Johnny Depp sought to convince the jury in his defamation case that ex-wife Amber Heard was to blame for his fingertip getting cut off in 2015, saying he would never do such a thing as a guitar player.
Depp has accused Heard of ruining his reputation and destroying his career by insinuating she was the victim of domestic violence in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed.
Heard countersued, alleging that Depp physically assaulted her on multiple occasions before and during their marriage.
One of the key points of contention in the trial is a March 2015 fight the couple says they had a few weeks after marrying when Heard went to visit Depp on the set of the fifth installment of "Pirates of the Caribbean" film franchise in Australia.
During testimony last week, Depp said that Heard severed the top of his right middle finger when she threw a glass vodka bottle at him. Heard has alleged in court documents that Depp cut the finger off himself, by "slamming a hard plastic phone against the wall."
One way Heard's legal team has tried to prove her side of the story at the trial is by showing a text message Depp sent his personal doctor after the incident, which read: "I have chopped off my left middle finger to remind myself never to lose my right one again."
Depp was questioned about the text message by his legal team during the redirect portion of his testimony on Monday.
Depp said that the text message wasn't a confession to cutting his finger off himself, but a joke.
"When you say 'I got my finger cut off,' it doesn't necessarily mean you've done it yourself," Depp said.
He went on to say that cutting off his finger was unthinkable as a guitar player. Guitar, he said, was "the only thing that was really good in my life, aside from my children."
"There's no way I would cut my own finger off to ruin this beautiful opportunity to start playing guitar," he added.
Depp appeared to be referencing his band, The Hollywood Vampires, which formed in 2012 and started playing live in September 2015.
"When the tip of this finger went, the only thing I can think of in my mind is 'Thank God it isn't the left hand, which is my fret hand.'"
Much of Depp's early testimony also focused on how he originally moved to Los Angeles as a young man to pursue being a musician, but eventually started acting when his band broke up. In his younger years, he testified, music and guitar playing was his way of escaping a childhood full of abuse from his mother.
"It was the only peace that I found in my life at the age of 12, where I knew what I could escape into music and learn music," he said.
