I was afraid he would kill me, Amber Heard says of her ex-husband Johnny Depp

Steph Deschamps / July 20, 2020

American actress Amber Heard said she was afraid her ex-husband Johnny Depp would kill her, in testimony examined Monday in London during the lawsuit filed by the "Pirate of the Caribbean" star against the tabloid The Sun.

Cited as a witness by the defense of the British newspaper, which Johnny Depp is prosecuting for having described him in April 2018 as an abusive husband, the 34-year-old actress accused her ex-spouse of having subjected her to verbal and physical assaults, threats and intimidation. The defamation trial enters its third and, in principle, last week before the London High Court.

The couple divorced in 2017 after 15 months of a stormy marriage. In the divorce proceedings, Amber Heard withdrew her complaint for violence and Johnny Depp paid her seven million dollars (6.11 million euros), which the actress had donated to associations.

In its defense, the British tabloid invokes 14 incidents where Johnny Depp would have been violent against his wife. The 57-year-old actor vigorously disputes these accusations, and says it was she who was violent towards him. Some of these episodes were "so serious that I was afraid he would kill me, whether intentionally or by losing control", "by going too far," she said in her written testimony.

"He is good for handling »

Asked by the lawyer for the actor, Eleanor Laws, Amber Heard confirmed that she suffered regular and repeated physical violence from the actor. "He explicitly threatened to kill me many times, especially at the end of our relationship," she said in her written testimony, "he is very good at manipulating people. »

According to her, he blamed what he called "the monster" "rather than himself" for his actions. "He was talking about it like it was some other person or some other personality and not him doing all these things," she said in this testimony, where she accuses Johnny Depp of victimizing himself.

She says that Johnny Depp's entourage tried to convince her to "stay or come back" after these "episodes of violence". She stayed, she says, hoping to help the actor get rid of his drug and alcohol addictions