Amber Heard takes the stand for 2nd day in Johnny Depp defamation lawsuit – National | Globalnews.ca

NOTE: This article contains details and descriptions that are graphic and disturbing. Please read at your own discretion.

Amber Heard returned to the stand Thursday, testifying in the ongoing defamation trial brought by her ex-husband, Johnny Depp.

Heard’s testimony began Thursday with a pair of photos she took of Depp in 2013. At this point, she had been in a relationship with the actor for over a year.

In the first photo, Depp is seen asleep in a chair on his private island. Heard testified Depp had a “brief stint of sobriety”  before he began using drugs again, when the photo was taken.

A second photo of a sleeping Depp was shown to the jury after what Heard called a “several-day bender.” She said the actor was not eating or sleeping much at the time.

Several more photos of an allegedly intoxicated and passed-out Depp were also shown.

Heard testified for the first time Wednesday, telling the court of multiple times she — and other people — allegedly suffered physical abuse at the hands of Depp.

She told the court of a time when Depp allegedly became convinced she was hiding his cocaine, and he violently groped at her and ripped off her underwear, before performing a “cavity search.”

She also recounted two separate times when she said Depp threatened to break the wrists of women he thought were hitting on her.

Most of the events shared with the court happened in 2012 and 2013, during the first year of the couple’s relationship and before they were married.

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Amber Heard tearfully recounts 1st time Johnny Depp allegedly hit her

Heard also shared accounts of several different occasions when she claimed Depp either slapped or backhanded her, causing her to bleed from the mouth and nose, and the court was shown pictures of a large bruise on her arm, which she said she sustained when he grabbed her during a fight.

In the legal battle between the two stars, both Heard, 36, and Depp, 58, claim to be victims of violence. The initial court case began when Depp filed a US$50-million defamation lawsuit over a Washington Post op-ed penned by Heard in late 2018 about domestic abuse.

Heard did not mention Depp by name in the article, but the actor alleges his reputation and career were still “devastated” as a result.

As she took the stand Wednesday, Heard told the jury this trial process has been “incredibly painful” and “the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.”

On Tuesday, after Depp’s legal team finished questioning their witnesses, Heard’s lawyers asked the judge to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that Depp had failed to make his case as a matter of law and that no reasonable jury could find in his favour.

Judge Penney Azcarate said the standard for dismissing a case at this point in the trial is exceedingly high, and that the case should be allowed to move forward if Depp has provided even a “scintilla” of evidence backing up his claims; she then dismissed the motion.

Heard is countersuing Depp for $100 million.

— with files from The Associated Press 

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Court shown Amber Heard’s secret recording of Johnny Depp violently smashing cupboards and glasses

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