“It was the love of my life but also this other horrible thing, taking control. On Wednesday, Amber Heard testified for the first time in the defamation lawsuit brought by her ex-husband Johnny Depp. The actress, who will soon be appearing inAquaman 2described a man blinded by jealousy and made violent by drugs and alcohol, who she said repeatedly slapped and punched her in the face, but also sexually assaulted her.
“I can’t find the words to describe how painful, horrible it is for me to sit here and go through it all again,” she said at the start of her testimony in court in Fairfax, near Washington. The actress, dressed in a dark three-piece suit over a white-striped blue shirt and wearing light makeup, later recounted the ‘chemistry’ of meeting an ‘intimidating’ actor twice her age in 2009 , shared literary tastes and the start of a hidden affair because Johnny Depp was in a relationship with French actress Vanessa Paradis at the time.
“He was breaking things near me and then hitting me”
Insults and fits of jealousy follow one another, and from 2012, violent arguments under the influence of drugs and alcohol alternate with episodes of sobriety, according to the actress. According to her, the first act of violence occurred during a harmless discussion about the actor’s tattoo. “He slapped me, and I laughed because I thought it was a joke. He said to me “You find it funny, bitch ? and he slapped me again. At the third slap, she claims to have lost her balance. “He grabbed me by the hair, by the arm, by the face, he shouted at me. He was breaking things near me and then he was hitting me”
“I knew it was a point of no return, I’m not an idiot. I know you can’t hit a woman, a man… Anyone. I knew I had to leave him. It broke my heart,” Amber Heard continued. But according to her, Johnny Depp “started crying, knelt down, took my hand and said, ‘I’ll never do that again. I’m sorry honey, I thought I buried the monster. I have done it before and I will do it again”.
Later, Johnny Depp apologized again and promised that it would “never happen again”. “So I am…”, begins Amber Heard “stayed in this relationship? ends his lawyer. “Yes, I thought there was a line and he would never cross it again. »
Johnny Depp accused of sexual assault
The actress also claimed to have been sexually assaulted by her ex-husband under the influence of hallucinogenic mushrooms, during a trip with friends in the desert. According to his account, Johnny Depp became jealous, then grabbed the arm of a woman sitting next to Amber Heard, telling her, “Do you know how much pressure it takes to break a human wrist? Afterwards, the actor searched for cocaine in their RV, accusing his wife of hiding it.
“That’s when he tore my underwear,” says Amber Heard. Johnny Depp, who had until then listened to the testimony behind his sunglasses without showing emotion, raises his eyebrows. Amber Heard continues with difficulty: “He proceeded to a search cavity (searching of body cavities). He repeated: ”I will make a search cavity”. He dug his fingers into me and twisted them. »
Photo of bruise
After hearing Johnny Depp’s version last week, the jury heard Amber Heard’s for nearly two hours. Jurors also saw a photo Amber Heard sent to her mother on March 23, 2013, with a bruise on her arm – a mark she said was caused by Johnny Depp who “grabbed her and held her down screaming”.
His testimony, which will continue on Thursday, was eagerly awaited on the 14th day of this ultra-high-profile trial broadcast live on television and on social networks. 58-year-old Johnny Depp claims his ex-wife ruined his reputation and career after he wrote an op-ed in the December 2018 washington post, in which she claimed to have been the victim of domestic violence in 2016, without however citing her former husband. He is seeking $50 million in damages, which correspond to his loss of profit after being dismissed from the studios because of the editorial. The 36-year-old actress has counterattacked and is asking for 100 million dollars.
The actor, who testified for four days at the end of April, denies having ever raised his hand on Amber Heard, assuring that it was she who was violent. He admitted to heavy drug and alcohol use which he claimed to be in control of most of the time.
A sign of the toxicity of their marriage, he explained in particular that they had, each on their own, got into the habit of recording their altercations, many recordings of which have been broadcast since the start of the trial. In one of them, used by the actor’s lawyers, we hear Amber Heard claim that no one would believe him if he said publicly that he was hit by his wife.