Heard ‘stole’ story of my rape for own use, ex-aide tells libel trial
AMBER Heard’s former personal assistant has accused the actress of “twisting” her own account of a machete-point rape for “her own use” in explosive evidence on the seventh day of Johnny Depp’s libel claim against The Sun.
Appearing by video-link from Los Angeles yesterday, Kate James claimed Ms Heard (34) had “stolen” her story of being “violently raped” in Brazil almost three decades ago.
In her witness statement Ms James said she discovered the Aquaman actress had “stolen my sexual violence conversation with her and twisted it into her own story to benefit herself ”.
She added: “This of course caused me extreme distress and outrage that she would dare to attempt to use the most harrowing experience of my life as her own narrative.”
Ms James said she was giving evidence in Mr Depp’s case against the tabloid’s publisher, News Group Newspapers (NGN), because she took “offence” at Ms Heard’s actions.
NGN’S barrister Sasha Wass QC suggested Ms James had been “influenced” by Mr Depp (57) and his associates and “encouraged” to give “vicious evidence” against Ms Heard.
Ms James replied: “I’m here for my own reasons... I’m a sexual violence survivor and that’s very, very serious to take that stance if you are not one and I am one.
“That’s the reason I’m here, because I take offence.”
Ms James, who worked for Ms Heard between 2012 and 2015, said her former employer would send a “barrage of drunk text messages between the hours of two and four in the morning ... on an almost daily basis”, describing the messages as “abusive”.
She accused Ms Heard of deleting all the “abusive” texts after the actress terminated her employment, adding: “She saved the ones that weren’t.”
In her statement Ms James said Ms Heard felt she was “above the law”, and claimed she “did not care about throwing anyone under the bus, if it meant saving her own skin”.
Ms Heard asked her in 2014 to send a letter the actress drafted to Homeland Security lying about the right to work in America of someone she had hired.
She also claimed Ms Heard “deliberately smuggled” two Yorkshire terriers into Australia illegally in April 2015.
The High Court in London earlier heard evidence from Kevin Murphy, Mr Depp’s former estate manager, who said the actress also “demanded” he make a false statement about the animals being “smuggled” into the country, and told him: “I wouldn’t want you to have a problem with your job.”
He also gave evidence about the “defecation incident”, when faeces were found in the couple’s bed after Ms Heard’s 30th birthday party in April 2016.
Ms Wass read a text from Ms Heard to Mr Murphy in 2014, when the actress said: “I’m worried she’s got brain damage. She (pet dog) can’t seem to predict or control when she uses bathroom.
“Last night she s*** ON Johnny while he was sleeping, like all over him. Not exaggerating.”
Mr Murphy said in his witness statement that, when he spoke to Mr Depp in April 2016 about the “defecation incident”, the actor was “sullen and disgusted”.
Ms Wass read two text messages sent by Mr Depp shortly after the incident, saying that in one, he wrote “my wife left a whopper poop on my bed” and “then he says ‘Amber Turd’”.
She said: “In fact, it appears from those texts that Mr Depp found the subject quite amusing.” To which Mr Murphy said he thought the actor was being “sarcastic”.
Mr Murphy was asked if Ms Heard had told him the faeces in the bed was a “harmless prank”, and said: “She certainly did.”
Mr Depp is suing NGN and Mr Wootton over the publication of an article in 2018 with the headline: “Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be ‘genuinely happy’ casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?”
NGN is defending the article as true.