Since the beginning of the trial, we have essentially witnessed a “word against word” battle. Amber Heard assures, photos of bruises in support, that Johnny Depp regularly hit her for several years, and the actor swears that he never raised his hand on his ex-wife. But for the first time, on Wednesday, Amber Heard’s accusations were directly corroborated by a witness on the stand: by her sister, Whitney Henriquez, who told jurors she witnessed a violent argument between the spouses.
On March 23, 2015, a month after their wedding, the couple exchanged “really mean” insults, according to Whitney Henriquez, in their Los Angeles duplex. She wants to take her sister to the neighboring apartment where she lives. But Johnny Depp “runs up the stairs and kicks me in the back,” she said on the stand. “I hear Amber screaming ‘Damn, don’t touch my sister’, she punches him and one hit hits. And there he grabs it,” she explained. When Johnny Depp’s bodyguard rushes, “he had already grabbed her by the hair with one hand and was kicking her with the other,” said Whitney Henriquez.
The guard finally manages to get the actor away and she takes her sister to a locked room. “I hear Johnny yelling insults, I hear noises of things being broken,” she said afterwards. She explained that the next day she found Amber Heard’s clothes closets “completely destroyed” and many broken items in the kitchen. The dispute started when the 36-year-old actress accused her husband of cheating on her after finding text messages on his phone addressed to another woman.
Take over
Whitney Henriquez claimed it was the only violent argument she witnessed during their relationship. After this incident, Ms. Henriquez assures that Johnny Depp asked her to sign a confidentiality agreement, which she did not do. She moved away some time later.
At the helm, she also explained that the attitude of the actor of the saga Pirates of the Caribbean changed under the influence of drugs and alcohol. “When he was sober it was wonderful, when he wasn’t it was terrible,” she said. “If he was doing drugs or drinking, there was almost always an argument.” She also recounted Johnny Depp’s slow takeover of Amber Heard’s life: he asked the actress’ stylist to choose “more and more conservative” gala outfits, objected to certain roles and refused that she has a confidential code for her mobile phone.
In May 2016, when she finally filed for divorce, Amber Heard “was physically bad, she weighed 45 kg all wet, her face was emaciated,” said her 34-year-old sister.
A make-up artist testifies to having camouflaged bruises
On Tuesday, Johnny Depp’s lawyers tried to sow doubt in the minds of the jury over the photos of what Amber Heard presents as injuries she blames on Johnny Depp. But in total, four witnesses claimed to have seen bruises and cuts with their own eyes, while acknowledging, with the exception of Amber Heard’s sister, that they had never seen Johnny Depp hit his ex-wife.
A make-up artist, Melanie Inglessis, confirmed she concealed bruises and an open lip under “heavy make-up” in December 2015 before The James Corden show. “It looked like someone had given him a little headbutt,” she testified.
The 58-year-old actor, who testified in late April, admitted heavy use of drugs and alcohol but denied ever raising a hand on Amber Heard and insisted it was her who was violent.
Johnny Depp accuses his ex-wife of having ruined his reputation and his career by claiming in a column published in 2018 by the washington post that she had suffered domestic violence two years earlier, without however mentioning her name.
He is claiming $50 million in damages. The actress, known for her role in Aquaman, counter-attacked and asks for the double. Deliberations are due to continue until May 27, after which the seven jurors will retire to deliberate.