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Amber Heard on Thursday responded to a $50 million defamation suit filed by her ex-husband, Johnny Depp, by going into harrowing detail in court papers about the multiple times before and during their marriage she said the actor was high on drugs or alcohol, became “the Monster” and punched, slapped, kicked, pulled her hair or choked her.
“In one of the most horrific and scariest moments of this three-day ordeal, Johnny grabbed me by the neck and collarbone and slammed me against the countertop,” Heard said about an incident in March 2015, according to court papers filed in the Circuit Court of Fairfax, Va., and which were obtained by the New York Post.
The couple, married about a month, were living in Australia in March 2015 while he filmed “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.” Heard said that Depp took MDMA/ecstasy and was awake, drinking and violent for three days.
“I struggled to stand up as he strangled me,” Heard continued in the court papers, “but my arms and feet kept slipping and sliding on to the spilled alcohol and were dragged against the broken glass on the countertop and floor, which repeatedly slashed my feet and arms.”
According to previous reports, the “Aquaman” actress had claimed that Depp accused her of cheating on him with Billy Bob Thornton. Sometime during that three-day ordeal, Heard also alleged that Depp sliced off one of his fingertips on a piece of glass when he smashed several bottles and windows.
In court papers, Heard described another incident in which Depp expressed jealousy about another actor. While flying on a private plane from Los Angeles to Boston in May 2014, she said a drunken Depp became angry that she had filmed a love scene with James Franco the day before, according to the New York Post. She said Depp threw objects at her, pushed a chair at her and taunted her by yelling out “James Franco.”
“At some point, I stood up, and Johnny kicked me in the back, causing me to fall over,” Heard said in the court papers. “Johnny threw his boot at me while I was on the ground. Johnny continued to scream obscenities until he went into the plane bathroom and passed out locked in the bathroom for the remainder of the flight.”
Heard, 32, has asked a judge to dismiss the lawsuit that Depp filed over a December 2018 Washington Post op-ed, in which she wrote about being a victim of domestic violence, though she didn’t name him in the piece, the New York Post said.
Depp, 55, has repeatedly denied the abuse allegations, with his lawyer Alan Waldman telling the Washington Post: “The only way for Amber Heard to sustain her hoax is with more lies.”
Waldman also told the Washington Post that he and Depp have collected dozens of videos, photographs and eyewitness to back up assertions that Heard was the violent, abusive partner in the relationship. Waldman said Heard punched the actor and threw a can of paint thinner at this head.
But Heard has provided exhibits of her own, according to the Washington Post and the New York Post. The exhibits include photos of her with bruises on her face, images of damage she says Depp did to their home, and screenshots of text messages sent by Depp, in which he seemed to acknowledge his behavior and apologize.
In a text message written after the alleged plane incident, Depp said, “Once again, I find myself in a place of shame and regret. Of course, I am sorry. I really don’t know why or what happened. But I will never do it again.”
Heard and Depp began dating in 2012, then married in 2015. They divorced in 2016 after she sought a restraining order, claiming he threw a phone at her face, and grabbed her hair and slapped her.
Heard said in court papers that a dark side of Depp began to emerge about a year into their relationship when she began to see him abusing alcohol, illegal narcotics and prescription medications.
“He would become a totally different person, often delusional and violent,” Heard said. “We called that version of Johnny, ‘the Monster.'”
Heard also hit back at those who claim she faked her injuries and her abuse allegations, or who say that she was violent toward Depp. She said her career suffered after she filed for divorce from the superstar.
“Many people called me a liar (without ever hearing my story),” Heard said. “I was dropped from a global fashion brand’s upcoming campaign. I lost a part for a movie in which I had already been cast. People I have never met or spoken to threatened me with violence. I received so many death threats I had to change my phone number on a near-weekly basis.”
“People accused me of having abused Johnny,” she added. “That simply is not true. I never attacked Johnny other than in self-defense (and in defense of my little sister).”
Heard suggested she wrote her Washington Post op-ed in order to “promote good in the world and to advocate an end to domestic violence.”
In speaking out against domestic violence, she said she has always tried to avoid specifically referencing Depp. She said she is bound by a strict confidentiality agreement she signed as part of their divorce settlement, but she also said, “I want to move past that phase of my life.”
