Kate Moss will testify in Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial
As Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's defamation trial enters its final week, there is one more big name entering the mix: Kate Moss. The British supermodel will be called to testify this week as a rebuttal witness by Depp's legal team, a source close to the actor confirms to Yahoo Entertainment. Moss will appear via video on Wednesday.
Depp's lawyer was seen fist-pumping when Heard mentioned Moss on the stand earlier this month. The Aquaman star was testifying about a violent incident with Depp, admitting she punched him in the face in a March 2015 fight as she feared he was going to throw her sister, Whitney, down the stairs.
"I see my little sister with her back to the staircase ... I don't hesitate, I don't wait, I just instantly think of Kate Moss and stairs and I swung at him," Heard said, referring to a rumor that Depp pushed Moss down a flight of stairs.
Celebrity lawyer Chris Melcher, partner of Walzer Melcher, explains to Yahoo Entertainment that Heard "opened the door" for Depp's team to bring "Kate on as a witness."
"Amber did not tell the jury what she meant by her reference to Kate," Melcher says. "It appears Amber is claiming that Johnny pushed Kate down the stairs and that is why Amber reacted by punching Johnny on the stairs. There is a right to use force in the defense of another, if there is a reasonable belief that force is needed, and a reasonable amount of force is used to overcome the threat."
Melcher notes how witnesses for each star offered contradictory claims in court.
"Amber's story about why she hit Johnny has been contradicted by the security guard who witnessed the event and testified that Amber's punch was unprovoked," he adds. "Whitney testified that Johnny was a threat to her on the stairs, but Whitney allegedly told her former employer, Jennifer Howell, that Amber was the aggressor during the [incident.] Ms. Howell is also scheduled to testify."
As for Moss, 48, she dated Depp, 58, for years in the mid-'90s and the exes are said to be on good terms.
"Amber mentioned an ex of Johnny's that clearly she felt was not supportive of him, which couldn't be further from the truth," a source close to Depp told Page Six.
Moss will likely be asked about her and Depp's infamous 1994 hotel incident. Police were called to The Mark Hotel in New York and the actor was arrested on charges of criminal mischief.
"We opened the door and there was Depp sitting there, smoking a cigarette, cool and calm," Officer Eileen Perez said decades ago, confirming Moss was with him. "There was glass all over the place and furniture upside down and broken table legs."
Charges were dropped and Depp had to pay $10,000 in damages, per the New York Times. Neither Moss nor Depp has spoken publicly about that evening. The pair split in 1997 after three years together, but briefly reconciled in 1998.
In 2012, Moss recalled to Vanity Fair how she cried for "years" after their intense relationship ended.
“There's nobody that's ever really been able to take care of me. Johnny did for a bit. I believed what he said," Moss shared. "Like if I said, 'What do I do?' he'd tell me. And that's what I missed when I left. I really lost that gauge of somebody I could trust. Nightmare. Years and years of crying. Oh, the tears!"
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