Five extraordinary moments from Amber Heard’s evidence against Johnny Depp
Amber Heard took the witness stand for the first time on Monday in what was an explosive day of revelations in week three of her ex-husband Johnny Depp’s libel case against The Sun newspaper.
The actress, 34, alleged that Depp, 56, threatened to kill her “many times”, subjected her to a “three-day hostage situation in Australia”, accused her of having affairs with multiple co-stars and branded her a “sl*t”.
Depp is suing The Sun and its executive editor Dan Wooten for defamation over a 2018 article that referred to him as a "wife beater”.
Heard was present throughout the trial at the Royal Courts of Justice as Depp gave evidence last week over five days.
Depp denies 14 allegations of domestic violence that News Group Newspapers (NGN) is relying on for its defence.
Depp ‘threatened to kill me many times’
Heard alleged she was afraid Depp was going to kill her “many times”, especially later in their relationship.
The actress said: “Some incidents were so severe that I was afraid he was going to kill me, either intentionally or just by losing control and going too far.
“He explicitly threatened to kill me many times, especially later in our relationship.”
She added: “He would blame all his actions on a self-created third party instead of himself, which he often called ‘the monster’.”
The court has so far heard nine days of evidence about Depp’s Hollywood lifestyle, his use of drink and drugs and his attitudes towards women, as well as his and Heard’s volatile relationship – described by Depp as “a crime scene waiting to happen”.
Depp and Heard met on the 2011 film The Rum Diary and began living together in 2012, before marrying in Los Angeles in February 2015.
Heard obtained a domestic violence restraining order against Depp in Los Angeles shortly after the couple split in 2016 and later donated her $7 million (£5.5 million) divorce settlement to charity.
Depp ‘attacked Heard in three-day hostage situation’
In her statement, Heard described a “three-day hostage situation” with Depp during which he allegedly went on a drug binge, “attacked her” and “ripped a night gown into pieces before putting raw meat in it”.
Heard claimed that during a visit to Australia in 2015 while he was shooting Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, they alone together for three days, a period she described as “the worst thing I have ever been through”.
In a witness statement, Heard said her ex-husband was making “all kinds of nonsensical accusations” about her as well as having “strange, paranoid hallucinations”.
She said: “The best way I can describe what happened in Australia is that it was like a three-day hostage situation. We were due to be there for three days on our own, but it was only when I arrived that I realised I was trapped in this remote place without any means to leave and that Johnny had already been using and had a bag of drugs.
“I was in a remote house, at least 20 minutes from help, where I could not leave, was trapped and isolated with a violent person suffering from manic depression, bipolar disorder and a pattern of repeated, drug-induced psychosis and violence, who was on a multiple-day drug and alcohol binge.
Read more: Amber Heard made domestic violence claims to blackmail Johnny Depp, court hears
“Over the course of those three days, there were extreme acts of psychological, physical, emotional and other forms of violence. It is the worst thing I have ever been through. I was left with an injured lip and nose and cuts on my arms.”
Heard alleged that at one point Depp grabbed her by the neck, shoved her against the fridge and said he could “crush” her neck.
The court heard last week that it was this night that Depp alleges Heard threw a vodka bottle at him, severing his finger.
Heard denies Depp’s claims and said on Monday that she “didn’t actually see the finger being cut off”.
Depp ‘threatened to carve up’ Heard’s face
Multiple examples of the couple’s tumultuous relationship have been given during the hearing.
On Monday, Heard claimed that Depp had a “violent and dark way of speaking”, even alleging that he threatened to “carve up her face”.
Read more: Winona Ryder and Vanessa Paradis no longer giving evidence in Depp libel claim
“The way he talked about our relationship being ‘dead or alive’ and telling me that death was the only way out of the relationship, the way he would describe what he wanted to do to me if I left him or hurt him. For example, carving my face up so no one else would want me.
“His language towards others who he didn’t like or was threatened by, detailing how he wanted to have someone tortured or how cheap and easy it would be to have someone knocked off... [was violent]. He could be very intense and dark.”
Heard claimed Depp made “all kinds of demeaning and derogatory comments about actresses and about her wanting to work as an actress.
“He demeaned me anytime I tried to wear anything that could be seen as sexy, calling me a ‘whore’, ‘slut’, ‘fame-hungry’ and ‘an attention whore’, but it got worse over time,” she said.
“He started saying things like, ‘Well, I’m going to have to watch you get raped’ and ‘I hope you get railed by a bunch of f***ing fellas’. Sometimes he used racial epithets about the men I would be – or deserved to be – assaulted by.”
Heard ‘admits to hitting Depp’ in secretly recorded tape
Depp secretly recorded a two-hour row with Heard during which she called him a “big f***ing baby” and admitted starting a “physical fight” with him, the court heard.
The couple were heard arguing over whether she punched him and an angry Heard said: “I did not punch you, I did not deck you, I hit you. But you're fine, I did not hurt you.”
Depp repeatedly insisted she had a “closed fist” and his former wife saud: “That's the difference between me and you. You're a f***ing baby. You are such a baby. Grow the f*** up Johnny.”
Depp ‘accused Heard of sleeping with co-stars’
Depp accused Heard of having affairs with stars including Leonardo DiCaprio, who he nicknamed “pumpkin-head”, the court heard.
Heard said she had to justify to Depp why she accepted film roles and said the situation would be “much worse” if the parts included sex scenes or kissing.
She alleged that Depp would “taunt” her and had nicknames for all of her male co-stars that he considered a “sexual threat”.
She said: “He would insist every male actor was trying to sleep with me and/or that I had had an affair with them, that he’d spoken to people and knew all about it.
“He would try and catch me out by taking my phone or telling me someone had told him I was having an affair and act as if he had information proving it – when I really hadn’t.
“He accused me of having affairs with each of my co-stars, movie after movie: Eddie Redmayne, James Franco, Jim Sturgess, Kevin Costner, Liam Hemsworth, Billy-Bob Thornton, Channing Tatum, even women co-stars like Kelly Garner.
“He also accused me of having affairs with stars I auditioned with, like Leonardo DiCaprio. He would taunt me about it – especially when he was drunk or high – and had derogatory nicknames for every one of my male co-stars he considered a sexual threat.
“For example, Leonardo DiCaprio was ‘pumpkin-head’, Channing Tatum was ‘potato-head’ and ‘Jim Turd Sturgess’.”