FALLS CHURCH, Va. ( Associated Press) — Actor Amber Heard brought jurors to tears on Thursday, saying that Johnny Depp sexually assaulted her with a bottle of alcohol in a fit of rage.
The March 2015 incident in Australia, where Depp was filming the fifth “Pirates of the Caribbean” film, is increasingly disputed and has been the focus of a four-week civil trial in Fairfax, Virginia.,
The night ended with Depp’s middle finger amputated, and he was writing obscene messages in blood on the walls of the house. Depp denies any assault And it is said that when Heard threw a bottle of vodka at him, his finger was cut off; Hurd said she had taken sleeping pills after the attack and was unable to wake up when her finger was amputated.
The graphic description of the sexual assault left Heard fighting for her sobriety as she told it to the jurors. She said that Depp was furious when he arrived in Australia in February 2015, about a month after the couple got married.
He was accused of sleeping with co-stars in his films, including Billy Bob Thornton and Eddie Redmayne, with whom he shot the film “The Danish Girl” – allegations he denied.
The fight escalated to such an extent that he threw her into a ping-pong table, breaking it, Heard testified. He tore off her nightgown, and Heard said she was naked and assaulted.
“I couldn’t get up. I thought he was punching me,” she said. “I could feel the pressure on my pubic bone.”
He thought he was hitting her with his fist, but later learned that he was being attacked with a bottle, and realized that several bottles were broken in the fight.
“I looked around and saw a lot of broken glass. I just remember thinking, ‘Please God, please don’t break,'” she said.
Heard described bizarre details of the aftermath of the attack, including her shorn burgundy nightgown used to wrap raw steaks that had been discarded. She said that when Depp’s security team finally arrived to care for her amputated finger, Depp was still trying to leave obscene messages for her, but was trying to write them down by peeing on the wall.
Much of the trial’s testimony has been a repeat of a civil suit filed by Depp against a British newspaper. A judge there ruled against Depp in 2020, finding that Heard had actually been attacked by Depp several times. But the sexual assault allegations described by Heard on Thursday were not publicly broadcast at the UK trial.
Depp is suing Heard for defamation over an op-ed he wrote in The Washington Post in Virginia Describing herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse”. His lawyers say he was defamed by the 2018 article, although his name was never mentioned in it.
Earlier in his testimony Thursday, Heard testified that Depp surrounded himself with a group of supporters to protect himself from the consequences of his drug and alcohol use.
She described an incident that has already come to the test, the plane ride from Boston to Los Angeles in May 2014. According to Heard, Depp was jealous and angry that she was making a movie with actor James Franco that included a kissing scene.
“He hated, James hated Franco,” she said.
He said that as soon as Depp stepped on the private plane, they started scolding him. She got up and left, but Depp followed her. At one point, he slapped her, Heard testified. Later, she said, he kicked her, and not a single person on board intervened on her behalf.
“I felt this boot in my back,” she said. “I fell to the floor. And nobody said anything. Nobody did anything. You can hear a pin falling. I just remember feeling so embarrassed.”
Depp, who previously testified at trial, described the incident differently., She denied that she had consumed excessive alcohol before boarding the plane, and said that Heard started an argument and pursued her until she was forced to hide in the bathroom.
But jurors heard a recording of Heard made at the end of the incident, in which Depp appears to be incoherently thundering and grumbling. And the jury has seen a text message Depp sent to his friend Paul Bettany shortly after the flight, in which he says he will “close the wine thing right” because the flight got “ugly.” He also wrote to Bettany, saying, “I’m definitely too f——- to spray my anger in the head I love for little reason.”
Heard has testified that she was physically and sexually assaulted by Depp on several occasions, usually while he was intoxicated or on drugs. Depp has denied ever killing him, but Heard’s lawyers have said his denials lack credibility because they do not remember what he did when he blacked out.
Depp has said that Heard exaggerates his drinking, and that he tolerates his alcoholism well. Depp’s friends, family and staff took a stand and supported his argument.
But Hurd said that’s part of the problem: She said that Depp has a team around her that cleans up when she’s sick, and enables her to go about her business without accepting the consequences of her drinking. manufactures.
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This story has been corrected. Heard testified that Depp kicked her, not that he kicked her.
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