Amber Heard Responds To Clip Showing Her With James Franco While Johnny Depp Was On Tour

Footage has emerged of Hollywood actor James Franco visiting Amber Heard at her apartment the night before she filed for divorce from Johnny Depp.

Less than a week before Amber Heard filed for a restraining order against Johnny Depp, the actress appeared to cuddle with actor James Franco in an elevator going up to her Los Angeles penthouse.

A video was played of Franco visiting the Aquaman actress at her apartment on May 22, 2016, around the time that she filed for divorce from the 58-year-old.

Surveillance footage saw Heard make her way down in an elevator at 10.56pm before returning, joined by the Pineapple Express actor at 10.57pm. He kept his face hidden from view, donning a baseball cap and jacket in the clip, with a backpack. At one point, he appeared to rest his head on the actress’ shoulder before she briefly followed suit – and then exited the elevator.

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During cross-examination on Tuesday, Heard, 36, was asked by Depp's lawyer Camille Vasquez about her testimony where she addressed seeking a temporary domestic violence restraining order on May 27, 2016, so she could change the locks.

Heard had said Monday that she was "falling apart" and having difficulty sleeping because of panic attacks over Depp entering the residence she was staying. She testified that building staff would let him in even if she requested he not be allowed.

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Vasquez then asked why Heard "felt comfortable having James Franco over the evening of May 22, 2016, Ms. Heard?" Heard responded, "I do not know when James came over," to which the attorney said, "Okay, let's remind you." She then played elevator surveillance footage of Heard and Franco with the timestamp of May 22, 2016, at about 11 p.m. on their way up to her penthouse.

Heard confirmed that it was Franco in the video and that they were going to her penthouse. "That's where I lived, yes," she said, adding that she is unsure what she knew of Depp's schedule at the time, when asked if she was aware her husband would be out of town. The actress filed for divorce from Depp the following day, May 23, 2016.

"You knew that Mr Depp was out of town the week of 21 May 2016 didn't you?" Depp's attorney Camille Vasquez asked.

"I don't know what I knew of his schedule at the time," Heard replied.

"You knew that Mr Depp was out of town on 27 May when you went to get the domestic violence restraining order, isn't that right?" Vasquez probed.

"I don't know if I knew that at the time," Heard said.

"You knew Mr Depp was heading out on a European tour that week, isn't that right?" Vasquez asked.

"I'm not quite sure what I understood of his schedule at that time," Heard replied.

Far from a trivial detail of Hollywood gossip, the briefly captured footage has proven to be a key piece of evidence in Depp and Heard’s ongoing defamation trial in Virginia. The encounter took place some five days before Heard filed for a restraining order on May 27, 2016, on what was then his daughter Lily-Rose Depp’s 16th birthday.

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In her testimony Heard explained that she was "close" friends with Franco, whom she made two movies with. She also claimed that Depp would often get jealous and accuse her of having affairs with her costars and didn't want her to continue acting. Depp, 58, has testified that he thought she and Franco were having an affair.

Heard testified about the "nightmare" of arguments she and Depp would get into over Franco. She said Depp "was mad at me for taking the job with James Franco. He hated, hated James Franco and was already accusing me of kind of secretly having a thing with him in my past, since we had done Pineapple Express together."

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‘He had already been upset with me and accused me in many arguments about not telling him about scenes that I had, if I had a kissing scene,’ she continued.

‘Any sort of romantic scene, and I wasn’t explicit about what I was going to do, then I was accused of having withheld information and hiding it from him.

‘I didn’t want the fight, of course, I didn’t want the argument, but I had to egg-shell tip-toe around how to tell him when I had any sort of scene like that.’

Throughout her testimony, Heard claimed that Depp flew into jealous rages about Franco, a man much closer to Heard’s own age. Depp is now 58, and Heard is 35. Franco, now 44, had co-starred with Heard in the past, and according to Depp, he had a reputation. Depp claimed that Heard described Franco as “creepy” and “rapey.” (Several women later accused Franco of sexual misconduct in 2018.)

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Heard has cast Depp’s supposed jealousy toward Franco as an example of his effort to control her life and career—and an excuse for alleged physical violence. In May 2014, Heard claimed, she had been on a cross-country flight when Depp attacked her because she had been shooting The Adderall Diaries with Franco. The next year, Heard said, she and Franco had been in a TV series together. Heard testified that she was surprised to learn that the producers hired a body double for a sex scene with Franco.

“So I have an incredibly jealous man who already is upset with me for breaking the ‘rule’ that I had a sex scene,” Heard testified on Monday. “On top of that, I’m telling him, it wasn’t me. I didn’t shoot that scene. And you can imagine how upset he was.” On that occasion, Heard claimed, Depp slapped her and punched her in the face.

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Ms Heard has testified that Mr Depp threw a cellphone at her face and the court was shown a photo of her bruised face. He also allegedly struck her on the top of her head with his ringed hand, yanked her hair back, taunted her and smashed up the apartment, she testified. When security guards and a friend at a neighbouring apartment arrived, she said Mr Depp left.

Ms Heard said she did not cooperate with the police officers at the time because she didn’t want to get her husband into trouble and also “didn’t want the world to know” about the abuse.

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Mr Depp has given a different version of events of that night saying that he had gone to the apartment to collect some belongings and heard Ms Heard was laughing on the phone to a friend about an incident where faeces had been left on his bed.

He said he grabbed the phone and told her friend: “You can have her now. She’s all yours.” Mr Depp claimed he had then “flopped the phone on the couch”.

Franco was named on Heard's witness list, along with billionaire Elon Musk. However, reports emerged that neither of them will now be testifying. Both celebrities have reportedly been romantically linked to Heard.

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Since the case started at the Fairfax County Courthouse, Depp has taken the stand and denied all allegations of abuse, saying that he has ‘never struck any woman’. His security guard, the couple’s former therapist and Heard’s ex-nurse have also testified.

The trial continues.