Whitney Henriquez admitted to feeling "sick" about her sister's engagement to Johnny Depp.
Curious to know why?
Keep watching to learn the truth about Amber Heard's sister.
Amber Heard and Whitney Henriquez grew up in Texas.
Their father, David Clinton Heard, had an ongoing issue with substance abuse.
While testifying in London's High Court during Johnny Depp's 2020 libel trial, Amber admitted:
"[My father] struggled with alcohol and drug abuse issues his whole life.
[...] He is an addict and an alcoholic and he was very violent but I love him very much."
Amber and Whitney's mother, Patricia Paige, lived through the challenges of a relationship
with their dad, so Amber said that she often reached out to her mom for advice.
In a text exchange from 2013, Amber wrote to her mother,
"[Depp] makes dad look like a saint when he falls off the wagon."
Amber and Henriquez's father didn't just struggle with substance abuse, though.
He was also allegedly abusive.
Amber told London's High Court in 2020:
"My father was violent to my mother growing up.
They loved each other but he was very violent to her until ... she passed away."
This wasn't the only revelation aired about their dad recently.
In April 2021, Radar Online exclusively reported that, in 1982, David was arrested and sent
to jail for running illegal pit bull fighting rings on his property.
He only spent 15 days in jail with charges of aggravated cruelty to an animal.
Nevertheless, Henriquez still had fond feelings for her father.
In 2013, she posted a photo to Instagram with her dad captioned,
"Oh Poppa Heard."
Amber Heard isn't the only actor in the family.
Her sister, Whitney Henriquez, had a role in the 2007 caveman comedy, Homo Erectus.
Unfortunately, the movie was a critical and commercial failure, with a Los Angeles Times
critic writing,
"Thanks to natural selection, without the script, direction or comedic chops to survive,
'Homo Erectus' will be extinct from theaters soon enough."
That seemed to be the end of Henriquez's acting career, and according to Hollywood Life, she
began working in the hospitality industry soon after.
Henriquez confirmed the change in her professional industry during the defamation trial, telling
the court
"Before the pandemic, I worked in hotels doing various food and beverage management jobs,
primarily events as well."
Outside of her professional life, Henriquez has an admittedly happy personal life.
The former actress is married to ​​Gavin Henriquez and the couple welcomed a son, Hunter.
In February 2020, Henriquez posted a family photo with the caption:
"Not sure how I got so lucky, or what I've done to deserve this ... but alas, here I
am.
[...] BEYOND grateful!!!"
In March 2022, the Henriquezes welcomed a daughter, Harlin Willow.
Henriquez didn't tell anyone about her pregnancy and instead broke the news after the birth,
writing on Instagram:
"Well ... for those of you that have been wondering where I've been for the better part
of a year, SURPRISE!
I've been growing another human!
Meet Harlin Willow ... our perfect little girl was born just about a week ago and we
couldn't be happier!"
Whitney Henriquez and Amber Heard have, by all accounts, a close relationship.
"And you were really close with Miss Heard growing up?"
"We were."
In December 2018, Heard spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about Henriquez, admitting,
"She's my best friend.
She's my partner in crime."
Henriquez has certainly returned the compliments and frequently raves about her sister on social
media.
For Heard's birthday in 2019, Henriquez wrote to her sister on Instagram, writing in part:
"You never pass up an opportunity to show up for me, or anyone else you love for that
matter."
Heard was very hands-on during the birth of her nephew, too, with Henriquez writing on
Instagram:
"Hell, you were even holding my hand in the delivery room when Hunter was born.
You're the strongest, bravest most talented and kind person I've ever known — and you
have been from day one.
You're not only my built-in best friend, you're also my hero."
Henriquez has also joined Heard at premieres, like the 2017 grand opening of Justice League.
Henriquez wrote in an Instagram caption:
"So proud of my sis, the bad ass Mera."
But things might not always have been easy between the sisters.
A video has been circulating of friends speaking to Henriquez about a fight between her and
Heard.
Henriquez called it an "altercation," though a woman in the video asked her,
"Did you really start the fight with your sister?
Or did she start it?
For real, for real, for real."
"We're not going to talk about that."
However, the sisters' friendship certainly seems to override any conflict from their
past.
When Johnny Depp and Amber Heard started dating, it wasn't long before Whitney Henriquez became
close with her future brother-in-law.
During his 2022 defamation trial, Depp had this recollection about his first encounter
with Heard's sister:
"When I first met Whitney, there was something in what I saw of Whitney that was much less
confident than Amber, much more revealing of insecurities."
When asked about his relationship with Henriquez, Depp said it was, quote, "great and fantastic."
"I took to Whitney very, very quickly, very easily."
But the actor also mentioned that there was something tragic in her, too.
Depp added during his testimony:
"I had always felt like Whitney had missed out on something."
Depp said that Henriquez was living in Los Angeles when he first began dating Heard and
said that he saw her a lot, saying that she visited often for dinners with a man she was
dating at the time.
Depp owned five penthouses in the coveted Eastern Columbia building in Los Angeles when
he was in a relationship with Heard.
During the defamation trial, Depp explained that Henriquez eventually moved into one of
his penthouses.
He said she lived there for a few years and he didn't charge her anything for rent.
Since his and Heard's contentious divorce, Depp has sold that property.
Things got rocky between Amber Heard and Whitney Henriquez in 2015.
Henriquez had a friend who was working at People magazine at the time, and Johnny Depp
allegedly accused her of selling their wedding photos to the outlet.
While testifying in London's High Court in 2020, Henriquez said that, as a result of
the disagreement, she moved out of the penthouse where she was living for free and severed
contact with her sister and Depp.
Henriquez admitted during her testimony:
"I fell out with both of them."
Henriquez vehemently denies ever selling any of her sister's wedding photos and added that
she felt betrayed by Heard for not taking her side, telling the court:
"I was upset that she believed Johnny over me, and there was a long period in 2015 when
I was estranged from Amber and Johnny because of this."
She then moved out of the apartment, but reportedly refused to sign an NDA she was allegedly presented
with.
Johnny Depp's history with drug and alcohol addiction came up continuously during the
defamation trial between him and Amber Heard.
During the trial, Depp admitted that he had done drugs with Whitney Henriquez, guessing
it happened two or three times.
When Heard was testifying in court, she had a photo that she had taken years prior of
their breakfast table.
On it were four lines of cocaine and a tampon applicator.
Heard explained her sister's surprising connection to this photo, telling the court:
"The tampon applicator next to the driver's license that you see is a device that I believe
my sister had taught him to use in order to put the cocaine in your nose."
Record producer and musician Bruce Witkin testified in court and brought up Depp's drug
use at the time, noting that Heard was also taking drugs.
Additionally, Witkin told the court Depp and Heard "both seemed like zombies."
Witkin said that Depp's drug use raised concerns and that the actor did seek therapy.
Witkin said in court:
"[Depp] did it a little bit, but then he stopped because, in my experience, it's deep-rooted
issues that he's dealing with that has nothing to do with Amber.
That's my opinion."
So while Depp did drugs with Heard and Henriquez, as far as Witkin was concerned, the larger
picture had nothing to do with either woman.
While Whitney Henriquez seemed to get along well with Johnny Depp early on in his relationship
with Amber Heard, she claimed she had observed evidence of Depp's abuse.
She stated she saw bruises on Heard and confronted both her sister and Depp about it, who both
deflected and downplayed the situation.
Henriquez said,
"[Amber] said that she must have done something to annoy him or antagonize him.
I told her she needed to leave because it wasn't worth it if he would do that to her."
In light of this, Henriquez was upset when she heard that Heard and Depp were going to
get married.
In 2020, when Depp sued The Sun for defamation after the outlet called him a "wife beater,"
Whitney testified in London and said she, quote, "felt sick about" their engagement.
For Amber, however, the proposal was a very different experience.
The actress revealed to the court:
"I felt like the luckiest woman in the world."
Whitney Henriquez played a big part in the defamation trial between Johnny Depp and Amber
Heard because she was close with both of them throughout their relationship.
Henriquez spoke about her impressions of Depp after initially meeting him:
"We got along really well at first.
He was sober at the time and Johnny when he's sober is very bright and beautiful and lovely
and kind and generous and he was very easy to get to know.
Frankly, we all fell in love with him at first."
Henriquez said she had never seen her sister so in love with someone, but said that if
Depp was using drugs or abusing alcohol, the relationship would unravel.
She said they almost always got into fights, explaining to the court:
"He would be sober for a little bit and almost as quickly fall off the wagon and start to
use or drink and there would be some big blowout."
Henriquez came up later in the trial as well.
The manager of the Eastern Columbia building in Los Angeles claimed he saw video footage
of Henriquez throwing Heard a fake punch.
Depp's lawyer said this incident occurred in the same week of Heard's allegations of
domestic abuse at the hands of Depp.
His lawyers used this as a rebuttal to Heard's allegations, claiming a sister would never
joke about this.
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.