Johnny Depp's former partner Vanessa Paradis to give evidence in actor's libel case against The Sun

Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis in 2006
Getty Images

Actress and singer Vanessa Paradis is due to give evidence today at the High Court in defence of her former partner Johnny Depp.

Ms Paradis, 47, has two children, Lily-Rose and Jack, with the Pirates of the Caribbean star from their 14-year relationship, which ended in 2010.

It is expected she will give evidence via videolink to say that Depp, 57, was never violent during their relationship, in support of his contention that he is not a “wife beater”.

Last week, Depp told the court he and Ms Paradis had vowed their children would be brought up in a peaceful and conflict-free environment.

“One of the promises was I would raise my children in the exact opposite manner to which I was raised”, he explained.

“Vanessa and I would never raise our voices in front of our children, the children were never spanked, never hit or exposed to violence. They grew up in very safe, calm, understanding circumstances.”

Depp is locked in a high-profile libel battle with The Sun’s publisher News Group Newspapers over a 2018 article by executive editor Dan Wootton which accused the star of violence towards his ex-wife Amber Heard.

Heard, 34, claims she was regularly assaulted during Depp’s drug and drinking binges, but the actor insists Heard was the abuser and she is orchestrating a “hoax” against him.

Also due to give evidence today is Sean Bett, the principal bodyguard for Depp, who is expected to say that he regularly saw Heard berating Depp.

He is also said to have witnessed the aftermath of an incident on Heard’s 30th birthday, when Depp claims he was attacked by the actress for turning up late to the party.

A security guard, Starling Jenkins, and a conceirge, Alejandro Romerom, at the Eastern Columbia building in downtown Los Angeles where Depp shared a penthouse with Heard are also expected to give evidence this afternoon.

Yesterday, Heard faced claims from her former personal assistant that she had lied to a court in Australia during a debacle over bringing the couple’s dogs into the country.

Heard faced prosecution for bringing teacup Yorkshire terriers Boo and Pistol into Australia in breach of quarantine rules while Depp was filming Pirates of the Caribbean 5.

But she blamed the incident – dubbed the “war on terrier” - on a paperwork error and blamed her former personal assistant Kate James for the problems.

Ms James, giving evidence in the High Court, said she was “devastated” when she saw press reports of Heard’s final court appearance, which ended with most of the charges dropped and her being given a one-month good behaviour bond of $1,000.

“I was devastated when I found out that Amber had blamed me in court”, she said. “I broke down in tears at the thought that she blatantly lied in court in my home town and blamed me.

“Obviously I knew it was a complete lie and yet she had no problem in apparently perjuring herself in order to avoid responsibility.”

Kevin Murphy, Depp’s former estate manager, told the court Heard had urged him to lie to the court, and he had gone along with the plan because he feared for his job.

He insisted that Heard was well-aware of the problem with bringing the dogs to Australia before the trip, and Depp had wanted them to stay in California.

Ms James also told the court she had endured a rape ordeal in Brazil when 26-years-old, and claimed Heard had “twisted” details of the attack for her own benefit.

“I discovered that Ms Heard had in fact stolen my sexual violence conversation with her and twisted it into her own story to benefit herself”, she said.

“This of course caused me extreme distress and outrage that she would dare to attempt to use the most harrowing experience of my life as her own narrative.”

The libel trial continues.

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