Yet another celebrity has been name-dropped in the $50-million defamation trial between veteran actor Johnny Depp andAquamanstarAmber Heard. Earlier this week, Hollywood legend Nicolas Cage was brought into the legal drama during the testimony of Bruce Witkin, Depp’s former long-time friend and bandmate.
Witkin, who appeared in court via video deposition, claimed that Cage was one of the many male colleagues of theAquamanstar who Depp was allegedly jealous of when he was still a young star in Hollywood. According to his testimony, Depp’s resentment toward Cage persisted over the years and was likely part of a “jealous streak” that spiked when he married Heard in 2015.
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Allegedly, thePirates of the Caribbeanactor was prone to “working himself up” if Heard was away filming with a colleague, and he would be afraid that she was doing something with that colleague behind his back whenever he wasn’t around to keep an eye on her. He also added that Depp had “deep-rooted issues,” but that such issues hadnothing to do with Heardwhatsoever.
Cage and Depp’s friendship goes back several years, long before Heard was even in the picture. In fact, some people, including Depp himself, credit Cage for launching his career, since he was the one who introduced him to his agent, Eileen Feldman. Feldman would later secure an audition for Depp in 1984’sANightmare on Elm Street,which ended up becominghis first on-screen role. Both actors have acknowledged this story — Cage in theNew York Timesin 2019 and Depp during his testimony in the earlier stages of the court proceedings in Fairfax, VA — and given their history, it’s hard to imagine that there would be any bad blood between them.
Cage appeared alongside Heard in the 2011 filmDrive Angry, which was released a year before Depp and Heard started dating. Despite sharing multiple scenes together, there were never any romance rumors between the two, and it appears that they held a strictly professional relationship with each other. Coincidentally, a similar assumption prevails with regard to Heard’s relationship with herAquamanco-star Jason Momoa. In fact, Warner Bros. recently admitted that they were close to dropping the actress from the upcoming sequel due to chemistry concerns. That said, it is up to the jury to decide whether Witkin’s claims regarding Depp’s jealousy of Heard’s co-stars actually bear any weight.
As of now, Heard is still set to appear inAquaman and The Lost Kingdomwhich is due for theatrical release on July 22, 2025.
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