10 most shocking moments from Amber Heard's testimony in Johnny Depp lawsuit
Amber Heard testified for two days this week in the trial for Johnny Depp's libel lawsuit against her. Heard's testimony comes after several other witnesses took the stand, including Depp, who gave four days of testimony last month.
Depp is suing Heard for libel, alleging that she falsely portrayed him as a domestic abuser and harmed his lucrative acting career. The claim centers around a 2018 op-ed Heard wrote in the Washington Post in which she made references to suffering abuse, but did not name Depp.
While on the stand, Heard alleged Depp hit and abused her many times, her testimony often turning graphic. She also spoke about how they initially met and how their relationship unfolded. These are the 10 most shocking moments from her testimony so far.
1. Heard detailed the first time she met Depp, saying it was "unusual and remarkable"
Heard said she had auditioned for a movie Depp was producing and when she went to his office, she assumed it would be to audition for him, but it turned out to be a long meeting where they bonded over books, music and poetry.
She said it was strange because while she wasn't a "fan" of Depp, she knew who he was, since he's one of the most famous actors in the world. "So, it was already a weird thing to go and get called in his office. I'm a no-name actor," she said. "I was 22, I think. I thought it was unusual. It was weird because he was twice my age and world-famous actor and here we are getting along about obscure books and old blues. I thought it was remarkable. I thought it was usual and remarkable. I left there feeling like, wow."
2. A photo was shown of a bruise on Heard's arm that she claimed was caused by Depp during a past physical altercation
A photo of a bruise on Heard's arm was shown in court and she explained the incident that allegedly caused it, claiming Depp slapped her and when she walked away "that made things worse."
"We got into a shouting match. And he kind of did this thing with his body where I could tell he was going to hit me again," she said.
Heard said she picked up a vase and threw it in Depp's direction. "And I actually managed to get away before he got me. He grabbed me by the arm and he kind of held me on the floor screaming at me. I don't remember how many times he hit me in the face, but I remember being on the floor of my apartment and I'm just -- I remember thinking how could this happen to me again?" she said.
3. Depp was "the love of her life" – but Heard also said he was "this other thing" that was "awful"
"And that other thing was awful, awful thing that would come out and take over and it was you couldn't see the Johnny I loved underneath it," Heard said.
She alleged Depp would pass out in his own vomit, lose control of his body, and have other people, including her, clean up after him. "I mean this man lost control of his bowels and I cleaned up after him, his security cleaned up after him, changed his pants in front of me he would pass out in his own sick," she said.
Heard added Depp would "get clean and sober" and then would go back to making her feel loved again. Heard contemplated leaving Depp, but couldn't, "and he expressed to me so many times when he was in that period of getting clean and sober he would tell me, 'You saved my life. Baby girl, you saved my life,'" she said.
4. Heard alleged Depp told her he could kill her
Heard said there was an altercation during a family vacation on a yacht, where Depp thought she told his kids that he was "a drunk" – and it led to a physical altercation, and Depp saying he could "f***ing kill" her.
Heard said she had not talked about Depp's drinking with his daughter, Lily Rose. Still, he accused her of doing so and got angry.
"So, I was trying to tell him, I was trying to comfort her, I was trying to protect you. He basically was accusing me of doing this thing and making them aware that he was drinking again. And he slams me up against the side wall of the bedroom...slams me up by my neck and holds me there for a second and tells me that he could f***ing kill me," Heard said.
She claimed Depp called her an embarrassment, which hurt more than the alleged threat. "I'm very, very, very much in love with this whole family now, and he's saying I'm an embarrassment to him and that somehow stuck in me more than the 'I can f***ing kill you,'" she said. "It just sounded like hyperbole, sounded like something he was just saying. But the names he was calling me and pushing me up against the wall by my neck. It hurt hurt. It hurt my feelings. It hurt."
5. Heard alleged Depp did a "cavity search" on her when he thought she was hiding his cocaine
Heard, looking visibly disgusted, recounted a time Depp allegedly ripped off her clothes and conducted a "cavity search" of her body. She claims he was looking for his cocaine.
"I was wondering how I, somebody who didn't do cocaine and was against it - that was in and of itself causing problems in our relationship - how could I hide, why would I hide his drugs from him?" she said. "Like, he was insinuating that I was doing it or something? It made no sense. And he was telling me, we're going to conduct a cavity search. Like, just shoved his fingers inside me. I just - I just stood there staring at this light. I just stood there, while he did that."
6. She detailed how they fell in love
Heard described romantic moments with Depp at the beginning of their relationship. "I remember he took the foil off of this bottle and put it on my ring finger," she said. "And I had only been with him days, maybe it was weeks at the time, but it just felt very intense."
In the beginning of their relationship, the couple were "hiding these places around the world," staying at Depp's homes. She said it was a "little bubble of secrecy."
"We had this beautiful, in less than a week probably, a trip to the Bahamas on this private island with sandy beaches, it is a scene that I had never experienced anything like that," she said.
She called Depp generous – "overly generous at times."
"I am talking about these extravagant trips or these gestures – it was a lot," she said of her ex-husband. "He did that a lot with my friends. I rely heavily on my friends and had a very strong support network with them and he really showered them with generosity and love and light. Invited them to come to these exotic places with food and was just incredibly incredibly generous."
7. Heard said her sister got involved in a physical altercation with Depp
The actress alleged her younger sister, Whitney, intervened in a physical altercation with Depp, throwing herself "in the line of fire."
"Her back was to the staircase, and Johnny swings at her. And I just see my little sister with her back, her back to the staircase, and Johnny swings at her and I don't even wait," Heard testified.
"[I] Don't even wait for any other help. I don't hesitate, I don't wait, I just in my head instantly think of Kate Moss and the stairs, and I just swung in him." Heard was apparently referencing a claim that Depp had pushed Moss, who he once dated, down the stairs.
"In all of my relationship to date with Johnny, I hadn't landed a blow. And for the first time, I hit him. Like actually hit him, square in the face," she claimed.
8. Multiple instances of alleged abuse were brought up
Heard described several instances where she alleged Depp physically abused her – some of her testimony turning extremely graphic. In one instance, she alleged he punched the back of her head over and over, screaming "I f***ing hate you" over and over again.
Heard claimed she walked to the closet, but Depp grabbed her again and continued to hit her head and wrestle her to the ground. "I mean, it felt to me I didn't even have a fair shot because I wasn't even really I wasn't facing him or looking at him I was walking away from him. Or else, I would've at this point — I would've tried to defend myself more, but I didn't," she said.
"He's sounded like he was almost crying or something and his voice was different. He sounded differently," she said.
Another graphic part of Heard's testimony is when she alleged Depp abused her on a trip to Tokyo before they got married. "I don't remember what I said to him but I said something snotty to him that provoked him and when I walked into the hallway he grabbed me by the arm and slammed me up against the hallway wall.
She also alleged Depp abused her on a plane – slapping her in the face and kicking her in the back, while others on the plane did nothing. "No one said anything, no one did anything it was like you could hear a pin drop on that plane. You feel the tension, but no one did anything," she said. "And I just remember feeling so embarrassed. I felt so embarrassed that he could kick me to the ground in front of people."
Heard said she was embarrassed and didn't know what to do. "I got up and I just I walked to the front of the plane. I just sat down and I just looked out of the window," she said.
9. Heard detailed how Depp proposed to her – without a ring
Depp's proposal to Heard was traditional and "sweet," but he did not have an engagement ring. She said he "got down on one knee and said 'I want you to be my girl, be my girl forever, my woman, my girl. I want you to be the rest of my life. Say yes to me.'"
Heard said she looked into his eyes and I saw her future, and "blind hope." "I thought if we were married then this is real this is isn't a thing of – this isn't chaotic, this will change, you know. I just had so much hope in that moment," she said.
She asked if he was serious, because he didn't have a ring. "In my experience, Johnny can be very impulsive," she said.
She also said she didn't immediately tell anyone because she didn't know Depp really meant it. "And then he brought my dad out to London with my best friends and my dad told me, 'You know, Johnny has asked me permission for your hand in marriage,' and I felt like the luckiest woman in the world," Heard said.
10. Heard claimed Depp told her the only way out of their marriage was death
Heard was talking about how she proposed a pre-nuptial agreement to Depp. "He said, 'If you ever brought one up to me or if ever saw one got my hands on it I'd tear it up, any way out of this is death. The only way out of this is death,'" she claimed.
She thought the pre-nup would "eliminate suspicion or doubt and it would make things easier." But Depp, she said, took it as a sign that she wanted to leave their marriage. "[He said,] 'Are you already thinking of how you're getting out of this? Are you already planning to get out of this, you're already planning on leaving?' That was around the same time of moving in together conversation. He accused me having one foot out," Heard testified.
During Depp's testimony last month, he said Heard went "into a tailspin" over the possibility of a post-nuptial agreement, which Depp's lawyers had presented to her. He said he was surprised that "she kept saying, 'I'm not even in your will. I'm not even in your will,'" he alleged.
"I thought that was an odd thing to say. Especially since I don't think anybody had had time to change wills or anything of that nature," Depp said. "It felt wrong. And she could not let go of the fact that I was in on this post-nup agreement and that I was trying to trick her. Into essentially getting nothing if something were to happen."
Heard's testimony is set to resume Monday, May 16. She has not yet been cross-examined by Depp's attorneys.
