Paul Bettany Dragged Into Johnny Depp Libel Case

It looks like Avengers: Infinity War and Solo: A Star Wars Story actor Paul Bettany has found himself in the middle of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's legal battle.

Depp just recently appeared before a court in London for his libel case against The Sun, and it looks like Bettany was mentioned in the proceedings. Co-starring in several films like The Tourist (2010) and Transcendence (2015), Bettany and Depp have become rather good friends. In fact, in 2016 during the height of the battle between Depp and Heard, Bettany defended the Pirates of the Caribbean star, saying that he's known Depp for years and that the actor is the "sweetest, kindest, gentlest man that I've ever known."

Now, according to a report by Page Six, text messages allegedly sent from Depp to Bettany between the years 2013 and 2014 were read aloud in the London court today as part of the pre-trial review for the libel case against The Sun. Depp filed a lawsuit against the publication accusing its executive editor of libel of an article where he called the actor a "wife-beater."

These text messages read "Let's burn amber," and "Let's drown her before we burn her!!! I will f–k her burnt corpse afterward to make sure she is dead."

Another alleged text to Bettany also has Depp admitting that he needs to stop drinking because he drank too much before he picked up Heard to fly to LA, so much so that he got "too f-ked in the head to spray my rage at the one I love."

According to Adam Wolanski, The Sun's attorney, the later text between Depp and Bettany refers to the flight "altercation" Heard claimed had happened in May 2014. Depp's lawyers, however, say that the actor never abused Heard, claiming that her allegations against the actor were all "part of an elaborate hoax to generate positive publicity for Ms. Heard and advance her career."

Bettany is set to star in Marvel's WandaVision series which is heading to Disney+ later this year.

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