British model Kate Moss has refuted actress Amber Heard's claim that Johnny Depp, whom she dated in 1994-1998, pushed her down the stairs during their vacation in Jamaica.
"He never pushed me, kicked me or threw me down any stairs", Moss said, appearing via a video link from Gloucestershire, England, as a witness at Depp's defamation trial against Heard.
In the video, which was widely shared on social media, Moss describes how she accidentally slid down the stairs because of a rainstorm, adding that Depp provided her with first aid and stressing that he never kicked her or pushed her during their relationship.
Shortly after Moss' testimony, Depp returned to the stand to answer questions for a second time.
"As Kate Moss testified, many many years ago and what exactly happened is what she said happened. I recall speaking with Miss Heard about that very incident because of the downpouring of rain because it was raining very heavily the day Kate slipped," Depp said. "I recalled the story to her. Miss Heard took the story and turned it into a very ugly incident all in her mind. There was never a moment where I pushed Kate down any set of stairs yet she's spewed this three times before."
Heard's lawyer Benjamin Rottenborn insisted that the actress simply heard a "rumour."
"What's a rumour? Very simply we were in Jamaica, I'd left our bungalow about three minutes prior to her, I was standing outside and rain starts coming down like it's a monsoon. I remember seeing Kate coming out the door and there were three little wooden stairs, she slips, her legs went up, she landed on her lower back. She was obviously physically in pain, she was hurt, she was crying. I ran over and grabbed her to make sure she was alright," Depp responded.
He then added: "That's it, that's the whole story but then the rumour of it, I'd never heard a rumour of that before Miss Heard grabbed hold of it. It's like that."
Heard previously claimed she once heard a rumour that Depp had pushed Kate Moss down a flight of stairs. She alleged that her sister, Whitney, was standing at the top of a staircase during one of the altercations between Depp and Heard, and that the actor tried to hit her. Heard then asserted that she "swung" at her husband because she remembered the Kate Moss "rumour".
The supermodel wasn't originally expected to appear before the court, but because Heard mentioned her name, it paved the way for Depp's legal team to call her to testify. As Heard mentioned Moss during the defamation trial, one of Depp's lawyers was seen giving him a fist bump.
Depp, 58, is suing his ex-wife Heard, 36, for $50 million in damages, insisting that she defamed him by penning an op-ed for The Washington Post in 2018, describing herself as a victim of domestic abuse (although she did not mention Depp by name in the article). Following the publication of the article, Depp lost roles in the Fantastic Beasts and Pirates of the Caribbean franchises. Heard, for her part, filed a countersuit demanding $100 million in damages, claiming her ex-husband started a campaign to discredit her and harm her career.