Johnny’s Depp’s US lawyer was today accused of sending a ‘sinister and macabre’ message aimed at Amber Heard’s interior designer.
Adam Waldman’s tweet read: ‘In memoriam, Elon Musk’s decorator Laura Divenere’ after she had given evidence on Friday and called him the ‘biggest a**hole under the sun’.
Adam Wolanski QC, for News Group Newspapers, said Mr Waldman has been observing proceedings from one of the few available seats in court, adding: ‘We would ask that he refrains from posting further macabre, threatening and sinister messages about witnesses whose evidence he does not like.’
Mr Justice Nicol said the phrase ‘in memoriam’ – a phrase referring to remembering a dead – was unwelcome. Mr Depp’s barrister David Sherborne told the court it was a phrase Mr Waldman has used to refer to evidence which he believes to be in support of a lie.
Mr Waldman was mentioned in proceedings on Friday when Amber Heard secretly recorded her interior designer raging against him for allegedly pressuring her to make a critical statement about the actress.
Laura Divenere (left) claimed Depp’s lawyer Adam Waldman (right) urged her to cooperate with Depp’s legal team or face being subpoenaed
Adam Waldman’s tweet read: ‘In memoriam, Elon Musk’s decorator Laura Divenere’ after she had given evidence on Friday and called him an ‘a**hole’
Laura Divenere, who furnished the ex-couple’s Los Angeles penthouse, said in her witness statement she never saw Heard with any injuries following a fight with Depp in May 2016.
She even claimed in her written statement that Heard, 34, never spoke about being the victim of domestic abuse during her time with Depp, 57, who she described as ‘delightful’ and never aggressive.
The alleged row has become a focal point of the Depp’s High Court showdown against The Sun newspaper, who branded the actor a ‘wife beater’ in a 2018 article.
But evidence of a conversation between her and Heard in which Divenere vented against Depp’s US attorney Adam Waldman for leaning on her to brand Heard physically abusive in her High Court statement was then shared.
In the conversation, Ms Divenere called Waldman the ‘biggest a**hole under the sun’ after he asked her to abandon Heard’s version of the contentious 2016 fight.
London’s High Court was also today read a text from Waldman to Ms Divenere, who was strongly urged to cooperate with Depp’s legal team or face being subpoenaed.
And at the trial, Ms Divenere even conceded she had come under enormous pressure from Waldman to provide her statement, which she had not even written herself.
In one section of her statement, referring to the incidents of May 2016, Ms Divenere claims: ‘On none of those days immediately following the abuse claims did I observe any signs of physical abuse or injury, including any redness, swelling, cuts, bruising or damage of any kind.’
When asked by Ms Wass, representing The Sun, whose idea it was to include this, Ms Divenere replied: ‘Adam Waldman.’
She added: ‘Mr Waldman wrote the declaration, I just approved it and signed it.’ Ms Wass asked Ms Divenere: ‘I suggest that you felt pressurised by Mr Waldman to say things that were unfavourable about Miss Heard?’ Ms Divenere replied: ‘Yes.’
When asked about allegations she made about Heard having an affair with James Franco and Elon Musk, while she was still married to Depp, Ms Divenere said: ‘I did feel under pressure to say something about that.’
When asked about another section of her statement, which refers to Heard having spent a night in jail for attacking her former wife, Ms Divenere said: ‘That was Mr Waldman. I didn’t know about that until he told me.’
A text message from Mr Waldman to Ms Divenere was also read out in court, in which he asks her if she wants to ‘remain on the side of the hoax’ or the truth.
Ms Wass asked her: ‘Prior to this did you want to become involved as a witness between Miss Heard and Mr Depp. As a result of this text did you feel uncomfortable. Put under pressure?’
Ms Divenere replied: ‘I felt pressured.’
The High Court also heard a conversation that was secretly recorded by Heard when she spoke with Ms Divenere after she made her statement last June.
But the High Court in London heard a recording by Ms Heard of a conversation with Miss Divenere after she signed the statement, where she said Depp’s US attorney Adam Waldman drafted the statement and pressured her into signing it.
Ms Divenere said: ‘He thought I was totally conspiring with you, and I.. literally took it that I was like this lying person and he was gonna go ahead and subpoena me.’
Ms Heard then told her former aide: ‘It’s not your fault, you didn’t know. I hid it from everybody’.