In her deposition, Amber Heard has told a court she was “heartbroken” the first time Johnny Depp hit her, as she tearfully described the alleged incident that had “changed her life”.
The Aquaman star said she had not known how to react following the alleged incident as she gave evidence in the US defamation trial brought against her by her former partner.
On Wednesday, the actress’ attorney Elaine Bredehoft asked Heard to recall the first time Depp “physically hit” her. Heard — who had already testified about their relationship being “always intense” from the start — said she will “never forget” the moment because “it changed my life.”
Heard said she and Depp were having a “normal conversation” on the couch during the period of their relationship when she asked him about the tattoo on his arm that was “hard to read.” When he explained it, she laughed, which set Depp off, said Heard.
“It was that simple. I just laughed because I thought he was joking. And he slapped me across the face,” said Heard. “I laughed, because I didn’t know what else to do. I thought, ‘This must be a joke.’ … I didn’t know what was going on. I just stared at him, kind of laughing still, thinking he was gonna start laughing too to tell me it was a joke. But he didn’t.”
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She said he slapped her again after calling her a “funny bitch.”
“It was clear it wasn’t a joke anymore,” Amber Heard added in her deposition, who said she didn’t know how to react next. “You would think you’d have a response, but I, as a woman, had never been hit like that. I’m an adult and I’m sitting next to the man I love and he slapped me for no reason it seemed like. I missed the point. It was that stupid.”
When she didn’t react or respond other than to continue staring at him, Heard said that Depp slapped her “one more time, hard.” Getting visibly emotional, Heard said she lost her balance and fell to the carpet.
“I wish so much he had said he was joking. ‘Cause it didn’t hurt; it didn’t physically hurt me. … I didn’t want to leave him. I didn’t want this to be the reality. I didn’t want to have the man I was in love with— I know you don’t come back from that. I’m not dumb. You can’t hit a woman, you can’t hit a man. You can’t hit anyone.”
Crying, Heard said on the stand while looking at the jury, “I knew it was wrong. And I knew that I had to leave him. And that’s what broke my heart. … I wish I could sit here and say I stood up and I walked out of that house and I drew a line and I stood up for myself.”
Heard’s direct questioning is only just beginning, and she’ll be back on the stand Thursday morning when court reconvenes.