Amber Heard to take stand in Johnny Depp defamation trial after Elon Musk claims
Amber Heard to take stand after Elon Musk dragged into defamation trial (Shawn Thew/AFP via Getty Images)
Amber Heard will reportedly take the stand as the first witness for her defence in her defamation fight with ex-husband Johnny Depp.
Depp, 58, is suing Heard, 35, in a $50 million defamation suit over an op-ed she wrote for The Washington Post in which she accused him of being abusive. Heard has sued back, with a $100 million counterclaim against Depp, alleging “abuse and harassment”.
According to Deadline, Heard could begin her testimony as soon as Monday (2 May), when Depp’s team finishes its case.
The trial began on 11 April in Virginia’s Fairfax County district courthouse, and has so far seen Depp accused of sexually assaulting Heard, and texting a friend hoping “Amber Heard’s rotting corpse was decomposing” in the trunk of a car. Depp has denied hitting Heard, stating that he would “never strike a woman”, and has denied the sexual assault claim.
The court also previously heard the couple’s marriage counsellor describe their relationship as “mutually abusive”.
Jurors were told this week that the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) helped Heard draft her Washington Post op-ed after the organisation was promised a $3.5 million donation from her divorce.
The court heard that of the $1.3 million portion of the donation that was meant to come from Heard, $100,000 came directly from Depp and $500,000 was found to have come from a fund connected to Heard’s ex-boyfriend Elon Musk. Just $350,000 was contributed directly from Heard, the trial found, per The Guardian.
Musk’s attorney Alex Spiro has said his client will not testify during the trial.
A talent agent who once represented Heard and Depp also made claims about Heard’s relationship with Musk in court, claiming that she was “just filling space” while trying to reconcile with Depp.
Depp spent four days giving testimony in the trial ahead of Heard standing herself, in one case alleging that shortly after the couple were married, an argument had become so serious that it ended in his finger being sliced off.
During the fight in Australia in 2015, he claimed Heard had thrown two vodka bottles at him, one of which smashed and severed his finger.
He said: “I don’t know what a nervous breakdown feels like, but that’s probably the closest that I’ve ever been. Nothing made sense and I knew in my mind and in my heart that this is not life.”
Johnny Depp said his mental state was so bad that he began “to write in my own blood on the walls”, before eventually texting his doctor to come to the house.
The trial continues, and is expected to last six weeks.
