A former personal assistant to Amber Heard said she never witnessed the actress being physically abused by her then-husband Johnny Depp – but she said Heard once spat in her face when she asked for a higher salary.
Heard would sink into screaming fits of blind rage, send incoherent text messages at 4 a.m. and was often drunk and high on illegal drugs, Kate James said in a video testimony played Thursday during the trial for Depp’s defamation lawsuit against Heard in court.
Depp, on the other hand, is very quiet, almost shy, “like a total southern gentleman,” James said.
The Pirates of the Caribbean actor has accused Heard of indirectly defaming him in a 2018 op-ed piece she wrote for the Washington Post. Heard describes himself in the article as a “public figure representing domestic violence.” Depp does not name the play. But his attorneys argue that it clearly relates to a restraining order Heard requested in May 2016, right after Depp told her he wanted a divorce.
Depp denies molesting Heard, but Heard’s lawyers say evidence will show he did it. They argue that the actor’s denials are not credible because he frequently drank and used drugs until he passed out and could not remember anything he had done.
James’ video testimony offered a reverse view: Depp was the peaceful one, she said, while Heard was frequently drunk and verbally abusive, including towards her own mother and sister.
“Your poor sister was basically treated like a dog that got kicked,” James said.
James, who worked for Heard from 2012 to 2015, said she was paid “very badly.” She said she was hired at a starting salary of $25 an hour and her duties ranged from picking up Heard’s dry cleaning to speaking to the actress’ Hollywood agents.
James said she was also tasked with getting two copies of a magazine featuring Heard and keeping them in the garage to prevent Depp from seeing them. Heard went into a “blind rage” when James failed to put the magazines in the garage, James said.
Regarding Heard and Depp’s time together, James said Heard is a “very dramatic person” who is deeply insecure in the relationship. Heard often called James to cry and complain about Depp, she said.
“I remember she called me once when she was alone in New York City crying and walking the streets,” James said. She said she told Heard to go inside: “I was afraid the paparazzi might take a picture of her.”
Part of the statement focused on a text message Depp sent to James after he and Heard split. Depp’s text read, “Stop by for a patch of purple and we’ll fix her flabby ass nice and good.”
A lawyer asked if “purple spot” meant wine and if “she” meant heart. James said she didn’t want to speculate.
“That’s how he writes,” James said of Depp. “It’s very arbitrary and you don’t question it. … He writes very abstractly.”
Lawyers also presented a video statement from Laurel Anderson, a couples therapist who worked with Heard and Depp in 2015 when they were 29 and 52, respectively.
Anderson said both suffered child abuse. As a couple, they engaged in “mutual abuse,” she testified.
Heard’s father hit her, Anderson said, adding, “It was a point of pride for her if she felt disrespected for starting a fight.”
Heard would also rather argue with Depp than see him go, and “would hit him to keep him there,” Anderson said.
The therapist recalled a time when Heard told her that Depp “‘amplifies,’ as she would say, a lot of drugs.”
“And she hit him for being incoherent and talking about being with another woman,” Anderson said. She noted that Depp’s mother was in the hospital at the time.
Anderson said Depp told her Heard “gave as good as she got.” She also said that in at least one session where she saw Heard alone, the actress told her that Depp hit her. She said Heard has shown her bruises both in photos and in person.
Anderson said Heard also told her that Depp allegedly once said, “No one likes you. You get fame from me. I am falling in love with you. You’re a whore.”
Anderson also said that Heard’s “jackhammer-talking style” and habit of cutting off Depp overwhelmed him.
I heard “wanted a divorce,” but didn’t either, and was still contemplating what to do, Anderson said. “She loved him. He loved her. She wasn’t stupid. She knew what they were doing wasn’t healthy.”
Both Depp and Heard are expected to testify alongside actors Paul Bettany and James Franco and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk at the six-week trial in Fairfax County Circuit Court.
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This story was edited to correct a word in Anderson’s quote to “jackhammer” rather than “chatterbox.”