‘Star Heard stole my rape story,’ former PA tells Depp 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 videolink 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 2012-15, 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 September 2014 to send a letter the actress had drafted to Homeland Security officials in the US about a woman named Savannah McMillan, who had been hired to work as a set assistant, Ms James claimed.
According to Ms James, Ms Heard said in the letter: “Savannah McMillan is a personal friend and, to my knowledge, has never worked unlawfully or otherwise in the United States. Or for me.”
Ms James said in her statement that Ms Heard “knew this to be untrue” and “Amber was therefore wilfully lying to the US immigration department”.
She also claimed Ms Heard “deliberately smuggled” two Yorkshire terriers, Pistol and Boo, into Australia illegally in April 2015.
The High Court in London earlier heard evidence from Kevin Murphy, Mr Depp’s former estate manager, who claimed Ms Heard asked him to contact Ms James and ask her to “lie under oath” to an Australian court.
Mr Murphy 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.”
In October 2015, Ms Heard faced criminal proceedings in Australia for taking the couple’s two dogs into the country illegally. She and Mr Depp later recorded a now infamous video, which was played to the court, apologising for doing so.
Mr Murphy said he lied under oath “because Amber wielded a lot of power and would have made my life miserable”.
He also gave evidence about the “defecation incident”, when faeces was found in the couple’s bed after Ms Heard’s 30th birthday party in April 2016.
Ms Wass read a text conversation between Ms Heard and Mr Murphy in October 2014, in which Mr Murphy suggested putting Boo with a dog trainer. Ms Heard replied: “I’m worried she’s got brain damage. She can’t seem to predict or control when she uses the bathroom. Last night she sh*t 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.”
Yesterday, Mr Depp’s previous estate manager, Ben King, gave evidence that Mr Depp and Ms Heard “argued like schoolchildren”, with explosive rows starting from “banal beginnings”.
He claimed Ms Heard was the “antagoniser” in the relationship, often “goading” the actor.
Mr King, who worked for the Hollywood star for three separate periods between 2014-16, said he never saw Mr Depp “be violent or unkind towards Ms Heard, or anyone else”.
The case continues.