Fairfax, Virginia - Johnny Depp ended his explosive testimony for his defamation lawsuit against ex Amber Heard by saying that he had been the victim of domestic abuse.

The actor has been giving evidence in person at the trial in Fairfax County, Virginia, during which he has been asked about his own violent episodes and allegations that he physically assaulted his former partner.

He is suing his ex-wife for libel over a 2018 article she wrote in The Washington Post, which his lawyers say falsely implies he physically and sexually abused her.

Depp has denied all allegations, but said he was "ashamed" by the evidence shown to the court, which included video of him smashing objects in a kitchen and abusive text messages shared with his friend, actor Paul Bettany.

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Incidents including a trip to Australia in March 2015, during which Depp had the top of his finger cut off, and another time when he claims Heard threw a bottle of vodka at his head, have also been examined.

In other audio clips, Depp is heard telling his partner at the time to "shut up, fata***".

In her final question to him on Monday, the Pirates of the Caribbean star's lawyer Camille Vasquez asked: "What did you say in response when Ms. Heard said, 'tell the world Johnny, tell them I Johnny Depp, a man, am a victim too of domestic violence?"'

"I said yes, I am," Depp replied.

Earlier, Depp said that texts he sent to Bettany about burning and drowning the Aquaman star were a joke based on a Monty Python sketch.

The court was previously told that during a 2013 text exchange with Marvel actor Bettany, the 58-year-old had written: "Let's burn Amber.

"Let's drown her before we burn her. I will f*** her burnt corpse afterwards to make sure she's dead."

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But Depp said he and Bettany had connected over their "abstract sense of humor" to deal with difficult situations, and the comments were never "intended to be real".

"As these are private texts there was a lot ... in context," he said.

"It's important to know none of that was ever intended to be real and the language used which ... yes, I am ashamed that that has to be spread on the world like peanut butter."

"For example, the text that is about burning Ms. Heard is directly from Monty Python and the sketch about burning witches and then drowning the witches."

"This is a film we'd all watch when we were 10 – it's just irreverent and abstract humor."

He added that the relationship between Bettany and Heard was "abominable" as she viewed him as a "threat".

Depp has denied all allegations that he ever assaulted his former wife. He told the court that after reading the Washington Post article for the first time, he felt like he had been "hit over the head with a two-by-four (piece of wood)".

Heard is also expected to take the stand in the trial, which is expected to last a total of seven weeks.