Over the last few weeks, Johnny Depp has been going head-to-head with his ex-wife Amber Heard as his $50 million civil defamation suit against her plays out in the Fairfax County, Virginia, courtroom. Things have become quite tense as a lot of the attention has shifted to allegations of emotional and physical abuse.
Despite this, Depp has been spotted more than once behaving quite strangely as the proceedings continue.
Johnny Depp’s court behaviour: Odd or planned?
Johnny Depp has been accused of attempting to pull the wool over the jury’s eyes with his recent courtroom behaviour.
Over the last few weeks, the Pirates of The Caribbean star has gone viral for acting strangely as his case against Amber Heard drags along.
One time, 58-year-old Depp was seen snacking on a small mountain of multi-coloured gummy bears and jelly beans.
On Tuesday this week, he spent his time sketching women on Post-it notes and then passing the note to his attorney Benjamin Chew who was court on camera nodding approvingly at his famous client’s artwork.
He was also seen colouring in a Matisse-style painting with pastel highlighters. And when he wasn’t doing all of this, he was laughing at testimonies alongside his very many lawyers.
A method to his madness
According to an expert, Johnny Depp hasn’t been driven mad by his raging court battle but is rather employing a cleverly thought out tactic to help him win over the jurors.
“Johnny Depp is a good actor and had spent years winning over audiences, and it seems that this is part of his strategy here,” Juda Engelmayer, a crisis communications expert who was the spokesperson for Harvey Weinstein during his New York sex-crimes trial, told The Daily Beast.
“The drawings, doodling, eating candy, are methods of showing a very relaxed and comfortable state. Rather than just looking up, looking nervous… he instead is trying to look like he hasn’t a care in the world, and confident”.
Engelmayer also went on to say that Depp’s behaviour is “narcissistic.”
Gummy bears and doodles: Johnny Depp accused of ‘acting’ in court Thank You