Heard accused of hitting sister as video emerges in Depp libel case
JOHNNY DEPP’S former wife Amber Heard has been accused of beating up her younger sister after a video emerged appearing to show her sibling nursing bruises from a fight.
The clip showed friends of her sister, Whitney Henriquez, asking if Heard had beaten her up and looking at apparent bruises on her face and chest.
Ms Henriquez was yesterday accused of falsely denying that Heard had ever hit her in order to bolster her sister’s claim she was not violent and was the victim of Depp’s domestic abuse.
The last-minute emergence of the video, filmed for a reality TV show in 2006 or 2007, was presented in the libel case brought by the Hollywood star against the publisher of The Sun for labelling him a “wife beater”.
David Sherborne, Depp’s barrister, said the video contradicted Heard’s assertion that the only time she was violent was when she struck her husband in self defence, during an argument on the staircase of their Los Angeles penthouse in March 2015 .
Mr Sherborne told the court: “She has lied in order to support her sister on this very important point of what happened on the stairs and more generally on her sister being violent, as opposed to Mr Depp being violent.”
He said: “This video of her sister, Whitney Henriquez, was taken shortly after Amber Heard attacked her and Ms Henriquez is filmed with people commenting on the bruises on her face and body.”
Heard’s barrister, Sasha Wass QC, dismissed the video as a “light-hearted” and “flippant” exchange between friends, with no evidence that Ms Henriquez had suffered any injuries at her sister’s hands.
Heard’s acting coach earlier told how she came to suspect that Depp was being physically abusive towards his wife. Kristina Sexton told the High Court: “I remember starting to see some marks and bruises on her arms. I would ask her about it and she didn’t have an excuse for it, which was a red flag for me, knowing other women who have been in domestic violence situations.”
Ms Sexton added: “I knew she wasn’t telling me everything. I started to confront her more about it sometime in early 2016. I remember saying to Amber, ‘I know you’re not telling me everything’ and asking ‘is he hitting you?’ and she would just look down or away and not answer me and didn’t say ‘no’.”
Heard’s neighbour told how she found her in tears after Depp had thrown a phone at her, hitting her in the face at their LA home in May 2016.
Raquel Pennington said she was called to the apartment by Heard, 34, and found her extremely distressed.
She told the court: “Amber was holding her face and head in her hands as Johnny was screaming at her. They were about 12ft apart. Amber was yelling ‘help’ at me. I said, ‘Is everything OK?’. Amber said ‘No. Help, please. He hit me with the phone. Please help.
Please call for help’.” Ms Pennington said that when she tried to intervene Depp, 57, turned his anger on her.
She said “I stepped in front of him to shield her from him, with my hands up, lightly touching his chest, and said ‘stop, please’. He knocked my hands out
‘She has lied in order to support her sister on her being violent as opposed to Mr Depp being violent’
of the way. Johnny yelled obscenities at me, directly into my face.”
Police were called to the apartment that evening but Heard decided not to make a complaint.
Depp says he was never violent towards Heard, claiming it was she who was the aggressor.
The hearing continues.