Editor’s Note: Some testimonies contain graphic language and descriptions of sexual and physical assault.
Testimony ended Thursday in Johnny Depp’s civil defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife Amber Heard. Heard’s legal team was resting after she returned to the witness stand as a rebuttal witness summoned by her attorneys.
Depp is suing Heard in Fairfax County Circuit Court in Virginia for $50 million over a December 2018 comment she wrote in the Washington Post describing herself as “a public figure who advocates domestic violence.” described. His lawyers say he was defamed by the article, although he never mentioned his name. Heard is filing a $100 million countersuit, alleging Depp’s attorney defamed her by calling her abuse allegations a hoax.
Heard said she’s “harassed, humiliated, threatened every day” thanks to what Depp and his attorney Adam Waldman said about her.
Actor Amber Heard testifies during the Depp vs. Heard libel trial in Fairfax County Circuit Court in Fairfax, Virginia, on May 26, 2022. POOL / REUTERS
“Even just walking into this courtroom, sitting here in front of the world, the worst parts of my life and the things I’ve been through have humbled me. People want to kill me and they tell me every day. People want to put my baby in a microwave and they tell me that,” she said.
Heard says she received death threats and was mocked for her testimony about the assault, which she described as “excruciating” and “painful.”
Depp has denied ever hitting Heard and says she was the perpetrator of the relationship. Heard has testified about more than a dozen counts of physical abuse she allegedly suffered at Depp’s hands.
Depp’s legal team dropped his case earlier in the day after calling his own rebuttal witnesses, including Depp himself.
Depp testified Wednesday, calling Heard’s allegations “crazy.”
“Ridiculous, humiliating, ridiculous, painful, wild, incredibly brutal, cruel and all wrong,” Depp said when asked about his reaction to Heard’s allegations when she testified early in the trial.
Both he and Heard testified at length at the beginning of the trial.
Also on Wednesday, supermodel Kate Moss, a former girlfriend of Depp, denied that she had ever been pushed or attacked by Depp in the course of their relationship. Heard had referenced Moss in her testimony and a rumor that Depp had pushed Moss down a flight of stairs when the two were dating in the 1990s.
Model Kate Moss, a former girlfriend of actor Johnny Depp, is sworn in to testify via video link during Depp’s libel trial of his ex-wife Amber Heard at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse in Fairfax, Virginia May 25, 2022. Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters