Amber Heard's lawyer describes Johnny Depp as a "monster" who attacked her "physically and s-xually"
The former couple faces a trial for defamation. Heard claims that the actor had "rage episodes" due to drugs and alcohol. While those close to Depp describe her as a "always conflictive" young woman.
In the midst of the trial that started this week between Johnny Depp (58 years old) and his ex-wife, Amber Heard (35 years old), the actress's lawyers revealed that she lived through hell during her marriage to the actor, whom they described as a "monster" due to drugs and alcohol, with attacks of "rage" that ended in verbal, physical and s-xual aggression. Both are accused of defamation, following a column that the woman published in the Washington Post in 2018, after separating from Depp, where she refers to herself as a "victim of domestic violence", although without naming Depp. The couple met in 2009 and married in 2015. A year later, she filed for a restraining order, claiming the actor had beaten her, but she waived those charges as part of her divorce, which was finalized in 2017.
Following Heard's publication of the newspaper column, Depp, who denies hitting her, filed a libel lawsuit against her, seeking $50 million in damages. The actress, in turn, filed a defamation lawsuit in which she asks for 100 million dollars. During the trial, the actress's attorney, Elaine Bredehoft, told the jury that Heard "loved the side of Johnny that we see in the movies: charismatic, charming, generous, he's the man she fell in love with."
"But unfortunately, the monster appeared, and this monster appeared when he drank or took drugs," she added, mentioning alcohol cocktails, medication, cocaine, ecstasy and hallucinogenic mushrooms. She maintained that Depp had "an enormous rage" that transformed him into a "demon", and that "during these episodes of rage she would verbally, psychologically, physically and s-xually attack" Heard. She recounted several scenes of violence, such as in March 2015 in Australia, where Depp was filming the fifth episode of "Pirates of the Caribbean". She said the actress never parted with her makeup kit to hide the bruises on her face and announced that she plans to show the jury "shocking photos" of Heard with "bruises, split lips, ripped hair."
Deep's sister says she was "conflictive" and called him "fat old man"
For her part, the actor's lawyer, Benjamin Chew, denounced that "Amber Heard forever changed Depp's life and reputation and you will hear him tell the terrible impact this had on her life." According to him, Heard accused her husband of her violence to get back at him for deciding to divorce her.
And two years later, in the midst of "the Me Too movement" – which denounced s-xual violence – and "just before the premiere of the movie Aquaman", in which he participated, Heard "chose to remind the world of these poisonous accusations in a newspaper world famous".
Depp's sister, Christi Dembrowski, described on her stand a toxic marital relationship with a "always troubled" young woman who "greatly exaggerated" her husband's drug and alcohol problems and called him a "fat old man." "Dior is class and style, and you don't have style," she told him – according to her – on one occasion, when they were talking about an advertising contract with that brand.
The actor filed the lawsuit in the state of Virginia, where the Washington Post is printed and where the legal framework is more favorable to defamation complaints than in California, where the two actors reside. The two ex-spouses attend the trial, which is broadcast live on television and will last for weeks. The witness list is worthy of Hollywood movies, with billionaire Elon Musk, actors James Franco and Paul Bettany, and actress Ellen Barkin. Depp admits to having used too many drugs and alcohol, but insists that he never hit a woman. He is backed by his ex-partners Vanessa Paradis and Winona Ryder.
