By MATTHEW BARAKAT
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — Actor Amber Heard tearfully instructed jurors Thursday that Johnny Depp sexually assaulted her with a liquor bottle in an alcohol-fueled rage.
The March 2015 incident in Australia, the place Depp was filming the fifth “Pirates of the Caribbean” film, is sharply disputed and has been a focus of the four-week civil trial in Fairfax, Virginia.
The night time ended with the tip of Depp’s center finger reduce off, and him writing vulgar messages in blood on the partitions of the home. Depp denies assaulting her in any approach and says his finger was severed when Heard threw a vodka bottle at him; Heard stated she’d taken sleeping drugs after she was attacked and was not awake when the finger was severed.
The graphic description of the sexual assault left Heard combating for her composure as she described it to jurors. She stated Depp had been indignant as quickly as she arrived in Australia, roughly a month after the couple had married in February 2015.
He was accusing her of sleeping with co-stars in her motion pictures, together with Billy Bob Thornton and Eddie Redmayne, with whom she’d simply shot the movie “The Danish Lady” — accusations she denied.
The struggle escalated to the purpose the place he threw her right into a ping-pong desk, breaking it, Heard testified. He ripped off her nightgown, and Heard stated she was bare and uncovered as she was assaulted.
“I couldn’t rise up. I assumed he was punching me,” she stated. “I may simply really feel this strain on my pubic bone.”
She thought he was assaulting her together with her fist, however later discovered that she was being assaulted with a bottle, and realized that there had been quite a few bottles damaged within the struggle.
“I appeared round and noticed a lot damaged glass. I simply bear in mind considering, ‘Please God, please don’t be damaged,’” she stated.
Heard described weird particulars within the aftermath of the assault, together with seeing her shredded burgundy nightgown used to wrap a uncooked steak that had been not noted. She stated that when Depp’s safety workforce lastly arrived to are likely to his severed finger, Depp was nonetheless making an attempt to depart vulgar messages for her, however was making an attempt to put in writing them by urinating on the wall.
A lot of the trial testimony has been repetitive of a civil go well with Depp filed towards a British newspaper. A choose there dominated towards Depp in 2020, discovering that Heard had in reality been assaulted a number of occasions by Depp. However the sexual assault allegations described by Heard on Thursday weren't publicly aired within the U.Okay trial.
Depp is suing Heard in Virginia for libel over an op-ed she wrote in The Washington Publish describing herself as “a public determine representing home abuse.” His legal professionals say he was defamed by the 2018 article though it by no means talked about his identify.
Earlier in her testimony Thursday, Heard testified that Depp surrounded himself with an entourage of enablers to protect him from the results of his drug and alcohol use.
She described an incident that has already come up at trial, a Could 2014 aircraft experience from Boston to Los Angeles. In line with Heard, Depp was jealous and irate that she was making a film with actor James Franco that included a kissing scene.
“He hated, hated James Franco,” she stated.
As quickly as Depp stepped into the non-public aircraft, he started berating her, she stated. She acquired up and walked away, however Depp adopted her. At one level, he slapped her, Heard testified. Later, she stated, he kicked her, and never one individual on board intervened on her behalf.
“I felt this boot in my again,” she stated. “I fell to the ground. And nobody stated something. Nobody did something. You may have heard a pin drop. I simply bear in mind feeling so embarrassed.”
Depp, who testified earlier within the trial, described the incident in another way. He denied that he’d drank excessively earlier than getting on the aircraft, and stated Heard initiated an argument and pursued him till he felt compelled to cover in a toilet.
However jurors heard a recording Heard made towards the top of the incident, through which it seems like Depp is howling and babbling incoherently. And the jury has seen a textual content message Depp despatched his good friend Paul Bettany shortly after the flight, through which he says he’s going to “correctly cease the booze factor” as a result of the flight acquired “ugly.” He additionally texted Bettany saying, “I’m admittedly too f—- within the head to spray my rage on the one I really like for little motive as nicely.”
Heard has testified that she was bodily and sexually assaulted on a number of events by Depp, usually when he was drunk or excessive on medication. Depp has denied ever hitting her, however Heard’s legal professionals have stated his denials lack credibility partially as a result of he can’t bear in mind what he’s accomplished when he blacks out.
Depp has stated Heard drastically exaggerates his consuming, and that he tolerates his liquor nicely. Pals, household and staff of Depp have taken the stand and backed up his rivalry.
However Heard stated that’s a part of the issue: She stated Depp has a workforce round him that cleans him up when he will get sick, and allows him to go about his enterprise with out acknowledging the results of his consuming.