The defamation trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard has garnered the public’s fascination as the pair of Hollywood stars testify about their tumultuous relationship.
The televised showdown is taking place in a courtroom in Fairfax, Virginia, and has included multiple shocking moments as witnesses and the two actors testified about allegations of drug use, physical violence, and the grotesque.
The trial is taking place after the Pirates of the Caribbean actor sued Heard, his ex-wife, for alleged defamation over an article she wrote in 2018 in which she described herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.”
Heard countersued, accusing Depp of allegedly launching a “smear campaign” to ruin her career.
Depp has asked for $50 million in damages, while Heard demands $100 million in the trial ongoing, with both Hollywood actors taking the stand.
Over the first few weeks of testimony, the jury has heard from several witnesses, along with Depp and Heard. Here are seven of the most sensational moments so far:
Amber Heard describes the first time Johnny allegedly hit her
Amber Heard became visibly emotional as she testified about the first time Depp allegedly hit her.
Taking the witness stand on May 5, the actress said her ex-husband slapped her three times after she had laughed about his tattoo.
She said the altercation, which she claimed happened in 2013, changed her life.
Heard told the court that she thought the tattoo looked like “black marks,” but Depp said it said “Wino Forever” in reference to his ex-girlfriend actress Winona Ryder.
Heard testified that she laughed in shock after the actor slapped her, adding: “I just stared at him, kind of laughing, still thinking he was going to start laughing too….but he didn’t. He just said ‘you think it’s funny, b***h? You think you’re a funny b***h? “And he slapped me again.”
The 58-year-old actor has denied ever physically assaulting his ex-wife during his testimony.
Johnny Depp claims Amber Heard took drugs on their wedding day
Johnny Depp testified that his ex-wife was allegedly under the influence on drugs on the day they tied the knot on February 3, 2015.
The actor claimed that he observed several of her friends taking MDMA at their wedding party, alleging that Heard and her then-close friend Raquel Pennington had a schedule that included “dinner, dancing, and drugs.”
The 58-year-old actor said he smoked marijuana that day but did not recall drinking alcohol during the wedding.
The actor also added that he did not take part in the use of MDMA, testifying that Amber and her friends were passing a bag of the drug around.
Amber said Johnny assaulted her with a bottle
On May 5, Amber Heard gave an emotional testimony in which she claimed her former husband sexually assaulted her with a liquor bottle.
The actress testified that Depp assaulted her after an argument in which he accused her of having an affair with her co-stars Billy Bob Thornton and Eddie Redmayne.
“At some point he’s on top of me, screaming I f**king hate you, you ruined my f**king life,” Heard said, continuing:
“I’m on the countertop, he had me by the neck and was on top of me. My back was on the countertop. I thought he was punching me. I felt this pressure on my pubic bone and I could feel his arm moving. It looked like he was punching me. I could just feel this pressure,” Heard testified.
“I remember looking around the room, looking at all the broken bottles, broken glass and I remember not wanting to move because I didn’t know if it was broken, I didn’t know if the bottle that he had inside me was broken.”
Heard was questioned about the alleged assault, which is said to have happened the same night Depp blamed her for severing his finger after throwing a bottle at him.
Details about alleged pooping incident
While giving evidence, Johnny Depp testified that he believed Heard left human fecal matter on his side of the bed she left for Coachella in April 2016.
He claimed that she tried to blame it on their dogs but insisted that the “fecal delivery” couldn’t have come from their pets.
“I lived with those dogs for many years. … That did not come from a dog. It just didn’t,” he said in court.
Starling Jenkins III, a security guard who still works for Depp, said under oath that Heard told him the defecation was “a horrible practical joke gone wrong.”
When on the witness stand, Heard denied pulling a prank on Depp, adding that she did not think it was funny and calling it “disgusting.”
Johnny Deep texts Paul Bettany about Amber Heard
Heard’s attorneys showed texts from a 2013 exchange between Depp and his friend and fellow actor Paul Bettany.
In one of the text exchanges with Bettany, Depp wrote: “Let’s burn Amber!!! Let’s drown her before we burn her!! I will f**k her burnt corpse afterward to make sure she is dead.”
Bettany replied, “I don’t think we should burn Amber…”
Depp defended the text arguing that it was a reference to a Monty Python sketch about burning witches.
“This is a film that we’d all watched when we were 10, and it’s just irreverent and abstract humor,” he said. “That’s what we were referring to in those texts.”
Heard admits to hitting Depp in audio
An audio recording was presented to the jury in court during the direct cross-examination of Johnny Depp in the first week of the trial.
The recording depicts an argument in which Heard admits to “hitting” Johnny Depp. This is considered key evidence for Depp’s claim that he was the victim of domestic violence, which Heard has denied.
Heard admitted to starting a physical fight with Depp in the audio recording.
“You didn’t get punched; you got hit. I’m sorry I hit you like this, but I did not punch you,” Heard says in the audio. “I did not f**king deck you. I f**king was hitting you. I don’t know what the motion of my actual hand was. But you’re fine. I did not hurt you. I did not punch you. I was hitting you.”
Amber Heard accused of editing injury photo
During her cross-examination, Camille Vasquez, Depp’s attorney, accused Heard of editing photos she claimed showed her injuries after an alleged physical altercation with Depp.
Vasquez showed the court images of Heard and accused the actress of enhancing the lighting to make her face appear redder.
When two pictures were shown in court side-by-side, Heard claimed they were two separately taken photos with different lighting.
“Isn’t it true you just edited these photographs?” Vasquez said to Heard, continuing: “And you just enhanced the saturation from one of these photos to make your face look more red.”
Heard denied editing the photo.
The trial is expected to continue for a couple of weeks with Johnny Depp set to return to the witness stand — so there will likely be many more shocking moments to come.