American actress Amber Heard testified for the first time on Wednesday May 4 in the defamation lawsuit brought by her ex-husband Johnny Depp. His testimony was eagerly awaited on the 14th day of this ultra-publicized trial in Fairfax court, broadcast live on television and on social networks.
“I can’t find the words to describe how painful, awful it is for me to sit here and go through it all again”she explained at the beginning of her speech. “It’s the most painful and difficult thing I’ve had to live”, added the actress, dressed in a dark three-piece suit and blue shirt striped with white and who wore light makeup. She referred to the previous witnesses “some I know, some I don’t, my ex-husband who I shared my life with, talk about our life”.
“Panic Attacks”
Amber Heard claims to have suffered “physical violence and assault” since their first meeting in 2009 and during their tumultuous marriage which lasted only two years, from 2015 to 2017.
She notably recounted the first time that Johnny Depp hit her, according to her, reported the correspondent of 20 minutes in the USA. “I knew it was a point of no return, I’m not an idiot. I know you can’t hit a woman, a man. Anyone. I knew I had to leave him. It broke my heart”she added.
Amber Heard describes the first time she claims Johnny Depp hit her. He was drinking. “He slapped me and I laughed because I thought it was a joke. He said to me “Do you think that’s funny, bitch?”, and he slapped me again” then a 3rd time “hard” to the point of losing his balance. pic.twitter.com/Ih9rF0N0kN
— Philippe Berry (@ptiberry) May 4, 2022
The actress suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from “intimate violence” inflicted by Johnny Depp, said Wednesday morning a psychology expert who had several interviews with the actress. These symptoms observed when she was filming Aquaman 2 in 2021 “interfered with his ability” to play in the feature film, explained Wednesday Dawn Hughes, a clinical and forensic psychologist recruited by the team of defenders of the actress. “She has to keep working even though she has panic attacks, uncomfortable memories of the trauma, palpitations, sweaty palms when she thinks about it”she said.
Johnny Depp, who testified for four days at the end of April, denies ever having raised his hand on Amber Heard, assuring that it was she who was violent. He admitted to heavy drug and alcohol use which he claimed to be in control of most of the time.
The 58-year-old actor claims his ex-wife ruined his reputation and career after he penned an op-ed in the December 2018 washington post. She claimed to have been the victim of domestic violence in 2016, without however citing her former husband. He claims 50 million dollars in damages, which correspond to the income he would have earned from his roles if he had not been dismissed from the film studios. The 36-year-old actress, who has starred in major Hollywood productions Justice League and Aquamancounter-attacked and claims 100 million dollars.