Years-old text messages between singer Marilyn Manson and Johnny Depp have been uncovered as pre-trial documents from the Hollywood actor's defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard are unsealed.
Back in 2016, Manson, reportedly texted Depp, about how he felt his relationship at the time mirrored Depp's marriage with Heard, reports people.com.
According to court documents viewed by Newsweek and the New York Post, Manson wrote at the time to Depp: "I got an amber 2.0" and that his girlfriend, Lindsay Usich, "just pulled an amber on me."
Manson said Usich, the 37-year-old photographer he later married in 2020, filed a restraining order at the time and claimed he "beat her up", per the text message screenshots published by the Daily Mail.
Depp responded it was "most important" to "stay calm" and "not to give her what she wants" and said: "Sociopathic behavior... it is f---ing real, my brother!! My ex-c--- is god---- TEXTBOOK!!"
In another text exchange, Manson reportedly texted Depp that he was "stressing" because he had a "serious police amber type scenarios with L's family."
He added: "I don't know if you are back but I need asylum somewhere because I think the cops might be headed my way."
As revealed in the court documents, Newsweek and New York Post reported that Depp's legal team pushed back on Heard's lawyers wanting the actor's texts with Manson shown in court, arguing that Heard's team aimed to "smear Mr. Depp under a guilty by association theory."
Manson has been accused by multiple women of sexual assault and abuse, which he denies. Prior to Depp winning the defamation case against Heard, Manson filed his own defamation lawsuit against ex Evan Rachel Wood over her sexual abuse allegations against him.
"Ms. Heard's attempt to inset Marilyn Manson into this case lacks foundation and is wholly speculative and constitutes improper character evidence," Depp's team wrote in the pre-trial documents, per Newsweek.
Manson was brought up in Depp's six-week Virginia trial with regard to the actor's past drug use.
When asked during cross-examination if he had done drugs like cocaine with Manson, Depp said, "We've had cocaine together maybe a couple of times," and joked, "I once gave Marilyn Manson a pill so that he would stop talking so much."
On June 1, the jury handed down its verdict in the Depp v. Heard trial, siding mostly with Depp and awarding him over $10 million in damages.
Heard was awarded $2 million on one of her defamation counterclaims.
She called it a "setback" for women speaking out; Depp said the "jury gave me my life back."
"My decision to pursue this case, knowing very well the height of the legal hurdles that I would be facing and the inevitable, worldwide spectacle into my life, was only made after considerable thought," he said in a statement.
"From the very beginning, the goal of bringing this case was to reveal the truth, regardless of the outcome. Speaking the truth was something that I owed to my children and to all those who have remained steadfast in their support of me. I feel at peace knowing I have finally accomplished that."