Johnny Depp: Amber Heard severed my finger by throwing vodka bottle

The Hollywood star branded accusations that he subjected her to “torture and other abuse” as “sick” and “completely untrue”.

Mr Depp said he does not believe he has an “overbearing, manipulative or controlling personality”, and said Ms Heard had an “obsessive need” to control him.

In one of his witness statements filed as part of his libel case against The Sun’s publisher, News Group Newspapers (NGN), the actor said “rage-filled violent incidents on planes were common with Amber”.

Mr Depp said the pair were on a private chartered flight in late 2014 or early 2015 when Ms Heard became “verbally aggressive”.

He said she called him a “pussy” and “spineless” for “running away” from fights with her.

“Then she became physically violent and repeatedly punched me in the face. As I moved towards the back of the plane to get away from her, she followed me into the plane’s bedroom and punched me again in the face and the head.

“I pushed her away from me, onto the bed. I then grabbed a pillow and locked myself in the bathroom, where I slept for the duration of the flight,” he wrote in his statement.

Mr Depp described a period of time in Australia in March 2015 when he says Ms Heard severed his finger – an injury which she says came about after he smashed a telephone into a wall.

“Amber severed my finger with the second of two thrown vodka bottles at me in the early afternoon of Sunday March 8. Amber claims this was on the second day of a ‘three-day hostage situation’,” he said.

Mr Depp added: “Amber claims that during these three days, I subjected her to a variety of what sounds like torture and other abuse.

“These sick claims are completely untrue.”

Giving evidence on the first day of his libel trial yesterday, Mr Depp told how his drug use started “at a very young age”, beginning when he took one of his mother’s “nerve pills”.

The Hollywood actor said his mother used to ask him to bring her the pills and he took one after realising at around the age of 11 they were “calming her nerves”, adding it was “the only way that I found to numb the pain”.

In cross-examination Mr Depp also said that the flip side of wealth and fame means being “forced to live a life of a fugitive”, and that he has no anonymity.