‘My goal is the truth’ – Johnny Depp tells court he’s never hit a woman

Actor Johnny Depp has taken the stand in his $50 million defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard

The Pirates of the Caribbean star denies any abuse on his ex-wife Amber Heard.

The lawsuit is over an opinion piece Heard wrote for the Washington Post, calling herself a victim of domestic violence.

The closely-watched civil trial, which is taking place in Virginia, is now in its second week.

Heard’s team has portrayed Depp as an abusive partner prone to drug and alcohol binges.

Meanwhile, Depp’s team has presented Heard’s claims of domestic violence as a “hoax”

Speaking to the jury, Depp says that he wants to stand up for his family, children and all that matters to him, is the truth.

“I wanted to stand up for my family, my children. My goal is the truth because it killed me that people that I had met over the years would think that I was a fraud. That I had lied to them.”

DEPP TELLS THE JURY

He says he never struck any woman in his life and described how people’s attitudes towards him changed after her op-ed was published.

Lawyers for Depp have accused his ex-wife, who is also an actor, of giving the “performance of her life” in her descriptions of alleged abuse.

His lawyer went on to ask him to describe his childhood in Kentucky, and the abuse that he suffered from his mother.

“It’s been six years of trying times – so strange when one day you’re Cinderella, so to speak, and then in 0.6 seconds, you’re Quasimodo,”

DEPP TELLS THE JURY

The jury has heard evidence presented by the celebrity ex-couple’s former therapist, as well as from medical workers who treated Depp as he was detoxing himself from opiates.

The trial is expected to last at least six weeks, and jurors have so far been presented with duelling accounts of Mr Depp and Ms Heard’s relationship.

Ms Heard is also expected to testify later in the trial.