Ellen Barkin Rejects ‘Romantic Relationship’ Label for 1990s Fling With Johnny Depp: ‘Call It Sexual’

It wasn’t until the fifth or sixth time that the attorney questioning Ellen Barkin about her 1990s fling with Johnny Depp called it a “romantic relationship” that she finally had heard enough.

“Can we call it sexual?” Barkin, well … barked at the lawyer.

From that moment forward, all references were to a “sexual relationship.”

Whatever was missing between Barkin and Depp – who met in 1990 and began “getting physical” on the 1994 “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” set – that would have made it “romantic,” she wouldn’t say. But testifying Thursday via videotaped deposition, it was clear that experiences with Depp as a jealous, controlling, and constantly intoxicated beau were not unique to Amber Heard.

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Barkin said she and Depp became friends first, and that he “flipped the switch” to a physical relationship when she moved to Hollywood in 1994. Asked if she’d ever seen Depp “lose control,” she recalled only one incident during the “Fear and Loathing” shoot when, during a fight with a friend or possibly an assistant, Depp threw a bottle across the Las Vegas hotel room.

“More like he tossed it,” she said, noting that it flew toward the group she was standing in, but didn’t hit anyone.

Barkin is a witness in Johnny Depp’s civil lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard, who he says defamed him in a Washington Post op-ed. Depp says he has never hit Heard, who is countersuing for $100 million. Several witnesses, including Depp and Heard, have testified about Depp’s addictions and costly professional behavior.

From the time they became friends throughout their never-properly-concluded relationship, Barkin was aware of Depp’s alcohol use.

“I was always aware,” she said. “He was drunk all – most – a lot of the time. He was a red wine drinker.”

The Emmy- and Tony-winning Barkin said Depp was “jealous” and “controlling” and often asked, “Where are you going? Who are you going with? What did you do last night?” She described an incident where Depp became upset: “I had a scratch on my back once that got him very, very angry because he insisted it came from me having sex with a person that wasn’t him.”

She said the last time they parted was to return home after a shoot, and Depp became overwrought with jealousy. “A lot of crying, jealous, don’t do this, don’t do that.”

“And then,” Barkin said, “I never heard from him again.”