“The op-ed’s clear implication that Mr Depp is a domestic abuser is categorically and demonstrably false,” his lawyers wrote in the legal complaint. “Her allegations […] are part of an elaborate hoax to generate positive publicity for Ms Heard and advance her career.”

And so this week, Depp, 58, is back in court, back in his dark, boxy three-piece suits, his hair long and jewellery plentiful. Of his 30-odd tattoos, only those on his hands have been visible. One, across his knuckles, once read S-L-I-M – his nickname for Heard when they were married. He later changed it to S-C-U-M. Then he added a red anarchy symbol on the middle finger: S-C-A-M.

Yesterday, one of Depp’s older sisters (he is the youngest of four siblings) took the stand. Christi Dembrowski, 61, was called by her brother’s legal team to give evidence. She told the court about their difficult childhood in Kentucky, with their “kind, patient, loving, gentle” father, John, and “high-strung, very nervous, anxiety, angry” mother, Betty Sue.

Asked if Betty Sue would ever get angry with John, Dembrowski, who has acted as a personal manager to her brother, said yes. “Mom would scream, yell at him, she would hit him, call him names, that kind of thing.” Betty Sue would “scream, yell [and] hit” the children, too, she claimed, as well as call them names. She allegedly called Depp “One Eye”, since he once had a lazy eye.