Johnny Depp had his chance to make a final pitch to the jury, and on Thursday, it was Amber Heard‘s turn. The 36-year-old actress took the stand again as the pair’s defamation trial comes to an end after six weeks.
Heard was emotional as she spoke about the “thousands” of death threats she received since the defamation trial began on April 11, including threats directed at here 1-year-old daughter. Heard said Depp “promised” her this “global humiliation” if she ever left him and testified she’s not lying about being abused.
“I am harassed, humiliated, threatened every single day. Even just walking into this courtroom, sitting here in front of the world, having the worst parts of my life, things that I’ve lived through used to humiliate me. People want to kill me and they tell me so every day. People want to put my baby in the microwave, and they tell me that. Johnny threatened — promised me — that if I ever left him he’d make me think of him every single day that I’ve lived,” she began.
Heard is countersuing Depp for $100 million for alleged defamatory statements made by the actor’s lawyer, Adam Waldman, who told media outlets her abuse claims were a hoax. Heard said the smear campaign launched against her has killed her career.
“In the harassment and the humiliation, the campaign against me that’s echoed every single day on social media, and now in front of cameras in this [courtroom] every single day, I have to relive the trauma,” she continued. “My hands shake, I wake up screaming, I have to live with the trauma and the damage done to me.”
Heard said her friends and romantic partners have “unspoken rules” about “how they can deal with me, how they can touch me.” She told the jury she’s still triggered because of Depp’s alleged abuse, like when she trained for a combat scene for Aquaman 2.
“I have a meltdown and have to deal with that, the crew I work with have to deal with that because of the damage I walk around with every single day,” she told the jury.
Heard took aim at Depp’s courtroom demeanor.
“I’m not sitting here in this courtroom snickering… laughing, smiling, making snide jokes. I’m not,” she said. “This is horrible. This is painful and this is humiliating for any human being to go through.”
Heard began crying: “Perhaps it’s easy to forget that, but I’m a human being… I don’t deserve this. I want to move on.”
“As I stand here today I can’t have a career,” she added. “People mocking, mocking my testimony about being assaulted.
“It’s been agonizing. Agonizing, painful, the most humiliating thing I’ve ever had to go through,” she continued. “I hope no one ever has to go through something like this. I just want Johnny to leave me alone.”
Depp is suing heard for $50 million over a 2018 op-ed she wrote in the Washington Post. The actor maintains he never abused his ex-wife, sexually or otherwise.
“Johnny has taken enough of my voice. I have the right to tell my story,” Heard declared. “I have a right as an American to talk about what happened to me, to own my story and my truth. I have that right. I hope to get my voice back. It’s all I want and I’ve said that from day one.”
Depp’s fan-favorite attorney, Camille Vasquez, handled cross-examination and was just as tough on Heard as she was the first time. Vasquez said Heard is humiliated because she’s lying.
“Your lies have been exposed to the world multiple times, right?” Vasquez asked.
“I haven’t lied here about anything,” Heard maintained.
Vasquez went after Heard’s credibility, just like Depp dealt with during Wednesday’s cross-examination, and highlighted some of her contradictory claims. She also pressed Heard on supposedly setting up a photo-op with TMZ of a bruised eye in 2016.
“I did not call TMZ or any other news source,” Heard maintained, adding, “What actual survivor of domestic violence wants that?”
Vasquez recounted the testimony of many of Depp’s witnesses who claimed that Heard was the aggressor in the pair’s relationship. She also noted the witnesses who testified on behalf of Depp that may have caught Heard by surprise, like Kate Moss.
“I know how many people will come out of the woodwork to support Johnny,” Heard replied. The supermodel isn’t exactly someone who needs to come out of the woodwork, as Vasquez noted. But Heard maintained that the “stairs” rumor was common knowledge.
“Everybody who is around in the ’90s and early aughts knew that rumor,” Heard replied. “I did not expect [Kate] to show up or not expect her to show up.”
Heard had the final word during redirect.
“Did Mr. Depp abuse you physically?” her attorney, Ben Rottenborn, asked.
“Yes,” Heard replied. She looked at the jury confirming that Depp also verbally, emotionally and psychologically abused her.
“Johnny promised me, promised me he would ruin me. That he’d ruin my career, he’d take my life from me, death was the only way out and if I got out, this is what he’d do to me,” Heard stated.
“He promised me global humiliation,” she added, referring to a text Depp sent. “What you see in this courtroom is an echo… of the violence and abuse that I suffered within our relationship.”
Closing arguments will be presented on Friday morning and the jury will begin deliberations.
MORE: Kate Moss testifies that Johnny Depp “never pushed” or “threw me down any stairs”
