Amber Heard love notes to Johnny Depp read in court
Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.
Article content
Attorneys for Johnny Depp continued a tense cross examination of Amber Heard Tuesday, attempting to cast doubt on abuse claims the actress has levelled against the actor in their ongoing defamation trial in a Virginia courtroom.
Advertisement 2
Article content
One of Depp’s lawyers, Camille Vasquez, introduced a knife Heard gave to the Pirates of the Caribbean star in 2012 after she accused him of assaulting her.
“That’s the knife you gave to the man who was hitting you? … This is the knife you gave to the man who would get drunk and violent with you?” Vasquez asked.
“I wasn’t worried he was going to stab me when I gave it to him that’s for certain,” Heard heatedly replied.
“But you gave it to him while he was abusing you, allegedly,” Vasquez fired back.
Advertisement 3
Article content
Depp, 58, is suing Heard for $50 million, saying she smeared him in a 2018 op-ed for The Washington Post when she claimed she was a victim of domestic abuse.
Heard, 36, is countersuing for $100 million, claiming that Depp defamed her by calling her a liar.
In 2020, Depp lost a libel case against U.K. Sun after the British tabloid that labeled him a “wife beater.” A London High Court judge ruled that he had assaulted Heard on multiple occasions.
Continuing on from Monday’s cross-examination, Vasquez played several audio recordings in which the former couple hurled insults at one another. In one sad exchange, Heard tells Depp to “suck my d—” and calls him a “washed up piece of s—” and a “joke.”
“I’m the joke in the industry, Amber,” Depp calmly replies. “Your jealousy is so tragic.”
Advertisement 4
Article content
After Heard was asked why she never appeared injured any photos she was seen in following her then-husband’s alleged violent outbursts, she maintained the images weren’t digitally altered and said that her bruises were covered up by makeup.
“I have never edited the photograph … I didn’t touch it,” Heard said.
Advertisement 5
Article content
Vasquez showed jurors closeups of Heard’s face from a Dec. 31, 2015 photoshoot with English photographer and film director Greg Williams — just two weeks after the actress claimed she had been repeatedly struck in the face during a physical fight.
After Heard revealed Monday that her part in next year’s Aquaman sequel had been “pared down,” Depp’s attorney contended that the only reason she landed the role in the DC film was because of her relationship with the three-time Oscar nominee.
“I got myself that role by auditioning,” Heard shot back.
During on tense exchange over how many bathroom doors Heard may have knocked on during a fight in Australia in 2015, Depp broke into a laugh.
Advertisement 6
Article content
But Vasquez did get Heard to concede that while she took photos of messages smeared in paint on a mirror in the home they were renting while he was shooting a fifth Pirates movie, she did not take any pictures of the injuries she claimed to have sustained at his hands. She also had no medical proof that she had been allegedly assaulted, suffering cuts to her arms and feet and a bruise to her jaw.
“No,” Heard said. “I did not want to tell anyone.”
“You didn’t capture (a picture of) yourself in the mirror? Is that because you didn’t have any injuries?” Vasquez said, contending that Heard was the abuser in their relationship.
“I didn’t assault Johnny in Australia,” Heard countered. “I didn’t assault Johnny ever.”
-
Amber Heard claims Johnny Depp assaulted her on their honeymoon, blames dog for poop, claims Aquaman 2 part reduced
-
Amber Heard caught ‘posing’ while crying on the stand?
-
Johnny Depp’s rep calls Amber Heard’s testimony ‘performance of her life’, actress accused of stealing from ‘Talented Mr. Ripley’
-
‘SOCIOPATHIC SHOW PONY’: Johnny Depp’s pal says Amber Heard out to ‘destroy’ ex
Advertisement 7
Article content
Elsewhere, Vasquez read aloud love missives Heard wrote to him in a shared notebook which she signed with her affectionate nickname, “Slim.”
“True love isn’t about just the madness of passion or instead picking the safety of peace. No, it’s about both,” Heard wrote in May 2015, two months after Depp’s finger was severed following the fight in Australia.
“I still, perhaps more than ever, want to rip you apart, devour you and savour the taste,” she continued.
After alleging that Depp attacked her during their July 2015 honeymoon on the Orient Express train in Asia, Vasquez read another excerpt in which Heard called the trip “a wonderful an impulsive adventure,” adding, “I love you more and more every passing day.”
Advertisement 8
Article content
Heard had told jurors on Monday that she feared Depp might accidentally kill her during an allegedly violent assault on the train.
Other entries contained more declarations of love, but hinted that their relationship was fraught with tension.
“I hope that things said in anger and pain were just that and that you miss and love me too … I love you and I’m sorry,” Heard wrote in one passage, with another message reading, “I’m tied to you forever … let me try to fix this. Let me try to patch this … we need each other. I hate it when we fight. I need you, I love you.”
In another, Heard wrote to Depp that he was the “last person I ever meant to hurt.”
“It was primarily love notes,” Heard explained. “It was important for me to try and nurture as much peace as I could … it’s another example of me trying to fix it.”
Advertisement 9
Article content
Vasquez also got Heard to admit that she hadn’t donated her $7 million divorce settlement to the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and the American Civil Liberties Union, as she had promised to do.
“I made the pledge, I want to be clear that I haven’t been able to fulfill the pledge because I’ve been sued,” Heard answered.
The night before she filed for divorce from Depp in May 2016, jurors were shown video evidence of the actor James Franco in an elevator with Heard with the two nudging heads.
Advertisement 10
Article content
Earlier in the trial, Heard said that Depp “hated” Franco and accused her of “secretly having a thing with him in my past.”
When Vasquez asked Heard why Depp, who kept his head down throughout her testimony, won’t look her in the eyes, she said he couldn’t because he’s not innocent.
“He’s knows he’s guilty,” Heard said. “I survived that man and I’m here.”
When he took the stand last month, Depp was forced to admit his past drug abuse, but he alleged that Heard abused him and severed the tip of his finger.
“She has a need for violence. It erupts out of nowhere,” Depp said.
The trial is expected to continue until the end of the month.