The Johnny Depp/Amber Heard defamation trial continues to make headlines, and so does Amber
Heard's behavior.
What kind of controversy has come to light now?
Keep watching to learn even more about the double life of Amber Heard.
Johnny Depp's legal team strengthened its offensive when it called upon Amber Heard's
former personal assistant, Kate James, to testify against her former boss.
In a pre-taped video played in court in April 2022, James said she worked for the actor
from 2012 through 2015 and claimed she was repeatedly abused.
James recalled a number of instances in which Heard allegedly yelled at her in a "blind
rage" and claimed that she was hit with "barrages of abusive text messages day and night."
She claimed the messages were incoherent, and that Heard just wanted "someone to lash
out at."
James also testified that she never saw any bruising or signs of abuse on Heard, that
the former couple's home always appeared in order, and that Heard never confided in her
about any mistreatment.
The most shocking revelation, however, came as James claimed that when she once asked
for a raise.
She said that Heard
"leapt up out of her chair, put her face four inches from my face, telling me how dare I
ask the salary I was asking for.
She felt that gave her the right to spit in my face."
The former assistant added that Heard's alleged habit of mistreatment extended to her own
sister and mother, and James referred to Depp as a "total Southern gentleman" whom she never
saw lose his temper.
During the 2020 court proceedings linked to Johnny Depp's libel lawsuit against The Sun
where the magazine labeled him a "wife beater," the actor's legal team tried to prove Amber
Heard had a history of physical abuse.
"Depp's legal team made it very clear yesterday that the case is all about vindication for
his reputation."
Depp's lawyer, David Sherborne, told a London court he had a video that would prove Heard
"had a history of violence and attacking people."
In said clip, the "Aquaman" star's younger sister, Whitney Henriquez, is shown having
her face and arm examined by a woman who proclaims, "I can't believe Amber beat your a--."
However, when Henriquez took to the stand, she was adamant that the footage wasn't what
it seemed.
Explaining that she had only had a verbal disagreement with her sister, Henriquez explained
that the clip was filmed for a "really bad reality show" in the mid-2000s, and that the
woman was simply "trying to make a very, very boring conversation more interesting."
Henriquez was also asked about a 2015 incident during which Heard admitted she hit Depp in
order to protect her sister, whom she feared he would push down the stairs.
Recalling the fight that allegedly occurred on the staircase in the building where they
all lived, Henriquez seemingly corroborated the story, claiming that Depp was trying to
push her aside to get to Heard.
She claimed that
"Amber suddenly lurched forward and hit him and said 'Don't hit my sister.'"
After Johnny Depp filed his $50 million defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard in 2019, she responded
by filing her own court documents, in which she detailed her ex's alleged physical and
psychological abuse — abuse that she said resulted in her suffering from post-traumatic
stress disorder.
Heard's argument was that Depp's legal team set out to debunk her claims by hiring a clinical
and forensic psychologist named Dr. Shannon Curry to evaluate Heard.
Dr. Curry spent about 12 hours with Heard in person and also analyzed various court
documents, videos, and evidence.
Delivering her verdict in court in April 2022, she concluded that Heard allegedly had borderline
personality disorder and histrionic personality disorder, but apparently not PTSD.
According to the Mayo Clinic, patients with borderline personality disorder often have
"an intense fear of abandonment or instability;" however, their "inappropriate anger, impulsiveness
and frequent mood swings" may make keeping relationships difficult.
Meanwhile, histrionic personality disorder typically manifests itself in a willingness
to do almost anything to be the center of attention.
Indeed, Dr. Curry assessed that Heard was a type 36 personality, insisting:
"Very concerned with their image, very attention-seeking, very prone to externalizing blame to a point."
And while she conceded that Heard still could have been psychologically harmed by Depp,
as she's alleged, Dr. Curry concluded that Heard was allegedly "grossly exaggerating
symptoms of PTSD when asked about them."
Amber Heard first met Elon Musk on the set of 2013's Machete Kills.
At that point, Heard was with Johnny Depp and Musk was married.
They apparently hit it off, but didn't publicly acknowledge a romantic relationship until
April 2017, when Heard posted a photo of them to Instagram.
In that photo Musk had a print of her red lipstick on his cheek.
As one source told People, friendship didn't blossom into love until they were both single
— a claim Depp refuted.
During his libel case against The Sun, Depp accused his ex-wife of cheating on him with
the Tesla founder.
He later repeated those same claims during his defamation suit against Heard, alleging
that she and Musk first got together in 2015.
What's more, he accused the couple of having a threesome with Cara Delevingne at his home
in 2016, after he and Heard split.
It was an allegation Musk denied, telling Page Six,
"Cara and I are friends, but we've never been intimate."
He also underscored the fact that he and Heard only started dating a month after Heard filed
for divorce.
While we may never know the real timeline, Depp and Heard's former talent agent, Christian
Carino, added his own take on the matter while testifying in court in April 2022.
Carino said that while Heard and Depp were indeed separated at the time she was with
Musk, she was allegedly "just filling space" with the billionaire while trying to fix things
with Depp.
In April 2022, Johnny Depp's defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard took yet another turn
when Heard's claims that Depp had thrown a phone at her in 2016, leaving her face bruised,
were refuted by several parties.
Some witnesses claimed they saw Heard practicing fake punching with her sister.
Then there was Depp's neighbor and childhood friend, Isaac Baruch, who testified that he
saw Heard shortly after the alleged incident.
Baruch claimed that Heard showed him her face as evidence, but that as he looked closely,
he alleged,
"I don't see a cut, a bruise, swelling, redness."
What's more, police officers who arrived at the stars' home that day said they failed
to see any visible marks on Heard.
The LAPD officers recalled how Heard refused to speak to them, and officer Tyler Hadden
told the court,
"Just because I see a female with pink cheeks and pink eyes doesn't mean something happened."
Six days later, Heard sought a temporary restraining order against Deep.
For her part, Heard's attorney, Elaine Bredehoft, argued that her client was a master of covering
up her bruising and showed the court Milani Cosmetics' All-In-One Correcting Kit, saying
Heard used it throughout her relationship with Depp.
It was a claim the beauty brand quickly debunked on TikTok, writing, "Let the record show that
our Correcting Kit launched in 2017."
If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National
Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233.
You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.