Johnny Depp feared ‘never feeling normal without his drugs’, nurse’s notes say

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

The notes of Johnny Depp’s former private nurse state that the actor feared “never feeling normal without his drugs”.

Nurse Debbie Lloyd first met Mr Depp in June 2014, flying to his private island to take charge of his “medication management” and administer his medications.

In a pre-recorded deposition on 8 March 2022 shown in court on Monday, Ms Lloyd said she focuses on patients with chemical dependency issues, such as drugs and alcohol abuse.

She added that she treats “higher-end patients” at their homes instead of at medical facilities.

Ms Lloyd said Mr Depp was working to overcome his addiction to opioids, adding that she never witnessed Mr Depp use cocaine.

The nurse added that she was treating Mr Depp and his former wife Amber Heard, noting that Ms Heard needed support and that another nurse was brought in to care for her.

In notes shown to the court, Ms Lloyd wrote that Mr Depp started taking opioids after getting dental work done, and he became addicted.

“Patient is fearful of coming off opioids, but knows it’s something he needs to do,” Ms Lloyd’s notes state. She added that Mr Depp planned to detox on his private island and that Ms Heard was also present during this time in August 2014.

In Ms Lloyd’s notes from 9 August 2014, the nurse wrote that the “patient expressed fears of never feeling normal without his drugs” and that she “reassured him that this is a normal feeling and to just focus on one day at a time and see how he feels on a day-to-day basis”.

“Patient encouraged to be open and honest with how he is feeling physically and emotionally throughout the detox process,” she added.

Notes by Ms Lloyd stated that Mr Depp was angry on set while filming, that he kicked his trailer, that he was verbally abusive to someone on set and that he wouldn’t speak to the director.

Ms Lloyd said the inside of the home where Mr Depp sliced his finger was a mess, noting that there was writing on the wall and that a TV was smashed.

The nurse said in her notes that Mr Depp indicated that most of his issues with his wife stemmed from his use of drugs and alcohol and that he planned to stop “sneak”-using the substances.

Ms Lloyd was also quizzed on her notes from 22 September 2014, in which she indicated that Mr Depp and Ms Heard had been in a fight while they were on his private island.

The notes say that Mr Depp asked Ms Lloyd for medication, describing the drugs as “some f**kin’ knockout yum yum” after saying that Ms Heard had a “nasty freakout”.

The nurse wrote in her notes that she found Depp agitated and that the knuckles on his right hand were bloodied.

Mr Depp has previously said that “I would rather express my anger to an inanimate object than the person I love”, adding that “I didn’t punch or kick Ms Heard at any time”.

While Ms Lloyd confirmed that she had written the notes, she said she couldn’t remember anything not included in those documents.

The defamation trial between Mr Depp and Ms Heard began on Monday 11 April in Fairfax, Virginia following Mr Depp’s lawsuit against his ex-wife in March 2019, arguing that she defamed him in a December 2018 op-ed published in The Washington Post.

The title of the op-ed is “I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change”.

Ms Heard partly wrote that “like many women, I had been harassed and sexually assaulted by the time I was of college age. But I kept quiet — I did not expect filing complaints to bring justice. And I didn’t see myself as a victim”.

“Then two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out,” she added at the time.

While Mr Depp isn’t named in the piece, his legal team argues that it contains a “clear implication that Mr Depp is a domestic abuser”, which they say is “categorically and demonstrably false”. Mr Depp is seeking damages of “not less than $50m”.