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Actress Amber Heard has accused her ex-husband Johnny Depp of throwing around 30 bottles at her “like grenades”, the High Court in London has heard.
She said the incident happened during what she previously called a “three-day hostage situation” in 2015.
Mr Depp, 57, is suing the publisher of the Sun over an article that labelled him a “wife beater” – but the newspaper insists it was accurate.
Ms Heard, 34, was giving evidence in court for a third day.
It is the 12th day of the libel action by her ex-husband.
Ms Heard said in court on Wednesday that she was not to blame for the tip of Mr Depp’s finger being severed while the couple were in Australia in March 2015. He has previously claimed that his ex-wife caused the injury by throwing a vodka bottle at him.
Ms Heard, who was married to the film star from 2015 to 2017, has accused Mr Depp of repeatedly assaulting her during the Australia trip, fuelled by drink and drugs, which he denies.
She told the court on Wednesday: “I got angry at times but not into a rage that would cause me to throw anything at him.”
She said she had taken a bottle from him on the night of the alleged incident as she did not want him to drink any more and smashed it on the floor.
“He started picking [bottles] up one by one and throwing them like grenades. One after the other after the other, in my direction, and I felt glass breaking behind me, I retreated more into the bar and he didn’t stop.”
“I was too scared to look behind me. He threw all the bottles that were in reach.”
Ms Heard said she remembered that only “a celebratory magnum-sized bottle” was not smashed by Mr Depp “out of 30 or so” bottles.
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Mr Depp’s lawyer, Eleanor Laws QC, put it to Ms Heard that Mr Depp’s fingertip was severed as a result of the actress throwing a bottle in his direction. Ms Heard replied: “No.”
Ms Laws said: “According to you, Mr Depp sliced his finger off all on his own … and then carried on attacking you.”
Ms Heard said: “Yes, he did. I don’t think he meant to sever the finger but yes he did continue the attack.”
The lawyer also asked about a photograph showing a mark on Mr Depp’s face and accused Ms Heard of stubbing a cigarette out on his cheek.
Ms Heard denied the claim, saying: “No, Johnny did it right in front of me, he often did things like that.”
Photos ‘not set up’
The lawyer then turned to an alleged incident of domestic violence in Los Angeles in December 2015, which Ms Heard has described in her first witness statement as “one of the worst and most violent nights of our relationship”.
Ms Heard alleges that Johnny Depp slapped her, dragged her by the hair through their apartment – pulling clumps of her hair out – and then repeatedly punched her in the head.
She told the court: “I had bruised ribs, bruises all over my body, bruises on my forearms from trying to defend the blows. I had two black eyes, I had a broken nose, I had a broken lip… the really bad ones (bruises) were in my hairline, on my scalp.”
The actress, who appeared on James Corden’s The Late Late Show the following night, described the moment when she says Mr Depp headbutted her.
“He clenched his fists, leaned back and slammed his head directly into mine.”
Questioning Ms Heard about her injuries, Ms Laws referred to medical notes made by a nurse, Erin Boerum, who saw Ms Heard shortly after the alleged incident and recorded that the actress was “actively bleeding on her lip”.
Ms Laws suggested that Ms Heard’s list of injuries were “nonsense”, adding: “She (Ms Boerum) didn’t see any bruising… you had just bitten your lip because there was fresh blood on it. Had you just done that for her benefit?”
Ms Heard replied: “Of course not.”
Ms Laws put it to Ms Heard that a photograph of her with bruises on her face taken after the alleged December 2015 incident was “completely set up”, which Ms Heard denied.
A short clip of Ms Heard’s appearance on The Late Late Show was then played to the court, following which Ms Laws said: “That is what you looked like on the show, there is no injury, is there?”
Ms Heard replied: “I had tonnes of injuries.” She then said she had makeup on covering the injuries and added: “You can tell by the size of my lip alone.”
Ms Heard’s friend, make-up artist Melanie Inglessis, told the court that the pair had “many conversations” about Mr Depp and Ms Heard’s relationship.
She said she had planned to go bowling with Ms Heard the night before The Late Late Show appearance, but that Ms Heard did not turn up and later texted Ms Inglessis to say Mr Depp “beat on me”.
Ms Inglessis said Ms Heard told her that Mr Depp “tried to suffocate her with a pillow … those were her words”. She added Ms Heard was “erratic, upset, you know, in between being sad and upset and furious”.
Franco nude scenes ‘jealousy’
The court also heard that Mr Depp “was jealous” of other actors with whom Ms Heard filmed intimate scenes, and that Mr Depp wanted her to do fewer nude scenes.
Joshua Drew, the ex-husband of Ms Heard’s friend Raquel “Rocky” Pennington, said in a written witness statement: “Rocky told me, based on her conversations with Amber, that Johnny had a particular issue with James Franco because he and Amber had some intimate scenes in a project they were filming, which Johnny did not want her doing.”
“His name came up often and it would cause fights between them. They were arguing about it very regularly.”
‘Johnny’s the boss’
The hearing also covered the events surrounding the actress facing criminal proceedings in Australia for taking the couple’s two Yorkshire Terriers, Pistol and Boo, into the country in 2015 without the proper paperwork.
She told the court she “took the blame” for illegally bringing the couple’s dogs into Australia because his lawyers had said it would make her ex-husband ‘s job “less threatened than it already was”.
She said it wasn’t her decision to take the dogs, adding: “Johnny’s the boss.”
Mr Depp’s lawyer suggested Ms Heard “was the boss” and she had tried to get members of her staff to “take the blame”. This was denied by Ms Heard, who said: “I had already pleaded guilty.”
The libel case centres on an article published on the Sun’s website in April 2018 headlined: “Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be ‘genuinely happy’ casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?”.
The article related to allegations made by Ms Heard, which Mr Depp denies. Her evidence was initially due to conclude on Wednesday but will now continue until Thursday.
