Associated Press
UNITED STATES – « He was the love of my life, » actress Amber Heard said Wednesday, May 4, describing Johnny Depp as a man blinded by jealousy and made violent by drugs and alcohol, during of the libel lawsuit brought by her ex-husband in a US court.
“I struggle to find the words to describe how painful, awful 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 make-up, 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.
But 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.
« He was the love of my life but he was also this other horrible thing, » she quipped.
“He was grabbing me by the hair, by the arm, by the face, he was shouting at me. He was breaking things near me and then hitting me, it started with repeated slaps” before she pushed him away, she said, close to tears.
Recorded disputes
The actor then disappeared for a time, “then he came back (saying) that he was done with drugs and alcohol for good”.
Amber Heard describes the first time she claims Johnny Depp hit her. He was drinking. “He slapped me and I laughed because I thought it was a joke. He said to me « Do you think that’s funny, bitch? », and he slapped me again » then a 3rd time « hard » to the point of losing his balance. pic.twitter.com/Ih9rF0N0kN
— Philippe Berry (@ptiberry) May 4, 2022
According to Amber Heard, after slapping him three times, 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 already did. » Then she drove off. pic.twitter.com/UkcwNWc6ex
— Philippe Berry (@ptiberry) May 4, 2022
But he quickly relapsed into his addictions. “In 2012, it was the beginning and I was just beginning to distinguish his tendencies,” she pointed out, explaining that “Johnny on amphetamine (was) very different from Johnny on opiates” and that “drinking was correlated to violence”.
She also said she was sexually assaulted by her husband who accused her of stealing his cocaine in 2013.
Despite this violence, she decides to stay.
« I didn’t want to leave him, I wanted him to get better, » she said, before emotionally recounting several other incidents and fits of jealousy.
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 penned an op-ed in the December 2018 washington postin which she claimed to have been the victim of domestic violence in 2016, without however citing her former husband.
Johnny Depp seeks $50 million in damages
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, who has starred in major Hollywood productions Justice League and Aquamancounter-attacked and claims 100 million dollars.
She claims to have suffered « physical abuse and assault » since their first meeting and during their tumultuous marriage which lasted only two years, from 2015 to 2017.
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.
In May 2016, Amber Heard sued her husband for domestic violence before dropping these charges during divorce proceedings.
In April 2018, the British tabloid The Sun had accused Johnny Depp of being “a violent husband”. The actor sued the newspaper and lost two years later in a trial that exposed his drug and alcohol abuse.
See also on The HuffPost: Johnny Depp’s drawings at his trial did not go unnoticed