Amber Heard finishes testimony in civil trial over lawsuit filed by ex-husband Johnny Depp
Lawyers for Johnny Depp on Tuesday questioned the truthfulness of Amber Heard's accusation that Depp sexually assaulted her with a liquor bottle.
Heard was cross-examined after her testimony in Depp's libel suit against her.
Depp is suing Heard in Virginia's Fairfax County Circuit Court over a December 2018 op-ed she wrote in The Washington Post describing herself as "a public figure representing domestic abuse." His lawyers say he was defamed by the article even though it never mentioned his name. The trial is now in its fifth week.
Depp's lawyer, Camille Vasquez, questioned Heard about a variety of incidents in which she says she was assaulted by Depp.
Questioning was particularly intense over a March 2015 fight the couple had in Australia, shortly after they were married, while Depp was shooting a fifth film in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise.
It was during that fight that Heard says she was sexually assaulted. Depp, on the other hand, says he was the victim, and that he lost the tip of his middle finger when Heard threw a vodka bottle at him.
Vasquez questioned why Heard never sought medical attention, even though she said her feet were cut by broken glass and she was bleeding after the attack.
"You're the one who assaulted someone with a bottle in Australia, isn't that right, Ms. Heard?" Vasquez asked.
"I didn't assault Johnny in Australia. I didn't assault Johnny ever," Heard responded.
Vasquez then questioned why Heard wrote a series of love notes to Depp in the months after she said she was assaulted.
Heard has said she believed Depp had hit rock bottom after the Australia fight and was committed to sobriety. She has said most of the assaults occurred while Depp was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
"When things were good, they were really good," she said.
The jury also saw a recording of a deposition Heard gave in 2016 in connection with her divorce in which she appeared to inadvertently admit that she had tipped off the celebrity news outlet TMZ to aspects of her initial divorce proceedings.
Heard testified to the jury that she was taken aback when paparazzi swarmed her courthouse appearance seeking a temporary restraining order and that she tried to avoid publicity as much as possible.
During the 2016 deposition, though, Heard puts hands to her lips as though she mistakenly blurted something out after she said she wanted Depp to learn of the divorce filing "from some other source other than TMZ, which was alerted ..."
"You slipped up there, didn't you, Ms. Heard?" Vasquez asked.
"That's not what I'm talking about," Heard responded.
During redirect examination, Heard, said she "asked my team to file in the most discreet way, literally to put it under a stack of papers and file it at the end of the day so it kind of had more of a shot of being missed by the paparazzi and by TMZ."
The redirect questioning of Heard lasted only a few minutes, as Depp's lawyers objected to nearly every question that Heard's lawyer, Elaine Bredehoft, tried to ask.
After Heard's testimony concluded, jurors heard recorded testimony from a mutual friend of the couple, iO Tillett Wright, who said Depp confided to him that he hated sobriety.
"He wanted to get sober for Amber," Tillett Wright said. "He didn't enjoy being sober. It wasn't fun, and that it was distressing and exhausting and very hard to do. He really, really resented having to be sober."
Tillett Wright said Depp's personality turned mean and paranoid when he was using alcohol or drugs.
There was also testimony about Heard's $100 million counterclaim against Depp. She says she was defamed by Depp's lawyer, Adam Waldman, when he called Heard's accusations a hoax.
Heard has said the accusations hurt her career, but Vasquez pointed to a series of negative articles about Heard that preceded Waldman's comments.
The jury also heard an audio recording of a verbal fight between the two in which each belittled the other's acting career. Heard laughed mockingly at Depp's career-making role in the '80s television show "21 Jump Street."
"Hey, at least I didn't do, like, a teeny show where I'm a heartthrob. God that would be, like, embarrassing," Heard said.
Depp responded with dismissive commentary about Heard's biggest film role to date, shouting "Aquaman!" in a mocking way to denigrate the superhero film.
And Heard took offense when Vasquez suggested that Heard only got the role in "Aquaman" with Depp's help.
"Excuse me?" Heard said. "No, Ms. Vasquez, I got myself that role by auditioning."
Heard's close friend testifies in recorded deposition
Heard's attorneys next played a recorded deposition by Raquel Pennington, Heard's longtime friend who for a time lived in the same building as Depp and Heard. In her testimony Tuesday, Pennington said the two had since grown apart. Pennington's recorded deposition, which had her answering questions from Depp's attorneys in the portion shown, ended the day Tuesday.
Depp compared fans to "suckerfish," Heard's friend said
When Depp drank or took drugs, Heard's friend iO Tillett Wright testified remotely, he would get "very surly, very paranoid" and would "concoct" scenarios in which Heard was having affairs with male co-stars or women she was in contact with. Depp would also demean Heard, insinuating her success was because of her appearance, Wright testified.
"Johnny is incredibly intelligent, incredibly smart and witty, and he would point his jokes at people, Amber's appearance, her talent — her lack of talent, as he perceived it, why he thought she was actually famous, which he always implied was because of her looks," he said.
Wright also testified Depp took aim at other targets.
"He would insult his fans, he called them — I remember, he called them remoras, which is a type of suckerfish that attaches itself to the hull of a ship and puts a hole in it and then sinks it," Wright said. "He would rail against his mother, his sister — sisters. Pretty much anyone he felt had crossed him or would cross him. He became very nasty."
Testimony resumes with Heard's friend iO Tillett Wright
Heard's defense continued Tuesday afternoon with recorded testimony by iO Tillett Wright, one of Heard's friends who lived on the same property as Depp and Heard for nine months in 2013 and 2014.
Wright testified to Depp's substance use and testified Depp was open about blacking out — including passing out in the sand while his children were there.
Wright said Depp said he wanted to get sober for Heard, but that he didn't enjoy being sober — that it was "distressing, exhausting and very hard to do."
"He really resented having to be sober," Wright said.
Depp also felt "like [Heard] was his leash, like she was holding him back in terms of what he wanted to do in terms of substances and alcohol," Wright testified.
When Depp drank or took drugs, Wright testified, he would get "very surly, very paranoid" and would "concoct" scenarios in which Heard was having affairs with male co-stars or women she was in contact with. Depp would also demean Heard, insinuating her success was because of her appearance, Wright testified.
Heard ends testimony
The court broke for 15 minutes just after 3:30 p.m. after Heard's attorney, Elaine Bredehoft, ended her redirect and Heard left the stand.
Heard said she "worked really hard" for "Aquaman" role
During her cross-examination, Vasquez asked Heard if Depp had gotten her the role of Mera in the movie "Aquaman." Heard testified Monday her role in the film had been greatly reduced after their feud became public.
Heard denied that Depp had gotten the part for her, and that she had auditioned for the role.
Her attorney, Bredehoft, asked her after the cross-examination finished to describe how she got the role. Heard said she auditioned and went to where "Justice League" was shot months before filming started and "worked really hard" to keep the role.
Heard addresses rumors of assaulting ex-girlfriend as cross-examination ends
Depp's attorney asked Heard about an article that described allegations that she "grabbed" and "struck" her ex-partner Tasya van Ree in an airport.
Heard said it was untrue and characterized it as another example of a "smear campaign." She said it was "planted in the press by Johnny's team, two days after I got the TRO," referring to her restraining order against Depp.
"So Mr. Depp is not the only domestic partner you've assaulted, is he, Miss Heard?" asked Vasquez.
"I have never assaulted Mr. Depp or anyone else I've been romantically linked to — ever," Heard said.
Vasquez rested her cross-examination, and Heard's attorney, Elaine Bredehoft, began her redirect by asking if van Ree had made a statement after the article came out to say it was false.
"Of course she did," Heard said.
Op-ed not about Depp, Heard says
Vasquez questioned Heard about her statements in the 2019 Washington Post op-ed that Depp is alleging defames him in the trial.
Heard said the op-ed is about her experiences in the wake of getting a restraining order against Depp in 2016. She was photographed walking out of court with a bruise on her face.
"This is about what happened to me once I left that relationship and got a TRO and became associated with domestic violence," she said.
Vasquez asked if references in the piece to "institutions protect men accused of abuse" and a metaphor about powerful men as a large ship were about Depp. Heard said those statements were about a bigger issue, not just Depp.
"It is not about him," she said in response to Vasquez's questions.
"Mr. Depp is making it about Mr. Depp," Vasquez said.
"Ironically," Heard said.
Heard testifies she was trying to prevent Depp from leaving in recording so he wouldn't "go on a bender"
Depp's attorney played a recording of Depp and Heard talking in a car in which Depp says he's sick of the argument and he wants to leave and needs space but she "won't let me f***ing leave." In the clip, which was introduced by her lawyers, Heard says to stop, crying and begging him not to fight.
Vasquez asked Heard, "You just won't let him go, will you?"
"That's not true. We were outside his studio, and he wanted to go and use. It was a pretext, the claim he was upset with me was just a pretext, so he would go on a bender. I knew that pattern by the time this recording happened," she said.
Vasquez played the beginning of the recording, when Depp said he wanted to go inside to see his daughter, Lily-Rose, and asks to leave.
"He wasn't telling you, please let me go inside my house to see my daughter? He was indicating to you that he wanted to go inside to do drugs, that's your testimony?" Vasquez said.
"No, my testimony is that I knew what he was going to go inside to go do, I knew what stage of the cycle we were in, I knew the patterns by then and I was trying desperately out of time trying to interrupt that cycle," Heard said.
Heard said she had drugs on Depp's island ahead of their wedding
Vasquez quizzed Heard about her own drug use even as Heard claimed she was concerned about Depp's substance use.
"I did not use drugs when I was with Johnny, in his presence," Heard said, except for when she said she used drugs in his presence two times early in their relationship, including on a flight to Russia in 2013.
Vasquez asked her if she changed her behavior to support Depp's sobriety.
"I did a lot of changing to support his sobriety, I tried everything I could possibly think of," Heard said, though she said she did drink wine in his presence.
Heard also admitted drugs were present on the island ahead of her 2015 wedding. Heard admitted there were mushrooms on the island before the wedding, but said the two groups — bride's and groom's — celebrated separately on that evening.
Vasquez showed an email with a schedule for the wedding that included an entry for "dance party and drugs and music" after the rehearsal dinner.
Heard said the two had separate parties and the schedule changed.
"Your original idea was to have a rehearsal dinner with your husband the drug addict — the monster — and then do drugs, do drugs with your girlfriends on the island after the rehearsal dinner?" Vasquez asked.
Vasquez also questioned Heard about drug use on her 30th birthday. Heard admitted she asked Depp to bring her wine and said she wouldn't be angry if he brought a joint during a party and then took MDMA and mushrooms at Coachella, where she celebrated without Depp.
Heard claims island manager "misrepresented" argument in testimony
Vasquez also asked Heard about a December 2015 incident that Tara Roberts, Depp's manager on his private Bahamas island, had earlier testified about. Heard agreed that she had testified Depp had assaulted her in a bathroom and she ran out of the house to get away.
"I did throw something at him, to get away," Heard said.
Roberts had testified she witnessed an argument between the two in December 2015, saying she saw Depp trying to escape her, Vasquez said.
"That was the gist of it. She kind of misrepresented it to make it seem like that," Heard said.
"She misrepresented it — how convenient," said Vasquez.
Heard responded: "That's correct."
Heard said it was not correct that she was apologizing and begging Depp to go back to the house and was clawing at him, as Roberts had testified.
"When she interrupted us, Johnny had me by the hair," Heard said, and the two were screaming at each other.
Heard says Depp's nurse "didn't recall much"
Vasquez also focused on testimony about an incident after Depp and Heard returned from Australia, when Heard confronted Depp about text messages with another woman. Vasquez pointed out Depp had sliced off the tip of his finger, been treated for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, and undergone skin grafts, and asked Heard if Depp was still able to attack her and her sister.
Heard said he was in a hard cast.
Vasquez also asked about Heard's sworn deposition in which she said Depp had thrown a can of Red Bull at Debbie Lloyd, Depp's nurse. Lloyd's deposition about the incident was played earlier in the trial, though Heard said she did not remember if Lloyd had said Depp did not throw the can at her or if Lloyd said she did not recall Depp throwing the can at her.
"I vaguely sense she didn't recall anything," Heard said.
"So it's your testimony that Miss Lloyd would forget that Mr. Depp, a very famous patient of hers, threw a can of Red Bull that nearly missed her, according to your version of events?" Vasquez asked.
"To be fair, I just don't remember if she said when she testified that she didn't recall that incident, or if it didn't happen. I don't remember what she testified to. But I have a vague sense she didn't recall much at all," Heard said.
Heard also denied filing a complaint against Lloyd's nursing license for failing to report abuse.
Heard has testified Depp is surrounded by enablers, who clean up after and protect him. Depp has denied abusing her and said she greatly exaggerates his substance use.
Depp's attorney presses Heard on details of alleged sex assault
Johnny Depp's attorney Camille Vasquez pressed Amber Heard on the details of her previous testimony regarding an alleged assault in Australia, asking her to outline the sequence of events.
When asked about specific details of her testimony about different events during the course of what Heard alleges was a multiday assault, Heard said she had never testified to a sequence.
"When he was assaulting me with the bottle, he had the bottle in his hand. When he was punching the wall with the phone, he had the phone in his hand. When he was punching the wall next to my head, he had me by the throat. He did a lot of things that night," Heard said.
"You claim you had serious injuries after this alleged incident, right, Ms. Heard?" Vasquez asked.
Heard responded that at that time, a sore jaw was not a serious injury. Vasquez recounted Heard's previous testimony about cuts to her feet and forearms and a bruise on her jaw, and asked if she had sought medical treatment. Heard said she had not.
Highlights of Heard's earlier testimony
During previous days' testimony, Amber Heard said she knew she should leave Johnny Depp the first time he hit her, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.
"I knew I couldn't just forgive him, right, because that means it will happen again. Like, I've seen the health class videos," Heard told the court through tears as she took the stand in Depp's libel lawsuit against her. "I was heartbroken."
Watch the video for some of the highlights from her earlier testimony.
Highlights of Depp's testimony
Depp spent several days on the witness stand earlier in the trial, in which he acknowledged drug and alcohol use and sending texts with vulgar language about Heard, but denied the allegations of abuse. Watch the video for some of the highlights from his testimony.