Amber Heard Testifies Johnny Depp Tried to Kill Her, But Some Fans Don’t Believe Her
Johnny Depp and Amber Heard were back in a London courtroom on July 20 for Depp’s libel case. The actor is suing News Group Newspapers, publisher for the U.K.’s Sun for an article that called him a “wife beater.”
The outlet is relying on roughly one dozen of Heard’s abuse allegations against her former husband to back up its claims.
So far, the court’s heard explosive testimony from Depp, his assistant, and members of his security team. This week, Amber Heard is taking the stand to tell her version of events.
Amber Heard said Johnny Depp tried to kill her
Early in the trial, Depp and his team painted Heard as the abuser in their relationship, and shared accounts of her alleged aggressive behavior.
Depp told a story about a time she hit him in the face with a “haymaker” punch, and there were stories of him locking himself in a bathroom to escape her. His team also revealed that Heard was responsible for severing his finger.
On July 20, Heard testified that Depp had an alter-ego he called “the monster.” According to BBC, she said, “He would blame all his actions on a self-created third party instead of himself, which he often called ‘the monster’.”
Heard accused her ex of punching, slapping, choking, kneeling on her back, and head-butting her, and stated she thought he would kill her “multiple times.”
“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,” she said.
She told the court that during a 2015 trip to Australia, she suffered emotional and physical abuse for three days straight. “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 also said Depp accused her of having affairs with co-stars such as Channing Tatum and Leonardo DiCaprio, and he had insulting nicknames for them.
Why fans don’t believe Amber Heard
When it was her turn to be questioned by the opposing side, Heard had to listen to deposition recordings. She told Depp’s lawyer, Eleanor Laws, that she was never violent toward him.
When Laws played a recording of Heard admitting she’d hit and thrown pots and pans at Depp, she said she only did it to get away from him.
Per Daily Mail, Heard also implied Los Angeles police lied when they stated she wasn’t injured and there was no property damage during an alleged incident she and her friends reported in May 2016.
Fans homed in on Heard’s testimony, saying she backpedaled on several of her statements. On Twitter, there is a thread with a transcript of her testimony, and some people are scanning it for lies.
One person wrote, “As a lawyer myself and would like to ask AH if JD used a special technique to hit her, because taking into consideration the abuse she describes she wouldn’t be able to get out of bed for weeks, to say the least.”
Another tweeted, “This is so bad for #AmberHeard this morning in court that it is not even laughable. She’s testifying with different answers than were on tape and even different answers than in her deposition. Three separate accounts of the same incident. She is making herself look BAD.”
Heard lost fans back in February
It’s been reported that Heard recorded private conversations between herself and Depp during the course of their relationship.
Some of those recordings were used in a 2016 divorce deposition, and in them Heard admitted to physically abusing Depp. At one point, she mocked him and said no one would believe him if he told anyone she hurt him.
The audio leaked on the internet and after listening to the hour-long YouTube video, some fans turned against Heard. They launched “Justice For Johnny Depp” online and called for Heard to be fired from movie roles. The trial against the Sun continues all week.