View gallery

Johnny Depp, 58, is getting ready to face off in court against his ex-wife, Amber Heard, 35 — who he’s suing for $50 million in a defamation lawsuit that claims that Amber “destroyed” his career by penning an article in The Washington Post in 2018 about being a survivor of “sexual violence.” In court documents obtained by HollywoodLife, the jilted exes listed in their Exhibit List a text message conversation from 2013 between Johnny and his friend, actor Paul Bettany, 50. In the texts, the two actors discuss “drowning” Amber to ensure that she is “not a witch” — and their private messages are now set to be read out loud during the trial. The trial set to begin on April 11, 2022, in Fairfax County, Virginia.

“I’m not sure we should burn Amber. She is delightful company and pleasing on the eye. We could of course do the English course of action and perform a drowning test. Thoughts? You have a swimming pool,” Paul texted to Johnny in 2013, referring to Amber. Johnny wrote, “Let’s drown her before we burn her,” to which Paul responded, “My thoughts entirely. Let’s be certain before we pronounce her a witch.” As previously reported, the text conversation between the two actors was used in Johnny’s 2020 lawsuit against the U.K. outlet, The Sun. In the previous suit, Johnny sued the outlet for calling him a “wife beater” in an article published in 2018. Johnny lost the lawsuit after the court determined that the claims made in the piece were “substantially true”.

The same year that The Sun published their story, Amber detailed her account of surviving “sexual violence’ in an opinion piece that was published by The Washington Post.  She did not use Johnny’s name in the article, but it did not matter to Johnny’s attorneys, who claim that Amber’s “false” accusations in the article “destroyed” his life, and had a severe impact on Johnny’s career. Less than one week after the piece was published, Johnny was let go from a sequel to Pirates of the Caribbean, a series of films that he starred in as Caption Jack Sparrow.

The shocking conversation is just one item listed on the 1,530-item Exhibit List. Among the other items listed are “numerous correspondences” with various celebrities from both Johnny and Amber, including text messages with both Jason Momoa, 42, and Harry Potter author, J.K. Rowling, 56.  As HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY reported, Jason and Lisa Bonet, 54, are currently working on repairing their marriage after deciding to split in 2021 — just three years after Jason and Amber starred in the film, Aquaman, together. The Exhibit list also includes other items involving well-known celebrities, such as depositions from famed attorney, Laura Wasser, 53. and Ellen Barkin, 67. James Franco, 43, and Amber’s ex-boyfriend, Elon Musk, 50, will also be giving testimonies, via live stream.

The upcoming trial is going to be live, with one camera allowed inside the courtroom. Although Amber’s attorneys requested there be no cameras allowed, Fairfax County Chief Judge, Penney S. Azcarate, denied that request, Judge Azcarate did rule, however, that there will be a “tight leash” on what could and could not be filmed. Johnny and Amber met each other while filming the movie The Rum Diary together in 2009. After dating for three years, they got married in 2015. They were divorced just one year later.