Johnny Depp's assistant had admitted in the form of messages that the actor allegedly used to attack Amber Heard.
Texts sent by the Pirates of the Caribbean star's former assistant, Stephen Deuters, say that he "kicked" Heard in the head while the two were married.
Deuters' texts are among the evidence that was excluded from the couple's multi-million dollar defamation trial. While jurors in the weeks-long legal battle weren't shown the messages, they were included in the 6,000-plus pages of documents unsealed over the weekend.
Per The Daily Beast, Deuters texted Heard about Depp in 2014, writing: "If someone was truly honest with him about how bad it really was, he would be appalled."
Deuters went on to imply that Depp did not remember an event when he "kicked" his then partner.
"I’m sad he does not have a better way to really know the severity of his actions yesterday. Unfortunately for me, I remember them in full, in full detail, everything that happened. He was appalled, when I told him he kicked you, he cried," the message read.
Meanwhile, the unsealed documents also contain evidence that Depp texted Heard remorsefully about the same incident, writing: "Once again, I find myself in a place of shame and regret. Of course I am sorry…I will never do it again…My illness somehow crept up and grabbed me…I feel so bad for letting you down."
Jurors sided mostly with Depp in their verdict, ruling that Heard had defamed him when she claimed to be a victim of domestic abuse in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed.
They awarded the Edward Scissorhands star over $10 million in damages - a sum his ex-wife's lawyers have since announced she cannot pay.
The text messages alleging the kicking incident were included at the celebrity exes' UK trial, in which Depp sued The Sun newspaper for branding him a wife beater - and lost.
However, Judge Penney Azcarate deemed the messages inadmissible in their Virginia court case. She also refused to let the jury hear any evidence from the former couple's divorce proceedings in 2017.
Other evidence to have come to light since the 6,000 pages of documents were unsealed include texts between Depp and controversial musician Marilyn Manson, in which they accuse Heard of "sociopathic behavior".
