WASHINGTON: After undergoing four days of trial, Amber Heard finished her testimony on Tuesday, defending herself from allegations of faking her abuse claims against ex-husband Johnny Depp.
The testimony turned bitter when Depp’s attorney Camille Vasquez, accused her of lying and suggested that she was the true abuser. She played audio recordings of arguments between the couple and read-aloud love notes that Heard had written to Depp after the alleged assaults, reports Variety. “You weren’t scared of him at all, were you?” Vasquez asked Amber, to which she replied, “This is a man who tried to kill me. Of course, it’s scary. He’s also my husband.”
Heard is defending herself against Depp’s $50 million libel lawsuit. Depp’s team accused Heard of destroying his career with false accusations of physical and sexual assault. Depp gave his own account of their relationship over the course of four days in April, and the outcome of the trial will largely depend on which of the two the jury finds more trustworthy.
In a very disturbing case, Heard testified that Depp had sexually attacked her with a bottle during an ugly fight while they were in Australia in March 2015. However, Depp denied this and accused her of throwing a bottle at him during their argument, which smashed and broke the tip of his middle finger. In her cross-examination, Depp’s attorney played the couple’s conversation after the fight, where Depp confessed that he had tried to escape the situation by locking himself in a bathroom, but that Heard had kept “coming to get me.”
“Johnny is not an accurate historian of what happened during that period of time, I’ll guarantee you,” Heard said. She alleged that Depp had cut his own fingertip when he smashed a wall-mounted telephone. Vazquez challenged the account.
“You’re the one who assaulted someone with a bottle in Australia, isn’t that right, Ms. Heard?” Vasquez asked. “I didn’t assault Johnny in Australia, I didn’t assault Johnny ever. I couldn’t,” said Heard.
Depp’s attorney played a recording in which Heard admitted to ‘hitting’ the actor. To which, she testifies that she sometimes had to use her body to defend herself. Vasquez played a security camera video from May 22, 2016, showing Heard and actor James Franco taking an elevator to her apartment. It was the night after the couple’s final fight. There, Depp allegedly threw a phone at Heard’s face after which police were called into the apartment. Heard applied for a divorce and sought a restraining order within the following days.
“You’re taking him up to the penthouses, aren’t you?” Vasquez asked. “That’s where I lived,” Heard said. Heard had previously testified that Depp was jealous of Franco and had become accusatory after she filmed a love scene with him for the film ‘The Adderall Diaries’ in 2014. “He hated — hated — James Franco,” Heard testified earlier this month.
Depp had also testified that he suspected Franco and Heard were having an affair. Vazquez talked about Amber’s role in ‘Aquaman’ and suggested that Depp had secured the role for her. “Excuse me? No, Ms. Vasquez, I got myself that role by auditioning,” Heard said.
Heard said that she had to fight to be in ‘Aquaman 2’ and that her role had been reduced. “I don’t know if I will even be in the final cut or how much I will be,” she testified.
Early on Tuesday, Vasquez had the court show the jury the knife that Heard gave as a gift at the beginning of his relationship with Depp. She asked why she would give such a gift to a man who could be drunk and violent. “I wasn’t worried he was going to stab me with it,” she said. Vasquez played audio of a fight in which Heard — through laughter — called Depp a “sellout” and a “washed-up piece of shit.”
“I called him horrible ugly things,” Heard said. “We spoke to each other in a really horrible way.”
As per Variety, Heard was paid USD 7 million in their divorce settlement, a portion of which she has donated to charity.
On redirect, Heard’s attorney Elaine Bredehoft noted that Depp had made USD 65 million in 2015 and that Heard would be entitled to half that, or USD 32.5 million. “I didn’t want it,” Heard said. “I realized that was what I was entitled to, but I didn’t want it.”
The trial is expected to wrap up on May 27, after which it will go to the jury for deliberation. (ANI)
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