Amber Heard clicked pics of Johnny Depp passed out to 'back up' claims of his alleged drug binges
On the second day of her testimony in a Virginia court, Amber Heard shared photographs of a passed-out Johnny Depp on multiple occasions. She also told the court that she took pictures of him in such conditions because she was sure Depp wouldn’t believe or would refuse to accept his uncontrollable drug use. The ‘Aquaman’ actress also testified that she began photographing her ex-husband around the time when they were about to complete two years in their relationship.
After taking the stand on Thursday, May 5, she said: “I only could tell what he was using because I would have to look for clues. [He'd] pass out, and get sick and lose control of himself. And then people would pick him up and clean him up and fix it. And he wouldn’t either remember, or he would deny it, or he would accuse me of saying that this had happened when it didn’t. And there was no one to back me up. [It was] just him, his employees, and everyone who had been taking care of him versus my word, and so I started to take pictures [to] say: ‘Look, this is happening.’”
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Heard continued: “I started to pick up on the clues, so I could figure out what I was dealing with. I understood enough about addiction to know you have to hit rock bottom, have some consequence to get better. At the time I was already sensitive, Id' been in the relationship for over a year. I'd already noticed there was this pattern of behavior changes that would make my life significantly more complicated or peaceful or difficult or wonderful dependent on what he was using.”
The 36-year-old actress testified that Depp would sometimes “nod out” or fall asleep “mid-conversation” after taking opiates and that he was abusive while on drugs.
Earlier in the trial, Depp, 58, insisted that the Tokyo hotel image simply showed him sleeping — though he’s dozing on the floor next to a bed.
The photographs which were shown to the court were from different times and places — one of the images reportedly showed the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ star unconscious in the lawn chair while another one was from March 2013 that showed him passed out on a couch. Referring to the couch photo, Heard told the court: “This was after a several day binge of Johnny's. He was, you know, on a drug binge where I saw him not eating, [getting] little to no sleep, and he would just use cocaine and drink all day long. That would go for a period of time and then a major blow up and then he'd get sick and pass out and then feel really awful and often including this time would start a period of sobriety after that.”
Heard later testified that Depp's drug addiction was "maintained" with prescription pills while he finished filming 'Black Mass' in 2015 before he went to detox on his private island.
Not just Depp’s drug issues, Heard, with whom he was married from 2015 to 2017, also claimed to the court that he “screamed” at her while his kids were in another room. She accused him of calling her “nagging b**ch” and “c**t” several times as they traveled to Tokyo. Explaining her dynamics with Lily-Rose and Jack Depp, she said she’s “falling in love’ with them. She said how she expressed her disagreement when then-14-year-old Lily-Rose had a crush on an 18-year-old boy and she didn't want him “spending the night”. Heard said: “I felt protective over Lily-Rose, and concerned, and naturally, they’re not my children. And I understand that. So I understand why Johnny got so upset with me. But... she was so young, I just felt protective.”
The current trial between the former pair is the result of a 2018 op-ed written by Heard for The Washington Post in which she called herself a domestic violence survivor. Though ‘The Rum Diary’ actress had not named Depp, his legal team believed it targeted him only and sued her for $50 million. But Heard countersued the 58-year-old star and asked for $100 million.