Johnny Depp: Amber Heard says libel lawsuit is ‘torture’

AFP

Actress Amber Heard, 36, has said the multimillion-dollar libel suit brought against her by her ex-husband Johnny Depp, 58, is “torture” and just wants him to leave her alone to move on. The statement was made this Monday (16) in a court in Virginia, in the United States.

The actress said she decided to divorce Johnny Depp in May 2016 because violence had become “normal” for him and made her fear for her life. “I had to give up,” Heard said. “I knew if I didn’t do this, I wouldn’t survive. I was so scared I thought it was going to end very badly for me,” Heard said.

Heard claimed that Depp could become a physically and sexually abusive “monster” when he was drinking and his efforts to reduce drug and alcohol use failed. “The monster was that thing that was now normal rather than the exception. Violence was now normal,” he explained to the seven-person jury that heard the testimony.

Depp, who testified in late April, denies hitting Heard and claims she was violent. He also accuses her of ruining his reputation and career by claiming in a 2018 Washington Post article that she, without naming the actor, described herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse”.

During cross-examination, Depp’s lawyers asked Heard to speak about the multiple incidents of alleged domestic violence, to which the actress showed photos of the following days in which the injuries were visible. “You should see how she looks under the makeup,” Heard said.

Heard was also asked about her pledge to donate $7 million from Depp’s divorce settlement to charity. Heard acknowledged that she had not yet donated the full amount, but said that was because she needed the money to respond to her ex-husband’s defamation lawsuit. “I couldn’t honor those commitments because I was sued,” she said.