Johnny Depp’s assistant says an alleged 2014 text exchange between himself and Depp’s estranged wife, Amber Heard, posted online Wednesday, are fake.
Stephen Deuters told TMZ.com Thursday that the purported texts discussing episodes of domestic abuse by Depp, 52, were heavily doctored, in the words of the website, which paraphrased but did not quote Deuters.
TMZ said Deuters told the site he was unaware of any abuse by Depp toward Heard and that he has never seen Depp be violent toward anyone the actor knows. Deuters said he found it suspicious that the purported texts bear no date, and said he would testify under oath that he never conversed with Heard, 30, about alleged domestic violence.
Representatives for “The Danish Girl” actress Heard and “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise star Depp did not respond to Newsday requests regarding the veracity of the texts.
The entertainment-news program “Entertainment Tonight,” stressing it could not independently verify the texts’ authenticity, had posted the undated screen shots, in which only a single message is timestamped. The sender, “Stephen,” begins by saying, “Think he’s just texted you. He’s incredibly apologetic and knows that he has done wrong. He wants to get better now. He’s been very explicit about that this morning. Feel like we’re at a critical juncture.”
The recipient, which the anonymous supplier of the text messages told “ET” is Heard, replies, “Yes but I don’t know how to be around him after what he did to me yesterday,” adding, “I don’t know if I can stay with him.” The exchange continues with further, generally non-specific claims of violence.
Heard filed for divorce May 23 after 15 months of marriage, alleging verbal and physical violence. Depp’s representative said last week, “Johnny will not respond to any of the salacious false stories, gossip, misinformation and lies about his personal life. Hopefully the dissolution of this short marriage will be resolved quickly.”
