Model Kate Moss is expected to appear in Johnny Depp’s blockbuster defamation trial against Amber Heard this week, The Washington Post exclusively learned on Monday.
The 48-year-old British fashion icon will testify by video link in a court in Fairfax, Virginia, on Wednesday, people familiar with the matter said.
Depp’s attorney is find fist pumping a few weeks ago Hurd, 36, suddenly mentioned Moss in her testimony.
Legal experts explained at the time that Hurd’s mention of Moss in the stands could give her ex-husband’s team a chance to dispel rumors that he pushed the supermodel down the stairs when the two were dating in the 1990s.
“This is a mistake, [Heard] Production, is cultivating Kate Moss, which may have opened the door [Depp’s team] bring [Moss] as an impeachment witness” — and Moss “said ‘this never happened,'” said California entertainment attorney Mitra Aholaan.
A source close to Depp told The Washington Post at the time: “Amber mentioned Johnny’s ex and obviously she didn’t feel supported him, which was far from the truth.”
Attorneys for the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star will call Moss as a witness, sources said Monday.
She dated Depp from 1994 to 1997, supporting the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star.
Hurd referred to Moss in her May 5 testimony, recounting a fight in March 2015 when she punched Depp in the face for fear he would push her sister Whitney down the stairs.
The “Aquaman” actress said she thought “Kate Moss and the stairs” “immediately” – prompting Depp’s lawyer Ben Chew to turn around and throw a punch.
Moss did not initially testify because the rumored staircase incident was unrelated to the specific charges in the Virginia case. But experts say the model Heard referred to paved the way for Depp’s team to subpoena her to testify.
The testimony will take place on the third to last day of the six-week trial, which is scheduled to end on Friday. Moss could be a key witness for Depp.
Depp, 58, sued his ex-wife Hurd for $50 million over a 2018 Washington Post op-ed in which she described herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.” Her article did not name the actor, but he claimed it defamed him, ruined his career and cost him millions of dollars.
Hurd countersued Depp for $100 million, saying he slandered her in 2020, when he and his lawyer issued a statement to the media saying she fabricated allegations of abuse.
In Depp’s 2020 UK trial against The Sun, heard allegedly Her ex-husband once pushed Moss down the stairs.
Describing the same fight involving her sister, Hurd told a British court at the time: “I remember what I heard. [that] He pushed an ex-girlfriend – Kate Moss, I believe – down the stairs. I heard this rumor from two people and it stuck in my memory. “
Depp has sued The Sun over an article that called him a “wife beating”. He lost the case after the UK High Court confirmed most of Hurd’s abuse allegations.
