Johnny Depp To Grill James Franco Over Alleged Amber Heard Affair
Dec. 24 2021, Published 5:52 p.m. ET
James Franco has been served with legal documents by Johnny Depp — who wants to grill the Pineapple Express actor about whether he slept with his former wife Amber Heard when she was still married.
Page Six broke the story, Depp's lawyers had been trying to track down Franco for some time and will now be allowed to move forward with a deposition.
The Pirates of the Caribbean actor is suing his ex-wife for defamation after she wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post. The title of the article was I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change.
In the article, Heard wrote about her experience dealing with people's criticism of her after she came forward with abuse accusations. She never once mentioned Depp by name but it wasn't hard to figure out who she was talking about.
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"Imagine a powerful man as a ship, like the Titanic. That ship is a huge enterprise. When it strikes an iceberg, there are a lot of people on board desperate to patch up holes — not because they believe in or even care about the ship, but because their own fates depend on the enterprise," she wrote.
Depp claims the article violated a non-disclosure clause that was included in their divorce settlement.
Depp is also accusing Heard of fabricating the photos of her alleged injuries that were released around the time of their divorce. He claims she doctored the photos but Heard denies the accusations. The photos show the actress with two black eyes, a broken nose, and a busted lip.
She was recently ordered to turn over her cell phones as part of the court battle.
Depp also believes Heard cheated on him with multiple other men. One of them is Franco. He wants to grill the actor about his theory under oath along with whether Franco saw injuries on Heard in the days after the alleged assault.
Depp claims security footage from his apartment shows Franco and Heard in an elevator in May 2016. The footage was shot 24 hours after Heard claims Depp attacked her and gave her a black eye. Depp believes Franco will have answers on whether Heard ever mentioned a fight of if there were visible marks on her face/body.
“I have denied Ms. Heard’s allegations vehemently since she first made them in May 2016 … when she walked into court to obtain a temporary restraining order with painted-on bruises that witnesses and surveillance footage show she did not possess each day of the preceding week. I will continue to deny them for the rest of my life. I never abused Ms. Heard or any other woman," Depp wrote in his lawsuit.
Heard's attorney claims Franco lived in the same building at the time and they were not having an affair. The trial is set to start on April 11, 2022.