Amber Heard was 'filling space dating Elon Musk'

Amber Heard was just "filling space" when she dated Elon Musk, according to Johnny Depp's former agent.

The 36-year-old actress dated the billionaire businessman around the time she split from Depp in 2016, and Christian Carino told a courtroom in Fairfax, Virginia - where Heard is facing a defamation case brought by her ex-husband - that Heard and Musk dated for a number of months.

In an email from August 2017, she told Carino: "Dealing with break-up. I hate when things go public. See I'm so sad."

Carino believes Heard was referring to her romance with the Tesla boss.

In response, Carino told her: "You weren't in love with him. You told me 1,000 times you were just filing space."

Carino subsequently queried: "Why would you be sad if you weren't in love with him to begin with?"

In a series of emails, Heard expressed frustration that her love life was so public.

Carino responded: "You could avoid all this if you stop dating uber famous people."

Asked what he meant, Carino explained that he was trying to tell the Hollywood star: "If you don't like being in the press about your personal life don't date people that are famous."

Musk - who is the world's wealthiest person - won't be testifying in the ongoing defamation trial.

The billionaire businessman initially appeared on Heard’s publicly available witness list at the start of the trial - but his attorney Alex Spiro has confirmed to the New York Post newspaper that he will not testify after all.

Likewise, actor James Franco won't appear during the trial, even though his named has also appeared on the witness list.

The trial is expected to last for another five to six weeks.