Case on a knife edge
WASHINGTON: Amber Heard has been grilled on the stand over why she gave Johnny Depp a knife as a gift when she said he was already hitting her and she feared for her life.
Heard ended her four days of testimony, in which she defending herself in the $70 million defamation lawsuit.
Depp sued his former wife over a 2018 article in The Washington Post. Heard has countersued for $140 million. Questioned by Elaine Bredehoft, her lawyer, Heard said Depp cannot look at her “because he’s guilty. He’s lying,” she said while appearing to hold back tears. “I survived that man and I’m here and I’m able to look at him.”
Heard was responding to a statement from Depp’s lawyers which said that after their separation in 2016 he promised he would never look at her again. Depp’s lawyer Camille Vasquez challenged Heard’s account of when her allegations of abuse by Depp began, noting that Heard initially said 2013 but then said she recalled some incidents in 2012.
“He was hitting me in 2012,” Heard said. “He just took a break in the middle.”
Vasquez then called for a knife to be brought into the court and showed it to Heard
and the jury. The court was told that the actress gave the weapon to Depp as a gift in 2012 during their volatile relationship. Heard said during one of their final meetings in July 2016 they had a “short exchange” and Depp placed a note in her pocket reading: “I’ll love you forever my Slim dead or alive.”
The actress was accused of leaking stories. The court was played a video deposition
from 2016 in which Heard said an American showbiz website had been “alerted” to her application for a temporary restraining order. Heard raised her hands to her face, shocked.
“You slipped up,” Vasquez said.
Heard later confirmed James Franco, who Depp accused her of having an affair with, visited her the night before she filed for divorce.