Wife of Johnny Depp is granted restraining order
In court with a bruised face, Amber Heard accuses actor of abusing her before she filed for divorce.
A Los Angeles judge granted actress Amber Heard a temporary restraining order against husband Johnny Depp on Friday after she appeared at the courthouse with a bruised face, alleging that the actor had physically abused her before she filed for divorce this week.
According to Superior Court Judge Carl H. Moor’s order, Depp must not come within 100 yards of Heard.
Laura A. Wasser, Depp’s attorney, said in a response that the actress was “attempting to secure a premature financial resolution by alleging abuse.”
“These issues can and will be resolved,” the declaration filed by Wasser said — noting that Depp and Heard were on different continents, making a restraining order unnecessary. Depp is willing to agree to a mutual stayaway order and currently is in Europe with his band, Hollywood Vampires. He is not expected to return home before June 7, according to the declaration.
Depp’s publicist did not respond to a request for comment.
In Heard’s court filing, she said that during the “entirety of our relationship ... I endured excessive emotional, verbal and physical abuse from Johnny, which has included angry, hostile, humiliating and threatening assaults to me whenever I questioned his authority or disagreed with him.”
Photographs of what appears to be a bruise surrounding Heard’s right eye and damage inside the couple’s downtown Los Angeles loft were submitted with the restraining order request.
The 30-year-old actress also claimed that Depp has a long history of drug and alcohol abuse.
“He has a short fuse,” according to Heard’s declaration. “He is often paranoid and his temper is exceptionally scary for me.” Heard asked the court to order Depp to attend 52 weeks of anger management courses; the request was denied on Friday pending a hearing in June.
Heard alleged in court documents that on the evening of May 20, an inebriated Depp, 52, returned to their loft and an altercation ensued. “Johnny then grabbed the cell phone, wound up his arm like a baseball pitcher and threw the cell phone at me striking my cheek and eye with great force.”
Los Angeles police went to the couple’s loft after receiving information from police in New York, said Capt. Don Graham, who oversees the LAPD’s Central Division. A woman had called New York police, saying “her friend Amber in L.A. was in a domestic dispute with her husband, Johnny Depp,” Graham said.
When officers arrived at the couple’s home, Graham said, they spoke with Heard, who was alone. “At the time, there was no evidence” of a crime, he said, adding that Heard told officers it was a “verbal dispute only.”
An LAPD spokesman said Friday that there was no active investigation into Depp.
“We are more than willing to investigate all crimes that are reported to us,” said Capt. Andy Neiman, a department spokesman. “At this point, we have no crime.”
On Thursday, a statement given to news organizations said: “Given the brevity of this marriage and the most recent and tragic loss of his mother, Johnny will not respond to any of the salacious false stories, gossip, misinformation and lies about his personal life. Hopefully the dissolution of this short marriage will be resolved quickly.”
Heard and Depp began dating in 2012, after meeting during the filming of 2011’s “The Rum Diary.” They married in 2015.