ENGLLAND – Johnny Depp left his libel trial against ex-wife Amber Heard and jetted to England where he surprised concertgoers by performing with Jeff Beck at the guitar legend’s show on Sunday.
Depp spent Sunday night onstage after apparently flying straight to Sheffield City Hall to rock with Beck, performing a cover of John Lennon‘s ‘Isolation,’ according to social media.
An Instagram user who caught a shot of the Pirates of the Caribbean star wrote: ‘Wasn’t expecting this… I thought he was in court but turns out he’s in Sheffield with Jeff Beck.’
‘JOHNNY SINGING ISOLATION OMG’ exclaimed a Twitter user who caught a quick video of the performance.
The song, released officially by the pair in 2020, has recently gained notoriety due to the publicity from the trial.
The duo also performed covers of Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’ and Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Little Wing,’ according to The Hollywood Reporter.
‘Mr. Depp is in the United Kingdom, as he was a few weeks ago, to adhere to his previously scheduled work obligations,’ a source close to Depp told CourtTV.
Depp and Beck, 77, frequently recorded together during lockdown in the initial wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
He plays guitar in a band with Alice Cooper and Aerosmith’s Joe Perry called the Hollywood Vampires.
Meanwhile, the 58-year-old Depp got an apparent show of support from rock legend Paul McCartney, who showed a video Depp filmed for the Beatle in 2012 at his concert in Orlando Saturday.
He performed the song ‘My Valentine’ from his 2012 album Kisses on the Bottom. The video for the song features Depp and actress Natalie Portman.
The visual, which features Portman lip syncing to the music while Depp strums an acoustic guitar, showed on the big screens at McCartney’s ‘Get Back’ tour at Camping World Stadium in Orlando.
It’s unclear if the move was intentional, though McCartney has been playing the song with this visual treatment frequently on his 2022 tour, his first in three years.
TMZ said that the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Famer has not used the video during previous tours.
Both Depp and Heard’s legal teams delivered closing arguments Friday in the blockbuster defamation trial that has raged on for six weeks.
Depp’s all-star attorney Camille Vasquez began by labeling Amber Heard an ‘abuser’.
‘There is an abuser in this courtroom but it’s not Mr. Depp. There’s a victim of abuse in this court but it’s not Miss Heard,’ Vaquez said. ‘Miss Heard is in fact the abuser and Mr. Depp is the abused.’
Vasquez noted expert accounts that diagnosed Heard with borderline personality disorder and called the actress a ‘deeply, troubled person’ who is ‘desperate for attention and approval.’
It is six years ago to the day that Amber Heard filed a restraining order against Depp, which Vasquez said ‘ruined’ the actor’s life.
‘On May 27th 2016 Miss Heard walked into a courthouse in Los Angeles, California to get a no notice ex parte restraining order against Mr. Depp and in doing so ruined his life by falsely telling the world she was a survivor of domestic violence against Mr Depp. Today on May 27 2022, exactly six years later, we asked you to give Mr. Depp his life back by telling the world that Mr. Depp is not the abuser Miss Heard said he is and hold Miss Heard accountable for her lies.’
At 3pm local time the jury in the case went out to deliberate.
‘What’s at stake is this man’s good name, what’s at stake is a man’s life that he lost when he was accused of heinous crimes and the life he could live when he’s finally vindicated,’ Vasquez said.
In his own summation, Heard’s lawyer Benjamin Rottenborn said, ‘If you didn’t take pictures, it didn’t’ happen. If you did take pictures, they’re fake. If you didn’t tell your friends they’re lying. If you did tell your friends they’re part of the hoax. Failure to seek medical attention meant you were not injured,’ Rottenborn said. ‘If you do seek medical treatment then you’re crazy and if you do everything to help your spouse rid himself of drugs and drink then ‘you’re a nag.’
Rottenborn continued, ‘And if you decide enough is enough and you have to leave to save yourself, you’re a gold digger. That’s the message Mr. Depp is asking you to send.
He said that in Johnny Depp’s ‘world’ you don’t leave him, and if you do ‘he will start campaign of global humiliation against you.
‘He will do everything he can to destroy your life, to destroy your career. That’s what they’re trying to get you to be an accomplice to. Mr. Depp cannot and will not take responsibility for his own actions.’
The circus trial began when Depp sued Heard, claiming three counts of defamation and $50million in restitution.
Heard – who was married to the actor from 2015 to 2017 – is counter-claiming for $100million.
Depp sued his ex-wife in February 2019 after she wrote an op-ed published by the Washington Post in December 2018 which Depp claimed left him with extensive financial loss to his career.
He added that he felt he could no longer act due to her allegations.
In the op-ed, Heard had described becoming ‘a public figure representing domestic abuse’ and ‘seeing, in real time, how institutions protect men accused of abuse.’
