Amber Heard, actress of "Aquaman," testified on Wednesday that the defamation suit filed against her by her ex-husband, Johnny Depp, is the "most painful and difficult thing" she has ever gone through.
Amber Heard testified in a Virginia court in Johnny Depp's defamation case against her — a make-or-break moment for the stars in a four-week trial focused on Depp's version of events during their turbulent 15-month marriage.
Amber Heard has taken the stand, describing the trial as 'the most painful and difficult thing I've ever gone through.
In a defamation lawsuit, Johnny Depp sued ex-wife Amber Heard for $50 million (£38.2 million) for domestic violence charges she made in a 2018 article in The Washington Post.
After 13 days of testimony against Heard, Depp's attorneys rested their case yesterday (Tuesday, May 3), and now the Aquaman actor is testifying.
Speaking in Fairfax County District Courthouse in Virginia, the 36-year-old said: "I am here because my ex-husband is suing me for an op-ed I wrote... I struggle to have the words. I struggle to find the words to describe how painful this is.
"This is horrible for me. To sit here for weeks and relive everything... hear people that I knew - some well, some not - my ex-husband, speak about our lives in the way they have."
She claimed that the trial was the most terrible thing she has ever had to go through, surpassing Depp's earlier libel lawsuit against The Sun in 2020, in which he was referred to as a "wife abuser" in an article.
Referencing the previous trial, Heard said: "I sat on the stand, for four days, under mostly cross-examination. And, up until this point, it was the hardest thing I ever had to do."
Heard talked about how they first began seeing each other and teared up when she reflected on how he used to make her feel.
"When I was around Johnny, I felt like the most beautiful person in the world," she said.
She said: "When Mr Depp was drunk or high, he'd throw her on the bed, rip off her nightgown, and try to have sex with her.
"There were times when he forced her to give him oral sex when he was angry. These weren't in loving moments. These were angry moments.
"These were moments of dominance, moments where he was trying to get control of her."
Depp has rejected all allegations of sexual misconduct against Heard and is suing his former partner for $50 million (£38.2 million), with Heard countersuing for $100 million (£76.4 million).
Depp spent four days on the stand earlier in the trial, testifying he never struck Heard and that he was the abuse victim.
He said he was punched and struck by her on many occasions and that she threw things at him. He described Heard as having a “need for conflict.”
Heard's psychologist Dr. Dawn Hughes told the court about Depp's alleged 'drug-fuelled rages'.
Hughes said Heard had reported a number of "physically violent behaviors" by Depp and a "number of incidents of sexual violence."
"He pushed her, he shoved her, he slapped her with the front of his hand and the back of his hand," she said. "He choked her, he slammed her into the wall, he pushed her, and she fell down. He kicked her in the back."
Hughes acknowledged that Heard perpetrated physical violence against Depp but said it did not amount to the scale or frequency of violence she had been subjected to.
Jurors were played an audio recording of a fight between Depp and Heard, in which she says “I did start a physical fight” but had hit, not punched Depp. Hughes was asked if what is heard on the tape can be characterized as “reactive” or retaliatory violence that she had previously described.
“If it’s true, if she hit him first, then that would not be reactive violence,” she said.
The court was shown the image of Depp’s injured finger after a fight in Australia and of the actor on a gurney in the hospital. “What about if you throw a bottle of vodka because your husband fell off the wagon. Is that reactive violence?” Hughes was asked.
“If it’s in the middle of an assault, perhaps,” Hughes said. Asked what about if a second bottle of vodka is thrown because the first bottle-projectile misses. “I don’t think throwing bottles is acceptable in any context,” Hughes said.
The rest of the week is expected to be consumed with Heard's testimony. The trial runs from Monday to Thursday, with Friday being a holiday. The case will be put on hold next week because Judge Azcarte has a conference to attend. To keep cross-examination until after the break, Heard's side will most likely want to run down the time.
After meeting on the set of the 2011 film The Rum Diary, the couple began dating and married in 2015. Heard got a restraining order against Depp the next year, and the couple divorced in 2017.
