Amber Heard has claimed her ex-husband Johnny Depp would self-harm in front of her.
Depp is currently in the middle of a high court libel trial, as he is suing The Sun’s publishers News Group Newspapers (NGN) for an April 2018 column referring to him as a ‘wife-beater’.
Heard has been giving evidence in court over the past few days and on day 12, she told the court that the Pirates of the Caribbean star allegedly once put out a cigarette on his face.
While being cross-examined by Sasha Wass QC, Heard was asked about Depp self-harming and she claimed the actor’s body was ‘covered in scars’.
Claiming that she had seen Depp self-harm firsthand, Heard told the court: ‘He told me various stories about various moments in his life and he said he couldn’t handle the pain… I saw him do it to himself.’
Heard said she was ‘standing right in front of’ Depp when she saw him put out a cigarette on his face during an alleged incident in Australia in March 2015.
‘It was deliberate, he put it out on his face and screamed at me… he didn’t feel it because of how much pain he was in, and he was trying to justify taking the drugs,’ Heard said.
The actress claims Depp had ‘taken cocaine and MDMA’ and confirmed to Ms Wass that the cigarette burn was not the only time she had seen Depp harm himself.
NGN relies on 14 allegations of domestic violence for its defence over the 2018 article referring to Depp as a ‘wife beater’, with Heard accusing the actor of both verbal and physical abuse throughout their relationship.
Heard has accused Depp of allegedly punching, slapping, kicking, head-butting and choking her, as well as pulling on her hair and displaying ‘extremely controlling and intimidating behaviour’.
Depp, however, has denied all allegations of domestic abuse made against him. He says he was not violent towards Ms Heard, claiming it was she who was violent to him. Heard has denied such allegations.
Wednesday also saw Heard’s friends, Joshua Drew and Melanie Inglessis – her former make-up artist – give evidence from Los Angeles via video link.
Inglessis recalled speaking to Heard the day before she was due to appear on James Corden’s The Late Late Show in December 2015 and says Heard told her Depp allegedly ‘tried to suffocate her with a pillow’.
Inglessis said that Ms Heard was ‘erratic and upset’ and ‘looked quite distressed’, adding that Heard told her Depp had ‘tried to suffocate her with a pillow… those were her words.’
She claims Heard also told her that ‘she felt he tried to kill her that night and she said he dragged her by her hair.’
Inglessis said that Heard ‘wasn’t keen’ to appear on TV the following day and she detailed how she covered up the actress’ alleged injuries with make-up.
‘[Heard had] discolouration under her eyes, on the inner corner of her eyes by her nose. I recall her left eye being a little more bruised than the right eye. I remember the bridge of the nose being red and swollen [and] like cut or a scab on her lip,’ said Ingelessis.
She recalled using concealer to ‘try to conceal some of the bruises’ and told Heard there was ‘no other choice’ but for her to wear red lipstick to ‘cover the injury on her lip’.
Inglessis told the court she had never seen Depp be violent towards to Heard, nor had she ever seen Heard be violent towards Depp.
The trial continues.
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