Amber Heard loves guns, says she sleeps with a firearm nearby as it makes her feel safe
For the past few months, the fans of Amber Heard have come to witness many sides of her that they had no idea about, including the fact that she admitted to physically abusing her ex-husband, Johnny Depp, multiple times during their short-lived marriage. Another side of the 'Aquaman' actress that many might be unaware of is her love for firearms.
Heard is a self-proclaimed pro-gun activist who supports the right to legally bear arms, although she does support the need for gun reform policy in the country.
"I'm a good shot and I love guns - I own several. I don't have children in the house, so I sleep with my gun in a place that's close enough that if I needed to protect myself, I could. It's not in bed with me, though; it's in a safe location. I'm fully trained and I'm an active member of a gun club. I'm definitely pro-gun. As Americans we've been told since we were babies that we have the right to own guns but I think there needs to be reform, because over 30,000 people in the U.S. died from gunshot wounds in the last year alone," she said in a 2010 Daily Mail interview.
Naturally, her pet dog is named Pistol.
Despite being an atheist, she was raised in a strict Catholic family that was pro-guns. One of the many guns that she admitted to owning was a .357 Magnum.
Apparently, her love for firearms started with her desire to become her father's son, instead of his daughter. As a result, she started going to hunt with her dad and continued the tradition even when she grew up and discovered her feminine side.
"He didn't have a son, and so I was up for the job. I was his hunting, fishing and camping buddy growing up, although I'm probably one of the most feminine women you'll ever meet. He still hunts quail, dove and pheasant and I still go with him, as a bonding father-daughter thing. I go down to Texas and get on a horse; he hunts and I take pictures," she said in the interview.
Although Heard was never in favor of divulging details about her personal life on national television, she revealed on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' in 2013 that as a parting gift to her moments before she was about to take off for Los Angeles to start her movie career, her father tried to give her a firearm at the Texas airport. She was 17 years old at the time.
"[He] took out a pearl-handled .38 special and handed it to me and said, ‘Hey baby girl, I got you a pretty one. It don’t got a hammer. So you just pull it right out of your purse!’" Heard said.
Heard and Depp met on the sets of 'The Rum Diary' in 2009 but started dating in 2012. They got married three years later in 2015 though they ended up getting divorced a year later. Although following their split, Heard painted Depp as a domestic abuser in the media, a number of audio recordings surfaced in February this year, which revealed her admitting to hitting him.
Depp has filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against her over an op-ed she wrote for Washington Post in 2018 which was about her being a victim of domestic abuse.