Amber Heard denies affairs with Musk, Franco

LONDON • Amber Heard denied having an affair with billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, as she gave evidence in ex-husband Johnny Depp's high-profile London libel action on Tuesday.

Depp, 57, had accused the 34-year-old actress of having liaisons with the Tesla and SpaceX founder and Hollywood actor James Franco during their stormy two-year marriage.

But giving evidence, she rejected the claims, in particular dismissing suggestions that Musk visited her regularly at night from March 2015, not long after the couple wed.

"I wasn't even in communication with Elon until 2016," she told London's High Court on her second day on the witness stand.

Depp, star of The Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise (2003 to 2017), is suing British tabloid The Sun and the author of a 2018 article that claimed he was a wife-beater. He maintains it severely damaged his reputation.

Depp's lawyer, Ms Eleanor Laws, read out a 2016 text message sent by Mr Musk offering protection against Depp after an alleged fight between the couple. "The offer would stand, even if you never wanted to see me again... anyway, sorry for being an idiot," he wrote. "The radio silence hurts a lot. It only matters because I really like you."

The text was sent the day after Heard claims Depp hit her in the face with a mobile phone during an argument, and while she was considering getting a restraining order.

The court was shown security camera footage of Heard and Franco after a row with Depp in May 2016, but Heard said the claim that she was having an affair was "quite wrong".

"We were talking. He was saying to me, 'Oh my god, what happened to you?'" she told the court.

On Monday, she claimed Depp had threatened to kill her on a number of occasions and subjected her to verbal and physical violence while under the influence of drink and drugs.

The couple met on the set of the 2011 film The Rum Diary and their relationship veered from "intensely affectionate, warm and charming" to "very intense and dark".

She said the actor blamed his actions on a "self-created third party" he sometimes named "the monster" and that she stayed in the relationship because she thought she could "fix" his well documented problems.

The Sun's publisher, News Group Newspapers, argues it told the truth in its report and that it has evidence to prove 14 alleged incidents of domestic violence.

The case is now in its third week and has lifted the lid on Depp's drunken and drug-fuelled lifestyle. But he denies being violent to any woman and has sought to portray his ex-wife as a calculating, dishonest and sociopathic narcissist intent on destroying his life.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE