Johnny Depp’s ‘erectile dysfunction’ sparked alleged sexual assaults on Amber Heard, unsealed court docs claim

Heard's lawyers had wanted to bring up the condition as part of the defamation trial

Johnny Depp apparently suffered from an "erectile dysfunction condition" during his relationship with Amber Heard, which caused him to become "angry and agitated." The allegation is one of many that have been revealed after thousands of pre-trial court documents from the former couple's defamation trial were unsealed. These showed details and information that both parties had tried to submit into evidence but did not get approved or deemed inadmissible by the judge. One of these documents was a filing from Heard's lawyers, in which they said Depp suffered from erectile dysfunction, a condition that they claimed was relevant to his alleged assaults on Heard, including on one occasion when Heard claims he penetrated her with a bottle. “Though Mr. Depp would rather not disclose his erectile dysfunction condition, such condition absolutely is relevant to sexual violence, including Mr. Depp’s anger and use of a bottle to rape Amber Heard,” the March 28 filing says. The papers, seen by Newsweek, continue: "Mr. Depp's erectile dysfunction makes it more probable that Mr. Depp would be angry or agitated in encounters with Amber Heard, and that he would resort to a bottle." In May, Heard broke down in court as she testified that the Pirates of the Caribbean star assaulted her with a glass bottle in March 2015. Depp has consistently denied allegations of rape and violence against Heard. According to the court documents, the incident was part of the same fight in which Depp cut off half his finger. He claimed this happened when the Aquaman actress threw a vodka bottle at him. [caption id="attachment_351597" align="alignnone" width="2048"] Heard's team claimed Depp's condition would make him 'angry and agitated' towards her (Getty)[/caption] Depp's team successfully argued against the inclusion of information about his sexual condition in the trial, claiming that Heard only wanted to submit the evidence to embarrass him. They said that Heard wanted a "circus" and intended to "take this trial down a number of unnecessarily salacious rabbit holes, including and especially with respect to Mr. Depp's medical history." The unsealed documents also revealed text message exchanges between Depp and Marilyn Manson, and an attempt from Depp's team to bring up Heard's "brief stint as an exotic dancer” in the trial. Depp and Heard's protracted trial came to an end at the start of June, with the jury ruling largely in Depp's favour and finding that Heard did defame him in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed. They awarded Depp $10m in compensatory damages and $5m in punitive damages. The punitive damages payment was later reduced to $350,000 as that is Virginia's legal limit. Heard was awarded $2m in damages, meaning she owes him $8.35m in total. Both Depp and Heard are appealing against the damages they owe to the other though. Related links:

• Amber Heard sells beloved desert home after being ordered to pay Johnny Depp $8.3m
• Johnny Depp’s artwork dedicated to ‘Friends and Heroes’ sells out within hours
• Johnny Depp faces backlash for misgendering author during Amber Heard trial