As part of a lawsuit between Johnny Depp and his former representation at The Management Group, Depp’s managers claim that they had discovered several years ago that the actor had “violently kicked” his ex-wife, Amber Heard, and had been “extremely volatile” with her during their marriage.
According to court documents filed last month and obtained by People, TMG claims that one of Depp’s managers, Joel Mandel, had been told about the abuse through “house staff and security” and was made aware of the kicking incident that occurred “in or around 2014.”
TMG also claims that during his divorce from Heard, Depp pressured his longtime assistant to deny that he had sent text messages to Heard apologizing for Depp’s behavior and to claim that Heard had manufactured the texts. Those messages were released by Entertainment Tonight last June.
“When I told him he kicked you, he cried,” the assistant wrote in one of the texts. “It was disgusting. And he knows it.”
According to the legal docs, Depp’s management group is “informed and believes that Depp knew full well that the text messages were genuine, but pressured and berated his assistant to falsely challenge the texts publicly.”
Depp first filed a fraud lawsuit against TMG for $25 million in January shortly after finalizing his divorce from Heard. TMG filed a counter against Depp last month, accusing Depp of “extravagant spending,” including $30,000 a month on imported wines.
Depp’s representatives did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.