In deposition testimony released as part of the 6,000 pages of pre-trial paperwork recently unsealed in Johnny Depp’s case against Amber Heard, actress Ellen Barkin said the actor gave her narcotics the first time they slept together.
When asked about her previous connection with Depp, which she claimed lasted several months and came to an end after the two had finished filming Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in 1997, Barkin, 68, took the stand for the deposition in 2019.
Barkin testified about the first time Depp exhibited interest in moving their platonic friendship in a physical direction. She and the actor were friends before their relationship developed into one that was sexual.
“He came on to me in the living room of my house, pulled me onto his lap and said something like, ‘Oh, come on Ellen,’ or whatever. I protested a little and then — not too much,” she stated. “And that was that.”
When asked to clarify her remarks about how she “protested,” Barkin said that Depp did not assault her, but claimed, “He gave me a Quaalude and asked me if I wanted to f**k.”
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Methaqualone, or brand name Quaalude, is a central nervous system depressant that acts as a sedative and hypnotic.
A significant portion of Barkin’s deposition was aired in court during the defamation trial, but the jury was not shown proof that she claimed Depp gave her a Quaalude.
In her deposition, Barkin stated that, at the beginning of their relationship, Depp, “was loving… He seemed like someone who took care of the people around him.” Additionally, she said that Depp was “truly lovely with my children.”
She said that the actor was a “red wine drinker,” although she testified that he “was intoxicated all of the time… [or] most of the time.” While she knew Depp, she also said that he routinely used drugs, including hallucinogens, and that he once “phoned me and informed me he was tripping.”
Apart from the alleged use of drugs and alcohol, Barkin further alleged that there was “always an air of violence” around Depp. “He’s a yeller. He is verbally abusive,” she stated. “There was just a lot of yelling. A lot of yelling.”
She recalled one incident where Depp tossed a wine bottle into a hotel room in Las Vegas while filming Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. To film her sequence, Barkin was only meant to be in Las Vegas for a few days, but she lingered for two weeks to be with Depp, according to testimony.
He apparently tossed a bottle during that time in a heated exchange, but it wasn’t intended for her. She claimed that soon after, their romance came to an end when she told Depp she was returning to Los Angeles and he became upset and “jealous.”
“He’s just a jealous man, controlling; ‘Where are you going? Who are you going what? What did you do last night?'” Barkin claimed. “I had a scratch on my back that got him very, very angry because he insisted it came from me having sex with a person who wasn’t him.”
She only spoke to Depp once after parting ways with him in Las Vegas, according her deposition, and that was when they reconnected at the Cannes Film Festival more than ten years later.
“He called me from across the room. He brought me a glass of champagne. We sat on the steps and spoke and I told him how awful he had treated me and he was clearly making some kind of sexual move,” Barkin stated.
After the Washington Post published an op-ed Heard penned about being the victim of domestic violence, Depp sued Heard for $50 million for defamation. Although Depp’s name was omitted from the article, it was released as news of their bitter 2016 divorce continued to dominate headlines. Depp won the case following a six-week trial when the jury found mainly in his favor. He was given $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages.
