- Ed White, Johnny Depp's business manager, testified at the actor's defamation trial against Amber Heard.
- White said that the couple ran up a $160,000 bill with a wine merchant by the end of their marriage.
- Heard loved a particular Spanish wine that cost $500 a bottle, according to White.
Johnny Depp and Amber Heard rang up a $160,000 wine bill by the end of their marriage, Depp's business manager, Ed White, testified in court on Thursday.
Depp is currently suing Heard for $50 million, claiming that she defamed him, ruining his career and reputation by insinuating she had been the victim of domestic violence in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed. Heard has denied the allegations and claims Depp physically assaulted her on multiple occasions during their relationship, which ended when Heard filed for divorce in 2016.
On Thursday, White was asked about his role in settling the couple's finances during their divorce, which was finalized in early 2017.
One of the financial issues at stake in the divorce was settling the couple's outstanding bills, which included a $160,000 tab at Twenty Twenty Wine Merchants, a wine purveyor in Los Angeles.
Since the divorce, Depp's tab at the wine company has been nearly eliminated, White testified, though he still racks up wine bills around Christmas time because he gives bottles as gifts.
"His wine bill has shrunk to virtually zero, because he does not continue to consume much in the way of wine," White said.
White said Heard had a particular affinity for a $500 bottle of wine produced by Spanish winery Vega Sicilia. For Heard's 30th birthday party in April 2016 — the night of a fight that led to their separation — she ordered five bottles of that wine, and eight bottles of another wine.
Depp's and Heard's alcohol and drug use have been focal points of the trial. Heard claims that Depp would get violent during drug and alcohol-fueled rages. When Depp took the stand, he claimed that it was Heard who was the real abuser in their relationship and that she typically drank two bottles of wine a night. Depp has previously said his personal wine bills were in excess of $30,000 per month.
On cross-examination, Depp's business manager was grilled about the actor's own spending.
"Ms. Heard didn't buy any of the dozens of properties that Depp owned, correct?" Heard's lawyer J. Benjamin Rottenborn asked. "She didn't pay $5 million to blast Hunter Thompson's ashes out of a cannon, did she?"
"She didn't buy a yacht that she couldn't afford and then have to sell it to JK Rowling, did she?" he continued.