Ellen Barkin, actor and ex-girlfriend of Johnny Depp, has claimed that the actor gave her a quaalude (sedative and hypnotic medication) the first time they had sex. She added he was drunk a lot of the time, was controlling and also abusive. The revelations were made by Ellen in the deposition that was released when 6,000 pages of court documents from their legal battle were unsealed. She testified as a witness in the defamation suit filed by Johnny against his ex-wife, actor Amber Heard. (Also Read | Johnny Depp's lawyer says actor would've moved on from defamation case if Amber Heard hadn't filed appeal)
Calling Johnny 'a jealous and controlling man', Ellen recalled the actor would ask her 'where are you going, who are you going with' and 'what did you do last night'. Speaking about an incident, she said that once she had a scratch on her back 'that got him very, very angry because he insisted it came from having sex with a person who wasn’t him’.
Daily Mail quoted Ellen as talking about the first time they had sex, "He gave me a quaalude and asked me if I wanted to f***." She said that their relationship lasted several months and they would go to each other's house three or four times a week. Ellen also said, "He was drunk all the, most, a lot of the time." She said that she saw him using cocaine, marijuana and hallucinogenic drugs. Ellen recalled him telling her once that he was ‘tripping’ and added that he 'was always drinking or smoking a joint’. Ellen called Johnny 'a yeller' who was 'verbally abusive'. She recalled him yelling at his assistant.
She also spoke about an incident, when Johnny threw a bottle of wine at her, saying she ‘wasn’t surprised’ as ‘there was always an air of violence around him’. Ellen said, "Mr Depp threw a wine bottle across the hotel room in one instance, in Las Vegas while shooting Fear and Loathing. A fight was going on, between Johnny Depp and his friends in the room, the assistant." Though she couldn't remember if the bottle was full or if it hit her or anyone else, she added that it was a ‘toss’ that came from the other side of the hotel room. She also added that the friendship went from ‘purely platonic friendship to romantic’. Asking to correct the record, Ellen asked to 'change that to sexual?’.
{{/usCountry}}She also spoke about an incident, when Johnny threw a bottle of wine at her, saying she ‘wasn’t surprised’ as ‘there was always an air of violence around him’. Ellen said, "Mr Depp threw a wine bottle across the hotel room in one instance, in Las Vegas while shooting Fear and Loathing. A fight was going on, between Johnny Depp and his friends in the room, the assistant." Though she couldn't remember if the bottle was full or if it hit her or anyone else, she added that it was a ‘toss’ that came from the other side of the hotel room. She also added that the friendship went from ‘purely platonic friendship to romantic’. Asking to correct the record, Ellen asked to 'change that to sexual?’.
{{/usCountry}}Ellen's testimony was videotaped in November 2019 and played for the seven-person jury hearing the defamation case in Fairfax County Circuit Court in Virginia. Earlier, Johnny filed suit against Amber over an op-ed she wrote for The Washington Post in December 2018 in which she described herself as a "public figure representing domestic abuse."
On June 1, the jury awarded Johnny $15 million in damages, but Amber had to pay $10.35 million due to a Virginia law limiting punitive damages (the judge reduced the amount). In her countersuit, she won one of the three defamation counts and was awarded $2 million in damages. Both of them recently appealed the verdict.