Amber Heard’s side of the story: Key bits of actress’s witness statement

Amber Heard has made a series of graphic allegations against ex-husband Johnny Depp in a lengthy witness statement to his libel trial.

The statement came as she began three days of evidence at the High Court as part of Depp’s case against The Sun newspaper over a 2018 article that labelled him a “wife beater”.

Depp strenuously denies all claims.

Warning: The following article contains explicit descriptions of sexual violence and of alleged physical and mental abuse

HEARD’S STATEMENT – KEY EXTRACTS

Depp’s “controlling and isolating” behaviour, and alcohol and drug abuse:

The actress claimed Depp would blame all his actions on a self-created third person he called “the monster” and had a “huge list” of prescription medicines, then later had a substance abuse doctor and full-time nurses.

Heard said Depp called actresses “two-bit whores”, called her “fame hungry” and an “attention whore” for wearing sexy clothes and said she got paid less every year she was with him because she missed out on a lot of work due to him.

The actress said she had to justify why she was doing a movie, especially if there were romantic scenes, and Depp insisted she was having an affair with every male actor she was in a movie with, including Eddie Redmayne, James Franco, Jim Sturgess, Kevin Costner, Liam Hemsworth, Billy-Bob Thornton, Channing Tatum and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Depp gave every male co-star he considered a sexual threat a nickname, including “Pumpkin Head” for DiCaprio, “Potato Head” for Tatum and Jim “Turd” Sturgess, Heard said.

Heard claimed Depp told her death was the only way out of their relationship and described what he wanted to do to her if she left or hurt him, including carving up her face so nobody else would want her.

She said the name calling got worse over time and he said things like “well I’m going to have to watch you get raped” and “I hope you get railed by a bunch of f***ing fellas”.

Heard said she does not believe Depp remembers most of the things he has done to her and has been convinced by others that she is making it all up “for attention, money or fame”.

“I am not,” she wrote.

Early 2013 – first violent incident:

When talking about a tattoo he had altered from Winona, his ex-partner, to “Wino”, Heard laughed at something he said and he hit her with an “open hand across my cheek”.

She said he hit her again even harder so it felt like her eye had popped out.

“Johnny wears a lot of rings, one on every finger. This third hit knocked me off balance and I fell to the floor,” she wrote, adding this was the first time she heard him talk about “the monster”.

March 2013 – the painting incident:

Heard said Depp suddenly took issue with a picture her ex-wife Tasya van Ree had painted after he had taken “a lot of drugs”.

She said as she tried to stop him setting the painting on fire he hit her face with the back of his hand, drawing blood which sprayed up the wall, and accused her of having an affair with Tasya.

He then refused to leave her house to be on set to film a Keith Richards documentary and after Heard and her sister eventually calmed him down to travel there he held one of their dogs, Boo, out the car window and howled like a dog.

24 May 2014 – Boston to LA flight:

Heard said she got up from her seat and Depp kicked her hard in the back and said: “Are you f***ing walking away from me?”

She said he kept verbally abusing her, including saying: “When we land, I can call some black brothers who can f*** you up if you’re so desperate for it.”

The next day he texted her saying he “once again” was in a “place of shame and regret”, saying it would never happen again and that he loved her and his “illness somehow crept up and grabbed me”.

Depp’s assistant texted Heard and said when he told Depp he had kicked his wife “he cried”.

August 2014 – Bahamas detox:

The couple went to the Bahamas with a nurse to help Depp “kick his addiction to prescription painkillers and other drugs”.

Heard said she was scared as “his behaviour became crazier”, and at one point he “kicked and pushed me so I fell on the ground and grabbed my hair and slapped me. He was in such a rage that he smashed a door so hard that it splintered”.

17 December 2014 – text message:

Following “an incident of violence”, Depp texted Heard to say he was sorry and said: “I’m a f***ing savage…Gotta lose that…Gonna lose that!! The Devil is All Around, right…??”

He said he would never do so again, which Heard said was an example of “his effusive promises that it wouldn’t ever happen again”.

January 2015 – Tokyo film premiere:

The couple were in a hotel room and something upset Depp which Heard said ended up with him in a rage and slapping her.

“It was really upsetting because it wasn’t even clear exactly what he was upset about,” she said.

March 2015 – Australia ‘hostage situation’:

Heard said for three days in Australia there were “extreme acts of psychological, physical, emotional and other forms of violence”, which she called a “hostage situation”.

The actress said it is “the worst thing I have ever been through” and was left with an injured lip and nose and cuts on her arms and feet.

She said Depp slapped her, grabbed her by the neck and shoved her against the fridge as he smelt of whisky, while telling her he could crush her neck and said “how easy it would be”.

The actor “kept attacking” her on the second day and as she tried to get away, through glass from bottles he smashed, he grabbed her by the hair and hurled her onto a ping pong table which collapsed under her before he grabbed her neck and smashed her head against the fridge.

She said he told her: “You f***ing do this to me every time; you f***ing did this; you f***ing make me do this.”

Heard said Depp ripped her dressing gown off, grabbed her breasts and shoved her up against a fridge before pushing her against the bar where he pressed so hard on her neck she could not breathe and she thought he was going to kill her as he screamed: “You ruined my life, I hate you, I’m going to f***ing kill you and I’ll f*** your corpse.”

It was during that incident Depp said Heard severed his finger, but Heard said that is “untrue” and she would be “very surprised if he remembers anything”.

On the third day, Heard said she came downstairs to find music blaring, “everything broken and shattered” and a wall painted in blood before finding Depp holding a Jack Daniels bottle as he held up his bloodied and paint covered finger, with the bone showing.

After Depp accused her of having another man over that night, he threw a coffee cup through the TV and his security then rushed in, which she said was the first time she had seen another person in three days.

As his security looked for the rest of his finger, Depp went to the front door, took his penis out and urinated just outside the front door then inside the house, Heard said.

March 2015 – staircase incident:

Heard said she returned to Los Angeles before Depp, but when he returned they got into a big argument over messages she found “that showed he was cheating on me”.

She said she knew he had cheated on her before they were married but did not think he would continue after, and when she confronted him “he reacted badly”.

August 2015 – Malaysia:

The couple were on the Eastern Oriental train and got into an argument before Heard said Depp pushed her up against the wall of their cabin and tore her shirt, exposing her breast as he screamed, hit her face and choked her before he let go.

December 2015 – Los Angeles:

Heard said 15 December was “one of the worst and most violent nights” of their relationship, with Depp throwing a decanter at her, slapping her and dragging her by her hair around their penthouse.

She managed to escape and ran upstairs but he caught her and pulled her to the top of the stairs by her hair then continually knocked her to the ground before headbutting her in the nose.

Heard said that was the moment she decided to leave him but after telling him and saying she would call the police if he touched her again, he dragged her upstairs then grabbed her throat, pushed her to the floor and hit her before slapping her and saying he would kill her.

The actress said Depp pushed her face into the mattress and would not listen to her as he put his knee into her back as he punched her head, splintering the bedframe.

Heard said she does not remember anything after that until her friend came into the room and called a nurse to do a concussion check. She had headaches for a week after, she said.

A few days later she said her and Depp met to speak about what he had done but he claimed he only gave her “a little knock with my head”, before he said he was a “f*** up” and left.

April 2016 – Heard’s 30th birthday party:

The actress said he turned up late for her birthday, drunk and high, then got angry when she said she was upset.

Depp threw a magnum of champagne at her and missed then pushed her to the ground on top of the glass before shoving and grabbing her hair as she tried to pack a bag to leave.

He squared up to her, smashed photographs and left, leaving a note that said “Happy F***ing Birthday”.

This is when Depp claims Heard or one of her friends defecated in their bed, but Heard said that “is just not true” and the dogs “had accidents in the house a lot, including having pooped in our bed before”.

21 May 2016 – Los Angeles:

The pair met to discuss their relationship at the penthouse apartment when Depp accused her or her friend, iO, of defecating on the bed so she put iO on speakerphone, who laughed, enraging Depp.

Heard said Depp then “threw the phone at my face as hard as he could”, hitting her right cheek and eye before friends she had given her keys to came running in.

Depp’s security then came in and pleaded with him to stop as he smashed things up, including bottles of wine and a door.

Police officers came to the house but Heard said she refused to give a statement.

Heard said she went to her friend’s birthday the following day as she had promised to bring a cake, when the host took her aside and said she could tell Heard was in trouble so could stay at her house at any time.

The actress said she was “struck by that” and realised she was anxious, with her weight going down to 45.3kg – she is now 58.9kg – and after that she filed for divorce and for a domestic violence restraining order.

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Heard has provided seven witness statements to the court in total, detailing acts of physical, verbal and mental violence she alleges she suffered at the hands of Depp between 2011 and 2016.

Heard is not a party to a claim in this case, but is the star witness for The Sun. Depp is suing the newspaper for libel after it referred to him as a “wife-beater” in a 2018 article written by Dan Wootton.

Depp is suing Heard in separate libel proceedings in the US over a December 2018 column she wrote in the Washington Post.

The High Court case continues.