Johnny Depp's 'Australian Drug Texts' Land Him In Legal Trouble

Johnny Depp has landed himself in legal trouble once again as he failed to come forward and disclose a series of “drug texts” he sent while on a trip to Australia five years ago.

The texts in question reportedly show him attempting to get his hands on drugs. The texts are confirmed to have been exchanged between Depp and his assistant, Nathan Holmes while the actor and his then wife Amber Heard were touring Australia in 2015.

The opposing legal team requested the judge to throw off the case immediately as Depp's team of lawyers did not hand over what they called “Australian drug texts.”

According to Variety, Judge Andrew Nicol directed the actor’s legal team to disclose the messages as soon as possible. He also noted that the timing of the messages is “significant” because the texts were exchanged shortly before the alleged incidents that took place in Australia.

However, the judge gave some sort of relief to the “Pirates Of The Caribbean” star by giving him some time to bail himself out of the alarming situation.

“The Australian drug texts were adverse to the claimant’s pleaded case and/or were supportive of the defendants’ pleaded case. I agree that the timing is significant. The exchanges with Mr. [Nathan] Holmes began shortly before the alleged incidents in Australia,” Variety quoted Judge Nicol, as saying.
A three-week trial will commence on July 7 at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

The ruling comes after Depp filed a defamation case against Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun newspaper. It was for an article in 2018 that labeled him a “wife-beater.”

On May 27, 2016, Heard had obtained a restraining order against Depp, appearing in court with a bruise on her face and claiming that she was the victim of repeated domestic violence. By May 31 of that year, the actress was battling claims from Depp’s lawyers accusing her of lying about being abused by their client.

Recently, David Sherborne, who is representing Depp, noted that the star did not deliberately withhold documents related to his defamation case against the tabloid, its publisher News Group Newspapers (NGN), and executive editor, Dan Wootton.

Both LAPD officers and bodyguards of the couple denied seeing evidence of Heard being physically harmed by Depp. The bodyguards hinted that the actress was attempting to set up her husband at the time for the accusation after reportedly trying to cause a scene by yelling, “Stop hitting me,” even though the “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor was standing at least 20 feet away from her.

Heard and Depp met on the set of “The Rum Diary” in 2009, but they did not become romantically linked until 2012 when Depp separated from longtime partner Vanessa Paradis.