Amber Heard’s legal team will call Johnny Depp back to the stand Monday — opening the final week of the doomed couple’s defamation trial with what legal experts have said is a risky move.
Multiple sources with knowledge confirmed to The Post that the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star — who already testified over four days — will be back on the stand Monday.
He is likely to face questioning on the slew of allegations Heard, 36, made during her testimony — including that Depp, 58, sexually assaulted her with a liquor bottle in March 2015 while in Australia.
The actor is expected to be questioned by his own attorneys as a rebuttal witness either Wednesday or Thursday, sources said.
Calling Depp back to address the jury could backfire — given how “likeable” they appeared to find him during his first round of testimony, legal experts previously told The Post.
“There is a risk that he is going to have more time being likable on the stand,” said civil attorney Katherine Lizardo, “when it’s actually Amber Heard’s time to present her case.”
Depp was often smiling on the stand, and showed the jury his “very unique personality,” potentially making him appealing to the panel of seven, Lizardo said.
The actor is suing Heard for $50 million over a 2018 Washington Post op-ed in which she called herself a “public figure representing domestic violence.”
Heard, meanwhile, countersued for $100 million, claiming Depp defamed her when he and his lawyer Adam Waldman made statements to the press in 2020 claiming she had manufactured her allegations of domestic violence.
In his previous testimony, Depp claimed he was the victim in his chaotic relationship with Heard, and that he brought the suit against her to “clear my name.”
Closing arguments in the explosive trial — which has included photos of Depp passed out from apparent drug binges, a dramatic hunt in an Australia mansion for the actor’s missing fingertip and a number of celebrity namedrops — are scheduled for Friday.
Judge Penney Azcarate, who is presiding over the Fairfax, Va., case, gave each side a total of 61 hours and 15 minutes to present their cases and has stated she wants the trial to conclude by Memorial Day weekend.
By the end of last week, Heard’s legal team had 8 hours and 14 minutes left, while Depp’s lawyers had 18 hours and 30 minutes left.
Depp’s return to the stand would follow testimony Thursday from actress Ellen Barkin, who had a fling with him in 1994 — and said he was an often-drunk, “jealous man” who once threw a wine bottle in her direction.
The courtroom saga has already been chock-full of stunning moments, with Heard taking the stand to describe Depp’s alleged history of verbally and physically abusing her.
She told the jury about the first time Depp allegedly hit her and accused him of breaking her nose in a jealous rage. She also testified that she was traumatized when he “shoved his fingers inside” her while tripping on magic mushrooms.
A UK court substantiated 12 of Heard’s 14 claims of abuse in Depp’s failed 2020 libel lawsuit against Britain’s Sun over an article that branded him a “wife beater.”
He has faced an uphill battle since losing that case, as it is generally thought to be easier to win a defamation case in the UK than in the US.
But it will ultimately be up to the seven jurors in Virginia to decide. The panel is expected to start deliberations Friday.
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