Actor Johnny Depp has reportedly filed new court documents as part of his $US50 million ($73 million) defamation case against ex-wife Amber Heard, denying he physically abused her during their relationship.

Key points: Johnny Depp has denied he physically abused his ex-wife Amber Heard and now claims she abused him

Johnny Depp has denied he physically abused his ex-wife Amber Heard and now claims she abused him The claims were made as part of a $US50 million defamation case Depp filed over a Washington Post article Heard wrote in December

The claims were made as part of a $US50 million defamation case Depp filed over a Washington Post article Heard wrote in December Heard had reportedly asked a Virginia judge to dismiss the case, prompting this new declaration from Depp

Instead, he is said to have claimed she physically abused him while they were together, and accused her of having "painted-on" fake bruises on her face during a 2016 court appearance.

Depp launched the defamation case against Heard after the actress wrote a piece in the Washington Post in December, saying she had seen "in real time, how institutions protect men accused of abuse".

Heard previously asked a judge in Virginia to dismiss the defamation case, according to the BBC, prompting this new declaration from Depp.

Heard and Depp at a red carpet event in Italy in September 2015. ( Reuters: Stefano Rellandini )

'I have denied Ms Heard's allegations vehemently'

US celebrity and human interest magazine People said it had now obtained court documents written by 55-year-old Depp, in which he provided a first-person account of his relationship with his 33-year-old former wife.

"I have denied Ms Heard's allegations vehemently since she first made them in May 2016 when she walked into court to obtain a temporary restraining order with painted-on bruises that witnesses and surveillance footage show she did not possess each day of the preceding week," Depp reportedly said in the statement.

"I will continue to deny them for the rest of my life.

"I never abused Ms Heard or any other woman.

"She was the perpetrator, and I was the victim.

"While mixing prescription amphetamines and non-prescription drugs with alcohol, Ms Heard committed innumerable acts of domestic violence against me, often in the presence of a third-party witness, which in some instances caused me serious bodily harm."

Heard, pictured with Depp in January 2016, accused him of domestic violence in May 2016. ( AP: Jordan Strauss )

In his court declaration, Depp reportedly claimed Heard "hit, punched, and kicked me".

"She also repeatedly and frequently threw objects into my body and head, including heavy bottles, soda cans, burning candles, television remote controls, and paint thinner cans, which severely injured me."

Depp reportedly said he sought a divorce from Heard in 2016 after he found human faeces in his bed.

"After I removed myself from Ms Heard's presence … on April 21, 2016, the following morning Ms Heard or one of her friends defecated in my bed as some sort of sick prank before they left for Coachella together," he wrote in the documents obtained by People magazine.

'Baseless blame-the-victim conspiracy theories'

In response to Depp's statement, Heard's lawyer Eric George reportedly denied the allegations the actor made against his client.

Heard and Depp met on the set of The Rum Diary in 2011 and married in 2015. ( Reuters: Suzanne Plunkett )

Mr George told People magazine: "The evidence in this case is clear: Johnny Depp repeatedly beat Amber Heard."

"In light of the important work done by the #TimesUp movement highlighting the tactics abusers use to continue to traumatise survivors, neither the creative community nor the public will be gaslit by Mr Depp's baseless blame-the-victim conspiracy theories."

Then, in a statement to the BBC, a spokesperson for Depp said Heard was perpetrating an "infamous hoax" in which her ex-husband had been "obliterated".

"Amber Heard's lawyer says 'the evidence in this case is clear,' and then presents none," they reportedly said.

Divorce privately settled in 2017

Heard and Depp met in 2011 on the set of the film The Rum Diary and married in 2015.

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Heard first accused Depp of domestic violence in May 2016 and filed for divorce a little more than a year after they were married, citing irreconcilable differences.

After Heard brought a photo of herself with a bruised face to court, saying Depp was "verbally and physically abusive" towards her, a judge issued Depp with a restraining order.

Heard and Depp then privately settled their acrimonious divorce case in 2017.

Heard was awarded $7 million, which she pledged to divide equally between the American Civil Liberties Union, specifically to prevent violence against women, and the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles.

The pair then released a joint statement calling their relationship "intensely passionate and at times volatile but always bound by love".

"There was never any intent of physical or emotional harm," the statement read.