Amber Heard’s sister, Whitney Heard Henriquez, testified Wednesday that in March 2015, she saw Johnny Depp strike Heard in the face during an argument.
She is the first person in Depp’s libel trial to say they witnessed the “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor hit Heard. Depp has testified that he never struck his ex-wife.
Henriquez told the Fairfax, Virginia courtroom the incident happened during an argument when Heard confronted Depp about text messages he sent to another woman. Henriquez said Depp “hurled” a Red Bull can up the stairs, which hit his nurse in the back. She added, Depp ran upstairs and “strikes me in the back.” Then Heard shouted, “Don’t hit my f****g sister.”
She added that her sister and Depp then got into a physical altercation.
“[Heard] smacks him and lands one,” she said, as she recalled trying to get Heard to leave but Depp “grabbed Amber by the hair with one hand and was whacking her repeatedly in the face with the other.” She said Depp was “screaming like an animal” and proceeded to destroy Heard’s closet.
Describing the relationship between Depp and Heard, Henriquez said Depp was “protective” over Heard’s career. “The suddenly, he has a problem with her taking any sort of job or any sort of audition and then it became every time that she even thought about taking a meeting, it was another fight.”
She said toward the end of the couple’s relationship, Depp was “vehemently against Heard working at all.” She recalled Depp saying, “I don’t even understand why she needs to work. I’ll take care of you; I’ll take care of everyone else. She doesn’t need to work.”
Henriquez testified about Depp’s drug and alcohol use and said on several occasions that she did “cocaine” with her brother-in-law.
She also said, “Occasionally I’d see bruising, cut lips, split lips, weird marks, burns,” on Heard but she didn’t question why they were there.
Henriquez added that comments made by Depp’s former attorney, Adam Waldman, calling Heard’s domestic violence allegations “abuse hoax” had a negative impact on Heard, “She was devastated.” She said Heard started having “panic attacks,” would “break into tears,” stopped sleeping and became “super anxious.”
Also Wednesday, Melanie Inglessis, Heard’s former makeup artist testified she covered injuries on Heard’s face. “I did makeup but just a little heavier where it needed,” Inglessis said.
Inglessis testified via video deposition that she went to Depp and Heard’s penthouse on Dec. 16, 2015 to prep the “Aquaman” actress for an appearance on “The Late Late Show with James Corden”. She said Heard had injuries that “looked like somebody had headbutted her lightly, so she had discoloration under the eyes and on the bridge, and a split lip or something on the lip like a gash.
She detailed her use of a “slightly heavier concealer” to cover Heard’s bruising. Inglessis explained the “peachy” concealer helps hides discoloration and arnica gel, “it helps with the swelling a little bit.” She also said recalled having a conversation with Heard about lipstick. “I remember clearly talking that we had no other option that night but to use a red blood, like a really red lipstick to you know make sure we could cover up the injury on the lip.”
Inglessis said she never saw Depp act physically abusive toward Heard but said there was always “some conflict, some fight,” and her relationship with Heard became “all-consuming.” As a result, she “decided not to continue it.”
Christina Sexton, Heard’s acting coach told attorneys that the “Aquaman” actress started showing up late to sessions during her relationship with Depp. Sexton said she added buffering extra hour to their work because Heard would often show up “crying.”
Sexton testified in a videotaped deposition on Dec. 18, 2019. She said she first worked with Heard in 2011 for “The Playboy Club” and Heard was “very focused” on moving up in her career.
She said Depp was controlling. “On a couple of occasions I actually heard Johnny say why would you want to do that kind of role? My woman isn’t going to play that kind of role.”
She told the court he referred to several job opportunities as a “whore part or a trash part.”
Elizabeth Marz, a friend in Heard’s orbit, testified that she feared Depp.
“Personally I was scared of him,” Marz. She was asked about an incident that occurred on May 21, 2016 at the couple’s L.A. Penthouse. “The one interaction I had with him that night was frightening to me. His behavior was frightening to me.”
Marz a longtime friend of Raquel Pennington, Heard’s former best friend who also testified, was visiting L.A. for several weeks from New York and stayed in one of Depp’s penthouse units. Marz testified in a videotaped deposition on Nov. 26, 2019 that she ran out of the penthouse and hid when Depp came charging in.
“He ran into the unit and it scared the s*** out of me because he was wasted and screaming. So, that’s why I ran out. There’s a grown ass man coming at you and saying ‘get your b**** out of here,’ and swinging a magnum sized bottle of wine,” she said.
Marz said she was thinking to herself, “Holy s***. What the f*** just happened.”
Depp is suing Heard for $50 million claiming she libeled him in the 2018 op-ed piece in The Washington Post. Heard filed a $100 million counterclaim for defamation for Depp’s attorney calling her a “liar.”