Text messages between Johnny Depp and friend Isaac Baruch from October 2016 were read in court, including one in which the actor said Amber Heard “ruined” their “cool life”

Johnny Depp once spoke about Amber Heard’s “rotting corpse,” text messages revealed in court show.

On Wednesday, Depp’s longtime friend and neighbor Isaac Baruch took the stand in the actor’s defamation trial against ex-wife Heard. During cross examination by Heard’s lawyer Elaine Bredehoft, October 2016 text messages between Depp and Baruch were revealed, including one in which Depp referred to Heard’s “rotting corpse.”

In the text, Depp said he hoped Heard’s “rotting corpse is decomposing in the f—–g trunk of a Honda Civic.” Baruch corroborated the message was sent: “Yeah, it was written.” Depp also texted about Heard: “That c— ruined such a f—–g cool life we had for a while.”

Baruch got emotional during cross examination when talking about how Heard’s allegations impacted Depp and those who are close with the actor. “It’s not fair. It’s not right what she did and what happened for so many people to get affected from this. It’s insane how this happened.”

Bredehoft then asked, “Mr. Baruch, you don’t know whether Mr. Depp has committed domestic violence of Amber Heard, do you?” Baruch answered after a pause, “I never saw or witnessed whatever type of claim that is being said. Ever.”

Johnny Depp

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Depp, 58, is suing his Heard, 35, for defamation over a 2018 op-ed she wrote for the Washington Post about surviving domestic violence, though she never mentioned Depp by name in the article. The jury trial is happening at the Fairfax County Courthouse in Virginia.

During opening statements Tuesday, Heard’s attorney Ben Rottenborn said evidence will show she suffered domestic abuse by Depp that “took many forms,” including physical, emotional, verbal and psychological, as well as “sexual violence at the hands of Depp.” A spokesperson for Depp denies the allegation as “fictitious.”

Depp originally filed the $50 million lawsuit in March 2019, but it was postponed due to the pandemic.

Back in November 2020, Depp lost his highly publicized U.K. libel lawsuit case against British tabloid The Sun for calling him a “wife-beater.” The court upheld the outlet’s claims as being “substantially true” and Heard testified to back up the claims. In March 2021, his attempt to overturn the decision was overruled.

The pair, who met making the 2011 movie The Rum Diary, broke up in May 2016, when Heard sought a domestic violence restraining order against him, accusing him of abusing her. Depp denied the claims, and the former couple settled their divorce out of court in August 2016.

On Saturday, Heard wrote on Instagram that she will be avoiding social media until after the trial, thanking her followers for their support.

She said, in part, “Hopefully when this case concludes, I can move on and so can Johnny. I have always maintained a love for Johnny and it brings me great pain to have to live out the details of our past life together in front of the world. At this time, I recognize the ongoing support I’ve been fortunate to receive throughout these years, and in these coming weeks I will be leaning on it more than ever.”