Amber Heard has claimed in her witness statement her former husband Johnny Depp ‘threatened to kill her many times’ while also threatening to ‘f**k her corpse’.
The actress has begun her first day of evidence on the 10th day of the actor’s libel case against The Sun and publisher News Group Newspapers (NGN) over a 2018 article that branded him a ‘wife-beater’.
Depp strenuously denied allegations that he was abusive towards Heard.
Today it was actress’ turn to face questioning over 14 allegations of domestic violence during their relationship, which NGN relies on in its defence of the article.
In her witness statement given to the High Court, the 34-year-old has claimed 57-year-old Depp ‘explicitly threatened to kill me many times’, adding: ‘He would blame all his actions on a self-created third person, which he often called “the monster” .’
She said in her statement: ‘[H]e talked about our relationship being “dead or alive” and telling me that death was the only way out of the relationship; the way he would describe what he wanted to do to me if I left him or hurt him (for example, carving my face up so no one else would want me); and in his language towards others who he didn’t like or was threatened by (detailing how he wanted to have someone tortured or how cheap and easy it would be to have someone knocked off).’
Heard also claimed: ‘He made all kinds of demeaning and derogatory comments about actresses (“two-bit wh**es”) and about me wanting to work as an actress’, and also that her ‘salary went down every year I was with him because of all the work I was missing’.
The actress alleged Depp ‘demeaned me anytime I tried to wear anything that could be seen as sexy, calling me a “wh**e”, “sl*t”, “fame-hungry” and “an attention wh**e”,’ claiming the actor ‘started saying things like “well I’m going to have to watch you get raped” and “I hope you get railed by a bunch of f**king fellas.”’
She also recalled what she has previously described as ‘a three-day hostage situation’ while the pair were in Australia, in which she alleged ‘extreme acts of psychological, physical, emotional and other forms of violence’ happened.
Referencing one argument, Heard claimed Depp ‘grabbed me by the neck and shoved me against the fridge’, and that ‘over the course of the day’ the actor ‘hit, choked and spat on her’.
She claimed: ‘He was pressing so hard on my neck I couldn’t breathe. I was trying to tell him that I couldn’t breathe. I remember thinking he was going to kill me in that moment… He was screaming at me, over and over again, “you ruined my life, I hate you, I’m going to f**king kill you and I’ll f**k your corpse”. ‘
Her statement comes as she began the first day of her evidence, recalling an ‘argument’ the pair had in a Tokyo hotel room over a pre-nuptial agreement – while also claiming Depp said the ‘only’ way out of their marriage ‘was death’.
Heard claims their argument ‘resulted in Depp kneeling on her back and hitting her on the back of the head’.
Claiming it was over a pre-nuptial agreement, she went on: ‘He mentioned… it was more about Christi his sister, who handled most of his affairs.
‘He said it was Christi, that he didn’t want that, that he trusted me and, as he said to me time and time again, the only way out of this was death.
‘He said this to me, to which I responded that of course I would sign whatever I needed to sign.
‘But then Johnny was also accusing me of having an affair with a co-star and that is what led to the actual argument.’
The court has so far heard nine days of evidence about Depp’s Hollywood lifestyle, his use of drink and drugs and his attitudes towards women, as well as his and Heard’s volatile relationship – described by Depp as ‘a crime scene waiting to happen’.
Depp also admitted giving misleading evidence about what has been called the ‘Boston plane incident’ in May 2014 – when Heard says he kicked her in the back and ‘screamed obscenities’ at her – and ‘accidentally’ headbutting his ex-wife while she was ‘flailing and punching’ him in December 2015.
However the actor says no other woman has ever accused him of violence and his former partners Winona Ryder and Vanessa Paradis – who were not called to give evidence – both say he was ‘never violent or abusive’ to them in statements.
Depp and Heard met on the 2011 film The Rum Diary and began living together in 2012 before marrying in Los Angeles in February 2015.
Heard obtained a domestic violence restraining order against her former husband in LA shortly after the couple split in 2016 and later donated her seven million US dollars (£5.5 million) divorce settlement to charity.
