Amber Heard insisted Thursday that she never wanted to let the world know about the years Johnny Depp allegedly abused her, as she concluded giving evidence in her ex-husband’s libel case against a British tabloid for labeling him as a “wife-beater.” Taking the witness stand for a fourth straight day, Heard testified that everything sh had said at the High Court in London was true and that she just “wanted to be left alone” after the breakup of her and Depp’s tempestuous marriage. “I didn’t want to do this, I did not want to expose this,” she said. “What woman has ever benefited from being a victim of domestic violence?”
Heard was in court because Depp, 57, is suing News Group Newspapers, the publisher of The Sun, and the newspaper’s executive editor, Dan Wootton, over an April 2018 article that said the actor physically abused his wife.
The Sun’s defense relies on 14 allegations made by Heard of violence by Depp between 2013 and 2016, in settings as varied as a rented house in Australia, his private island in the Bahamas and a private jet. In her testimony on Thursday, the actress-model reiterated allegations that Depp would go on a “bender” that often lasted days and abuse her when he was high on drugs or was drunk.
“Johnny, when he was clean and sober, could be a wonderful person, generous, loving,” she said. “He’s a remarkable man when he’s like that and I loved him. The other side of him was a monster but I always held out hope he would get clean and sober.”
In her first three days of testimony, Heard, 34, accused Depp of an array of acts of violence, including throwing bottles at her “like grenades,” headbutting her and even of stubbing out a cigarette on his cheek. She has claimed that she often feared for her life during their tempestuous relationship.
Sasha Wass, the lawyer representing NGN, read out a series of text messages that Heard had sent to her mother, including one from March 2013 that said: “He’s nuts, mum. Violent and crazy. I’m heartbroken that this is who I love.”
