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Johnny Depp tells how he saved nervous Amber Heard from nude scene on Rum Diary set

Actor recalled the pair kissing in his trailer after shower scene together

Graeme Massie
Los Angeles
Wednesday 20 April 2022 00:45 BST
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Johnny Depp takes stand in defamation trial

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Johnny Depp described how he helped a nervous Amber Heard avoid a nude scene on the set of The Rum Diary movie.

Mr Depp, who starred in and produced the movie based on a Hunter S Thompson novel, told the court in the former couple’s multi-million dollar defamation trial how his ex-wife had been “appreciative” of the move.

The Hollywood heavyweight said that Ms Heard was set to film a scene in which her character Chenault danced in a crowded nightclub before taking off her top.

But Mr Depp said that as he watched the filming take place he realised it could all be avoided if the actress just held up her red bra as a crowd surrounded her.

“I was on set the day they were shooting that, and as I was watching the crowd coming in on her I would check on Ms Heard and say, ‘Are you are sure you are okay? And she would say, ‘I’m fine, fine.’

“I realised that with the crowd surging in on her we would not have to do the nudity.”

Mr Depp then held up his own arm in the witness box to show the jury exactly what he was talking about.

“All she would have to do is lift the red bra up out of the crowd and there is no nudity, but it is certainly implied,” he added.

Actor Johnny Depp testifies during a hearing at the Fairfax County Circuit Court in Fairfax, Va., Tuesday April 19, 2022
Actor Johnny Depp testifies during a hearing at the Fairfax County Circuit Court in Fairfax, Va., Tuesday April 19, 2022 (AP)

“I remember telling Ms heard, ‘Hey you don’t have to take your clothes off, you don’t have to take your top off, everything is cool’ and she was appreciative.”

Mr Depp said he had very little interaction with Ms Heard until they had to film a scene where she walked in on him in the shower and they kissed.

“That moment, was, er, it was, it felt like something, it felt like something I should not be feeling as she had her wife, and even though it was a scene, she had her wife, I had Vanessa and kiddies.”

He was asked what happened next in their relationship.

“I think there was something in the kiss in the shower that was real,” he added.

“So that day after work, Ms Heard had come to my trailer and I was sitting there listening to old blues stuff and we had a glass of wine and we kissed.

“At that point my trailer was the only trailer in the parking lot, she had the mind to stay in the trailer for a while with me but I did not think that was a good idea on any level as there were nine Teamsters outside waiting to move the trailer.”

Mr Depp said that the next time they saw each other was at the movie’s press junket two years later in Los Angeles when she had broken up with her wife and he had “some not so great situations” with partner Vanessa Paradis, who wanted to go back to France.

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