Johnny Depp's graphic texts that refer to inner 'monster' revealed during defamation case

Warning: This story includes graphic sexual language that may offend some readers.

Lawyers for Johnny Depp's ex-wife Amber Heard questioned the Pirates of the Caribbean star on Thursday in his defamation case, showing jurors text messages in which Depp referred to a "monster" inside him that he kept in check.

Depp, 58, is suing Heard, 35, for $50 million US in a Virginia court after she accused him of abuse. He has argued that Heard was the one who became violent in the relationship.

Starting their cross-examination of Depp, Heard's attorneys read text messages that Depp sent in 2015 near the start of their roughly two-year marriage.

"We've been perfect. All I had to do was send the monster away and lock him up, we've been happier than ever," he texted to a former security guard.

"Amber and I have been absolutely perfect ... I have locked my monster child away in a cage deep within and it has f-----g worked," Depp said in a text to one of his doctors.

Depp said Heard used the word monster to describe when she thought he was using drugs or alcohol, though he said her perception was not always accurate.

In other texts to friends or associates, Depp referred to Heard as a "filthy whore," and other names.

Writing to actor Paul Bettany in 2013, Depp made comments about drowning and burning Heard, and then having sex with her dead body.

Depp apologized to Heard in a text in 2014, saying he was a "savage" and "went too far."

On Wednesday, Depp told a Virginia jury that Heard would "strike out" with a slap or shove. During one argument, Heard threw a vodka bottle at Depp's hand, cutting off the top of his right middle finger, he said. Another time, Heard repeatedly punched him, he said.

WATCH | The Depp-Heard defamation trial began last week:

In a separate legal case in Britain, Heard denied throwing a bottle and severing Depp's finger. She said she threw things only to escape when he was beating her, and once punched him because she feared he would push her sister down the stairs.

Depp said he never struck Heard or any woman. He has accused Heard, also an actor, of defaming him when she penned a December 2018 opinion piece in the Washington Post about being a survivor of domestic abuse.