Kate Moss has opened up about why she chose to testify on behalf of Johnny Depp during the defamation trial in May.
The Pirates of the Caribbean star won all three counts of defamation against his ex-wife Amber Heard.
The British supermodel’s testimony was a significant moment in the trial as Heard referenced Moss to justify punching her ex-husband.
During her testimony, Amber said she hit her then-husband in 2015 for the first time, alleging that she feared the actor would push her sister Whitney down a flight of stairs.
“I just, in my head, instantly think of Kate Moss and stairs, and I swung at him,” Heard said during her testimony at the Fairfax county court.
As previously reported, this led to a viral moment in which Depp’s lawyers celebrated after the Aquaman actress referenced Depp’s relationship with Moss.
Kate Moss says she felt compelled to tell the truth
In an interview with BBC radio show Desert Island Discs, Moss was asked why she defended her ex-boyfriend Johnny Depp.
“I know the truth about Johnny. I know he never kicked me down the stairs. I had to say that truth,” Moss said to the radio host Lauren Laverne.
Moss and Depp were in a relationship between 1994 and 1998. As a successful fashion model and a rising Hollywood star in Depp, their relationship garnered significant public interest.
Heard’s mention of Moss gave Depp’s lawyers an opening to bring Moss in as a rebuttal witness.
Depp’s attorney Benjamin Chew went viral after enthusiastically fist-pumping when Heard mentioned Moss on the stand.
Kate Moss testified for the first time in defense of Depp, explicitly denying that her ex-boyfriend shoved her down a flight of stairs.
“We were leaving the room, and Johnny left the room before I did, and there had been a rainstorm, and as I left the room, I slid down the stairs, and I hurt my back,” Moss told the court via a live video feed.
“I screamed because I didn’t know what had happened to me, and I was in pain. He came running back to help me and carried me to my room and got me medical attention,” she added.
Kate Moss calls out the hypocrisy of her cocaine scandal
Photographs of Kate Moss taking cocaine surfaced in 2005 and briefly threatened her successful fashion modeling career.
The 48-year-old model, in the same interview, said that the hypocrisy of the fashion industry angered her.
“I felt sick and was quite angry because everybody I knew took drugs. So for them to focus on me and to try to take my daughter away, I thought, was really hypocritical.”
Moss rose to fame in the fashion industry as part of the heroin chic trend, adding to the irony of the condemnation of her drug use.