamage, the Sri Lanka pace bowler, has had to play a lot of cricket to earn a shot at the top level. The 29-year-old debutant first played a first-class game 11 years ago. His first Test wicket was one to savour, bowling Pakistan opener Shan Masood through the gate. It set the rot in motion for Pakistan’s batting.
Stat of the day – 73 Haris Sohail took 73 balls to hit a boundary. Which is a peculiar quirk, given the aggressive intent he showed from the off. Pakistan’s batsmen were implored to attack Rangana Herath after their implosion against his left-arm spin in Abu Dhabi. Haris did his best to oblige, smacking the second ball he faced for a huge straight six.
The verdict One year ago, when Pakistan played their first day-night Test at this ground, they held a 222-run lead over West Indies on first innings. The away side still pushed their hosts relatively close on the final night. With the opposite almost exactly the case this time around, Pakistan still have to hope they can salvage a win from somewhere.
