Johnny Depp’s legal team on Tuesday zeroed in on ex-wife Amber Heard’s admissions that she had hit the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star in the past, reading from the couple’s shared journal in which the actress often wrote him flowery notes of love and apology.
“I’m sorry I can get crazy,” Depp’s attorney said, quoting Heard from an “electronic journal” she and Depp shared. “I’m sorry I can hurt you … I felt absolutely bewildered ’bout you not coming home on the last night I’m here. … I’m so sorry for my part. None of this is meant to be an excuse for hurting you. … You are the last person in the world who deserves it.”
Heard signed her entries “Slim,” her nickname, and addressed Depp as his nickname “Steve.”
Depp’s lawyer Camille Vasquez showed the jury the knife Heard gifted Depp with the Spanish encryption “until Death.” Vasquez asked Heard, “That’s the knife you gave the man that was hitting you?” Heard responded, “I wasn’t worried that he was going to stab me with it, that’s for sure.”
Depp’s attorney also asked about Heard’s allegation that Depp sexually assaulted her with a liquor bottle. Vasquez asserts Heard was the one who assaulted Depp with a bottle, severing his finger. Heard responded, “I didn’t assault Johnny in Australia. I didn’t assault Johnny ever. Vasquez accused Heard of not ever being afraid of Depp to which Heard replied they had a “mixed” relationship.
“I’m not talking about your mixed relationship. That night in Australia, after you cut off his finger with a bottle, you weren’t scared of him at all. Were you?” Vasquez said.
Heard’s response, “This a man who tried to kill me. Of course it’s scary.”
Heard was back on the stand for cross-examination on Tuesday, following days of harrowing testimony detailing multiple incidents of alleged physical and emotional abuse at the hands of Depp – but that was under the questioning of her own counsel.
With Depp’s lawyers doing the questioning, Heard was made to account for her frequent written apologies and florid “love notes” written at the same time abuses were alleged. The notes were an attempt to “fix” the fracturing relationship, said Heard, who has admitted to “hitting” Depp, but only when provoked.
“I hit Johnny when he attacked me and my sister,” she testified, speaking about an incident from 2015. “I moved on him when he went for her.” Heard said in that moment, she was thinking about “a rumor, a vague rumor” that Depp had once thrown then-girlfriend Kate Moss down a flight of stairs [which has never been substantiated]. “So yes, that was on my mind.”
Depp’s lawyer continued to quote Heard’s apology notes:
“My love. Why do we fight, ever. Why? I love you more than anything else. … I can’t imagine my life without you. I love you. I will do better. I’m sorry. XX, Slim.”
And from another entry: “Let me try to fix this. Let me try to patch this. Let me try to make your heart better. You deserve it. … I hate it when we fight. I hate having you hurt. I hate that you’re hurting. … I love you.”
Heard testified that the journal “was more of a love-note book … because we fought so much, I wanted to nurture as much peace as I could.” She added that “it’s important in any relationship to apologize when your’e trying to move past fights.”
Depp says he’s never once hit Heard, or any woman; he is suing his ex-wife for $50 million, claiming her Washington Post op-ed defamed him by suggesting she was a victim of domestic abuse. Heard has counter-sued for $100 million.
