Elon Musk – who dated Amber Heard shortly after she and Johnny Depp ended their marriage – is no longer expected to testify in Depp’s defamation trial against his ex-wife.
The billionaire tech entrepreneur had been listed as a potential witness for Heard in the trial.
WATCH IN THE VIDEO ABOVE: Depp’s former agent says Heard was just ‘filling space’ when she dated Musk
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But a source close to Musk’s legal team has confirmed he will not be called.
The source would not say why Musk – the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, who is in the process of buying social media giant Twitter – is no longer on the list to testify.
Depp is suing Heard for $US50 million over a 2018 op-ed she wrote for The Washington Post in which she described herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse”.
Elon Musk will not be called as a witness for Amber Heard. Credit: APThough Depp was not named in the article, he claims it cost him lucrative acting work.
Both Heard and Depp, who met in 2009 and were married from 2015 to 2016, accuse the other of acts of physical violence during their relationship.
They have both denied the other’s claims.
The former couple settled their divorce in August 2016, releasing a joint statement which read in part: “Our relationship was intensely passionate and at times volatile, but always bound by love.”
Amber Heard’s lawyers have questioned Johnny Depp in his defamation case. Credit: APOn the stand on Thursday was Terence Dougherty, general counsel of the not-for-profit American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
He testified about Musk paying $US500,000 from a donor advised Vanguard fund on Heard’s behalf to the ACLU as part of $1.3 million she had gifted the organisation.
Heard had pledged to donate $3.5 million of her $7 million divorce settlement with Depp to the ACLU but payments stopped around 2019, Dougherty said.
A forensic psychologist has testified that Amber Heard has two personality disorders. Credit: Karwai Tang/WireImage“We reached out to Ms Heard starting in 2019 for the next installment of her giving. We learned that she was having financial difficulties,” Dougherty said.
Dougherty said he has no indication that Heard does not intend to pay the rest of her pledged donation.
She is still considered an ambassador for the organisation.
The trial, which started on April 11, is set to last six weeks.
Depp concluded his testimony on Monday, and Heard is yet to testify.
CNN’s Marianne Garvey contributed to this report.