Amber Heard takes the stand. Image Source: Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Johnny Depp and Amber Heard are currently in a defamation trial in Fairfax County Court, Virginia. Johnny Depp filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard for an op-ed the actress wrote for The Washington Post in 2018 describing herself as a survivor of domestic abuse and violence.
Johnny Depp filed a lawsuit because he believes that since the op-ed was published, his reputation and career were harmed as he lost a couple of projects after the op-ed was published. Johnny Depp also firmly and clearly stated that he did not strike Amber Heard or any woman in his life and the accusations that Amber Heard had tried to put on him are not true. He is the victim of domestic abuse and violence in their relationship.
Amber Heard took the stand on Wednesday afternoon, where she shared that she is there because her ex-husband thinks that the op-ed she wrote was written to harm his reputation and added that it’s painful for her to go through all of those memories and relive everything. Before Amber Heard, the courtroom heard the testimony of clinical psychologist Dr. Dawn Hughes, who diagnosed her with PTSD as a result of intimate partner violence.
The actress, who recently fired her public relations firm and hired a new PR firm in the middle of the trial, was asked to describe the years of alleged abuse and violence she endured at the hands of Johnny Depp. After giving a brief introduction about her life before she came to Los Angeles to become an actress, Amber Heard shared that she auditioned for ‘The Rum Diary’ and Johnny Depp called her personally to tell her that she had got the part in the movie.
Amber Heard shared that the movie was special to Johnny Depp and he was not only starring in the movie but also producing it because it was about his late friend Hunter Thompson. The actress said that she could not believe that she got the part and went ahead to describe a particular kissing scene from the movie where she said that Johnny Depp used his tongue while kissing her, which is usually not done as a professional and especially when one can avoid it. She added that it felt like the lines between them as professional actors blurred for them while filming that scene.
Amber Heard’s attorney, Elaine Bredehoft, asked the actress to describe the first time Johnny Depp physically hit her, and she said that she could never forget that moment because it changed her life. She went ahead to explain that the former couple was having a normal conversation while she was sitting on the couch, and she asked the actor about a tattoo on his arm, which according to her, seemed like a black mark to her. After Johnny Depp explained to her what the tattoo was, she said that she thought he was joking, so she laughed, and that is when he slapped her across the face. She kept laughing because she did not know how to react.
Amber Heard said that she thought Johnny Depp would start laughing too, but he did, and that’s when she realized that it was no joke to him. The actress had previously established that their relationship was pretty intense since the beginning and shared that when something like this happened, one would think that they would have a response, but as a woman, she did not know how to react because she had never been hit like that before. She said that because she did not respond or react and simply continued to stare at him, Johnny slapped her again and she lost her balance and fell to the carpet. She added that she wanted it to be a joke because she did not want this to be the reality of their relationship.
The actress shared that then Johnny Depp started crying and apologized to her for his actions and said that he would never do it again and she forgave him. She mentioned that this began an ongoing pattern of abuse in their relationship. The jury was shown a picture of Amber Heard with a bruised arm that she said happened after Johnny Depp grabbed her by the arm and kind of held her on the floor screaming at her and added that she does not remember how many times he hit her. Amber Heard said that after the two of them would engage in verbal spat, Johnny Depp would disappear and come back sober and clean and apologize to her.
Amber Heard in her testimony said that she had learned to note the difference in his behavior depending on the drugs he was using and explained that Johnny on speed is different, when on opiates is different, on Adderall and cocaine is different, and when on Quaaludes is a very different person. The ‘cavity search’ accusation was brought up once again, and Amber Heard recalled that it happened during a camping getaway to Hicksville, California.
Amber said that Johnny had accused her of flirting with a woman who was there, and he got upset and threatened the woman to stay away. After the former couple went into their trailer to talk, Johnny started to smash things. She said that he patted her down and ripped off her dress and underwear to look for his drugs, cocaine, and coke, to which she thought that why would she hide his drugs? Amber added that Johnny was insinuating something that she did not do. Amber added that she did not say stop or anything to Johnny when he shoved his fingers inside her.
The actress said that looking at her friends made her think that no one knew that she was lonely, so she just smiled and made a joke about how trashed the trailer got. She went onto say that Johnny Depp had lost control of his bowels and she cleaned up after him adding that he would pass out in his own sick and around saying he didn’t have a problem. The actress added that no one told him that he had a problem and needed to get help. While describing the Bahamas incident, Amber Heard said that Johnny Depp was upset that he had to sell the yacht so they decided to take a trip along with his kids and when his kids started to notice a change in his behavior, Lily-Rose started to ask questions.
Amber Heard said that Johnny Depp accused her of ratting him out to his kids and slammed her by neck and said that he could kill her. She said that she left the island with Lily-Rose and audience noticed Johnny Depp shaking his head and saying 'wow'. It should be noted that the entire time Amber Heard was on stand, Johnny Depp did not look at her once. People on social media stated that it's a sign that the victim never tends to look at their abuser eye to eye along with pointing out that he once mentioned that he would never see her eye to eye and he was sticking to his word. Johnny Depp's attorneys have described Amber Heard's attorneys' accusations and allegations of sexual assault as fictitious and said that Amber has mastered and exploited a major social movement by fabricating sexual assault charges and allegations for Hollywood shock value. Johnny Depp’s team stated that it was he who had suffered in the relationship.
