Amber Heard alleged in court on Tuesday that Johnny Depp beat her up on her 30th birthday. She was giving evidence on the 11th day of Depp’s libel trial against the publisher of The Sun newspaper, which is taking place at London’s Royal Courts of Justice.
Depp is suing News Group Newspapers and journalist Dan Wootton for an article on The Sun’s website that described him as a “wife beater.” Depp denies that he was violent toward Heard, to whom he was married from 2015 to 2017.
Depp assaulted her, Heard alleges, after her 30th birthday party on April 21, 2016, when she complained that he had turned up late. “After hitting me, he took off, as he always did,” she told the court.
“I fell asleep once again alone in the house. Having woken up on my 30th birthday covered in glass, I was heartbroken,” she continued.
A month later the relationship collapsed. On May 21, 2016, Heard alleges Depp threw her own cell phone at her, hitting her in the face, which Depp denies. The next day, Heard sent a text to Erin Boerum, a nurse who treated both Heard and Depp during their relationship, which read: “It’s okay but he was completely delusional and crazed. Hit me in the face several times while on the phone to iO [Tillett Wright].”
When she went to court to file for divorce and seek a restraining order on May 23, 2016, Heard appeared to have sustained a bruise in the attack. Depp’s team alleges she used make-up to create the bruise.
Depp’s attorney, Eleanor Laws, played Heard CCTV footage of the actress at the Eastern Columbia Building, where she lived, on the afternoon of May 22, 2016, when she came down to collect a delivery from Cornelius Harrell, a concierge at the building. Laws said, “He saw you that day without any injuries, marks or anything.” Laws said that Isaac Baruch, a friend of Depp who lived in one of the actor’s five penthouses in the building, also saw Heard “without any injuries.”
Laws read out text messages between Heard and Tesla founder Elon Musk on the same day, in which Heard told Musk that she was going to obtain a restraining order against Depp. The billionaire offered to “arrange 24/7 security” for Heard. He added, “The offer would stand, even if you never wanted to see me again … anyway, sorry for being an idiot. The radio silence hurts a lot. It only matters because I really like you.”
In his testimony on July 10, Depp denied Heard’s allegations of abuse following her 30th birthday party. He claimed he left the house after Heard grew angry that night about his tardiness to her birthday dinner. Depp alleged that Heard or one of her friends defecated in their bed that night, calling the incident “a fitting end to the relationship.”
The trial continues Wednesday.