Johnny Depp says 'burning witch' Amber Heard texts to Paul Bettany was Monty Python joke

Johnny Depp has said texts he sent to actor Paul Bettany about burning and drowning his ex-wife Amber Heard were a joke based on a Monty Python sketch.

The 58-year-old actor told a court in Virginia on Monday he was “ashamed” of the messages he sent to Bettany but they were an attempt at “irreverent and abstract humour”.

The $50million libel trial has entered its third week with Depp suing Amber for defamation over an article she wrote for Washington Post in 2018, in which he claims that it falsely implies he physically and sexually abused her.

Johnny told court he had a close friendship with Paul Bettany and in 2013 had written in a text to him: "Let’s burn Amber.

“Let’s drown her before we burn her. I will f*** her burnt corpse afterwards to make sure she’s dead.”

Depp told court that he had connected with Paul over their “abstract sense of humour” to deal with difficult situations, and the comments were never “intended to be real.”

Johnny said: “As these are private texts there was a lot … in context.

“It’s important to know none of that was ever intended to be real and the language used which … yes, I am ashamed (of) has to be spread on the world like peanut butter.

“For example, the text that is about burning Ms Heard is directly from Monty Python and the sketch about burning witches and then drowning the witches.

“This is a film we’d all watch when we were 10 – it’s just irreverent and abstract humour.”

Johnny said that the relationship between Paul and Amber was "abominable" and that she viewed him as a "threat" due to the time and closeness of the friendship.

Depp told the court: "Ms Heard despised Mr Bettany mainly because we had become such close friends and for her he was a threat and would take me away from her.”

Johnny has denied all allegations that he had ever assaulted Amber and said that reading the Washington Post article was like had been "hit over the head with a two-by-four (piece of wood)”.

He said that Amber was get "mean and loud" when Paul was about and would often talk over him.

The actor also claimed that Amber had "demeaned" Paul's 18-year-old son and had made him "burst into tears".

Depp said that he then told Amber "to be wrong sometimes... so she could learn something".

The trial continues.

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