Amber Heard’s father threatened to shoot Johnny Depp during the couple’s bitter divorce, according to a witness in the actor’s defamation case.
David Killackey, who worked on both Heard and Depp’s classic cars at his California repair shop Performance Allison Transmissions in the wake of their 2016 split, claimed that Heard was abusive toward him and that her father, David Heard, made ‘death threats’ toward Depp in a phone call.
Killackey’s allegations were brought to light in the court battle over Depp’s $50million lawsuit accusing Heard of defaming him by writing in a Washington Post op-ed that she was a survivor of domestic violence.
She never named him in it but Depp claims that because their bitter divorce was so public, it inferred he had been violent towards to her – something he insists is a lie.
Depp’s lawyers say that Killackey’s account proves that Heard was motivated by money to speak out against her ex-husband.
In legal documents obtained by The Blast, Killackey described several ‘extremely hostile’ conversations with both Heard and her father after he approached them about paying for the repairs to their cars.
Amber Heard’s father, David Heard, threatened to shoot Johnny Depp during the couple’s bitter divorce, according to a witness in the actor’s defamation case. Amber and David are seen together at a movie premiere in 2011
David Killackey (pictured), who worked on both Heard and Depp’s classic cars at his California repair shop Performance Allison Transmissions in the wake of their 2016 split, claimed in newly-released court documents that Heard was abusive toward him and that her father, David Heard, made ‘death threats’ toward Depp in a phone call
Killackey’s allegations were brought to light in the court battle over Depp’s $50million lawsuit accusing Heard of defaming him by writing in a Washington Post op-ed that she was a survivor of domestic violence. Depp and Heard are pictured together at the Grammys in 2016
Killackey said the abuse began after he told Heard that all work on the cars would have to be paid directly, rather than through Depp’s management.
‘The reply I received what can only be described as an extremely hostile response from Amber,’ he said in the court documents.
‘I did my best to convey to her that I did not wish to get in the middle of the dispute between her and Mr. Depp. She did not receive this information very well.
‘Her first reaction was to verbally abuse me with expletives, threats and a continued rant over what she claimed was an unfortunate financial downturn of her personal finances caused by Mr. Depp.
‘At one point she said “you motherf***er, you’re screwing me!”‘
Killackey said Heard told him she had a legal agreement with Depp which stipulated that he was responsible for paying her bills, ‘and that if I expected payment then I should forward bills to Mr. Depp.’
He said that he stopped communicating with Heard directly after a ‘very unpleasant’ call, and soon began to hear from her father instead.
He said that David Heard ‘became very bitter toward Mr Depp’ after his daughter’s separation.
During one phone call about the repairs, David Heard allegedly told Killackey: ‘That f***ing piece of s*** is f***ing me too because I’m supposed to get 10 percent of the money and without it I can’t produce the movie I was gunna make!
‘He is ruining my baby girl’s career and blackballing her in Hollywood.
David Heard went on to say: ‘When I get to him I’m going to beat the s*** out of him’ and ‘I’m from Texas, and men from Texas carry 45’s and Johnny is going to meet the f***ing end of mine!’ Killackey claimed.
‘I told Mr. Heard that it sounded to me like he was drunk, he said: “Yeah, maybe I am and I’m going to shove the whiskey bottle up your a–!”‘
Killackey reported the threatening conversation with David Heard to police, suggesting that it should be passed along to Depp’s legal team.
Killackey claimed that Heard and her father (pictured in January 2012) refused to pay for repairs to her Mustang and insisted that the bills be sent to her estranged husband Depp
Depp’s attorney Adam Waldman said Killackey’s account strongly supports the argument that she accused the actor of abuse for financial reasons.
‘Mr. Killackey’s chilling first-hand experience with Amber Heard and her family exposes the motive behind Amber Heard’s abuse hoax – money,’ Waldman told The Blast.
‘Money is why Amber Heard moved her sister and four other co-conspirators into Johnny Depp’s multimillion-dollar penthouses rent-free. Money is why Amber Heard chopped Mr. Depp’s finger off with a thrown vodka bottle the day his attorneys asked her to sign a post-nuptial agreement.
‘Money is why Amber Heard ambushed Mr. Depp with an abuse hoax the day he informed her he was divorcing her. Money is why Amber Heard’s PR/legal team sent Mr. Depp an extortion letter prior to placing her hoax on the cover of People Magazine. Money is why Amber Heard’s father threatened to kill Johnny Depp.’
Heard’s lawyers have not publicly commented on Killackey’s claims.
However, her attorney Roberta Kaplan recently accused Depp’s legal team of trying to drag out the case by failing to produce critical evidence, including the actor’s medical records.
‘Mr. Depp has made it clear that his strategy is to try to run out the clock during the holiday season so that Ms. Heard is unable to obtain critical evidence and testimony to corroborate her defenses to the baseless defamation suit he filed against her,’ Kaplan said.
‘While Mr. Depp would like the trial to be a “he said/she said” contest of his own skills as an actor, Ms. Heard, who would prefer that the case be about the truth of what really happened, has asked the Court for a relatively brief two-month continuance to give her time to obtain the evidence that Mr. Depp has stubbornly resisted producing.’
Heard has submitted photos in previous proceedings which she claims show injuries Depp gave her. He has long denied being violent towards her and is suing her for defamation
The case is set to go to trial in August of next year. It was delayed six months after Depp missed a November 15 deadline to produce court-ordered records related to drug and alcohol abuse.
Heard hopes to defeat Depp’s defamation lawsuit by proving her allegations that her ex-husband is an alcoholic with drug problems who routinely kicked her, beat her and, at times, was so violent that she lost consciousness.
Depp denied those allegations and insisted that Heard was the violent one in their relationship, claiming that he needed to have his finger surgically reattached after she hurled a vodka bottle at him.
Heard’s lawyers have asked the judge to keep the entire case under seal because, she says, she does not want private details of their friends and families’ lives to become public which they inevitably will if they are submitted as part of the record.
Depp, however, says he has nothing to hide and wants to hash the entire thing out publicly.