Hollywood actor James Franco is the latest to get caught in the ongoing legal battle between actor Johnny Depp and his ex-wife Amber Heard.
According to reports, Johnny Depp's legal team is sending a subpeona ( a writ ordering a person to attend court) to James Franco. This comes after footage from a surveillance camera in the apartment showed Heard and Franco together in an elevator, a day after the controversial fight between Depp and Heard. Heard had claimed that Depp had physically abused her during the fight.
In an exclusive statement to The Blast on Tuesday, Depp's attorney, Adam Waldman, said, "We are interested in James Franco and Elon Musk as fact witnesses because we have evidence they are men who saw Amber Heard's face in the days and nights between when she claimed Mr. Depp smashed her in the face on May 21 and when she went to court with painted on 'bruises' to obtain a temporary restraining order on May 27."
Heard's attorney Eric M. George said in a statement that the video of Franco and Heard is "irrelevant."
Tesla founder Elon Musk was also named in Depp's lawsuit, with Depp alleging that Heard began an affair with Musk just one month after he and Heard got married in 2015.
Amber Heard had accused Depp of domestic abuse last year, in an op-ed penned in the Washington Post, at a time when the MeToo movement was sweeping through Hollywood.
In a turnaround of events, Depp filed a $50 million defamation suit against Heard in March this year referring to Heard's allegations as a 'hoax. The lawsuit presented new evidence that it was actually Depp who was physically abused in the marriage, and not the other way around. Depp's legal team have provided fresh evidence alleging Heard punched Depp in the face and and severed one of his fingers. The new video and photographic evidence submitted, reportedly showed Depp's face with a huge bruise, and one of his fingers severed. Depp had also submitted 87 surveillance camera videos to the court and 17 depositions of witnesses, including police officers.
