Amber Heard testifies at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse. (Getty)
Amber Heard broke down in tears while telling a court that her ex-husband Johnny Depp sexually assaulted her with a liquor bottle. Warning: violence and sexual assault.
Taking the witness stand for the second day in Johnny Depp’s defamation trial against her, Amber Heard painted a portrait of a volatile and often violent man.
On Thursday (5 May), she broke down in tears while detailing the alleged sexual assault, which she says took place in 2015 in Australia.
She told the court that the alleged assault came after a fight in which Depp accused her of sleeping with co-stars Billy Bob Thornton and Eddie Redmayne, accusations she denies.
“At some point he’s on top of me, screaming I f**king hate you, you ruined my f**king life,” Heard testified
“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 arms moving. It looked like he was punching me. I could just feel this pressure.”
Heard added: “I remember looking around the room, looking at all the broken bottles, and 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.”
According to The Guardian, the alleged incident, in which Depp severed the top of his middle finger, has been a key point of the trial.
Opposing parties are in disagreement over how Depp sustained the injury. Depp testified that Heard threw a bottle at him, while she says that the injury came after Depp sexually assaulted her. He has denied the assault.
The day after the fight, Heard described finding her nightgown chopped into pieces and used to wrap strips of raw steak.
She also say she found insults painted in blood around the house.
Johnny Depp, who spent four days giving testimony, says it was Heard who had thrown two vodka bottles at him and in the process severed his finger.
Of that fight, he recalled: “I don’t know what a nervous breakdown feels like, but that’s probably the closest that I’ve ever been. Nothing made sense and I knew in my mind and in my heart that this is not life.”
Depp said his mental state was so poor that he began “to write in my own blood on the walls”, before eventually texting his doctor to come to the house.
Heard has described several violent incidents, alleging that Depp would strike her after taking drugs.
Depp, 58, is suing Heard, 36, over an op-ed she wrote for The Washington Post in which she accused him of being abusive. Heard has sued back, with a $100 million counterclaim against Depp, alleging “abuse and harassment”.
He says he never hit her “nor any other woman” and denies the sexual assault allegation.
The trial continues and is expected to last six weeks.