Defendant

Amber Heard

Defendant and counterclaimant in a defamation case involving her account of domestic abuse.

2022 Defamation Trial Apr 11 – Jun 1, 2022

Called by defendant

3,381 lines 19 proceedings 44 highlights

About

Amber Heard, an actor and Johnny Depp’s former wife, was the defendant in his suit over her 2018 Washington Post op-ed. She counterclaimed over statements by Depp’s attorney Adam Waldman that characterized her allegations as a hoax.

Heard testified that Depp physically and sexually abused her during their relationship, describing alleged incidents at Hicksville, in Australia, and at their Los Angeles penthouse in May 2016. She said she initially declined to cooperate with police after the penthouse incident to protect Depp from arrest. Depp denied striking her and testified that she had been violent toward him.

On cross-examination, Depp’s counsel challenged Heard’s accounts with photographs, other witnesses’ observations, and recordings in which she acknowledged hitting Depp and starting physical fights. Heard disputed counsel’s proposed sequence of events in Australia and denied fabricating injury evidence. Counsel also questioned her public statements about donating her divorce settlement; ACLU testimony established that $1.3 million had been received toward her $3.5 million pledge. Heard’s counsel raised the distinction between pledging and paying, and a hospital representative confirmed that her separate pledge had no fixed deadline.

In rebuttal, Heard attributed harassment, threats, panic attacks, and harm to her work to Waldman’s statements. The jury found for Depp on all three challenged op-ed statements, awarding him $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. The judge reduced the punitive award to $350,000. The jury also found for Heard on one of her three counterclaims, concerning Waldman’s allegation that the penthouse incident was staged, and awarded her $2 million in compensatory damages.

Trial Record (19)

2022 Defamation Trial Apr 11, 2022 – Jun 1, 2022 19 proceedings

Day 6 April 20, 2022

Direct Direct Examination of Johnny Depp (Continued) Johnny Depp Jessica Meyers 1 40

Summary

Depp describes escalating verbal and physical abuse by Heard, including the Australia finger injury, staircase punch, and career devastation from Heard's 2018 op-ed.

Highlights (1)

Quote

“I did start physical fights.”

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Day 7 April 21, 2022

Cross Cross Examination of Johnny Depp (Continued) Johnny Depp J. Benjamin Rottenborn 99

Summary

Rottenborn impeached Depp with violent texts about Heard, drug-use admissions contradicting claimed sobriety, and inconsistencies in his Australia finger-injury account.

Day 8 April 25, 2022

Cross Cross Examination of Johnny Depp (Continued) Johnny Depp J. Benjamin Rottenborn 33

Summary

Rottenborn continued cross of Depp with audio recordings of arguments and texts revealing violent wishes toward Heard and a finger injury admission.

Redirect Redirect Examination of Johnny Depp Johnny Depp Jessica Meyers 1 122

Summary

On redirect, Meyers asked Depp to explain the Bettany texts, the term 'monster,' recordings of arguments, his finger injury, and the San Francisco knife incident.

Highlights (1)

Quote

“Tell the world, Johnny. Tell them, Johnny Depp, I, Johnny Depp, yes, I'm a victim, too, of domestic violence and I --”

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Day 14 May 4, 2022

Cross Cross-Examination of Dawn Hughes Dawn Hughes Wayne Dennison 2 14

Summary

Dennison challenged Hughes on gender bias, financial stake, and flawed PTSD testing methodology, then played an audio recording of Heard admitting to hitting Depp and starting physical fights.

Highlights (2)

Quote

“I didn't punch you, by the way. I'm sorry that I didn't hit you across the face in a proper slap. But I was hitting you. I was not punching you. Babe, you're not punched.”

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Quote

“I did start physical fights.”

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Redirect Redirect Examination of Dawn Hughes Dawn Hughes Elaine Bredehoft 23

Summary

Bredehoft rehabilitates Hughes via additional audio clips showing Depp acknowledging mutual violence, while hearsay objections block full test document admission.

Direct Direct Examination of Amber Heard Amber Heard Elaine Bredehoft 4 255

Summary

Heard testifies about her Texas upbringing, her romance with Depp beginning in 2011, and alleged escalating physical and sexual abuse incidents from 2012 to 2013.

Highlights (4)

Quote

“I struggle to have the words. I struggle to find the words to describe how painful this is.”

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Quote

“And he slapped me across the face. And I laughed. I laughed because I - I didn't know what else to do.”

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Quote

“just shoves his fingers inside me. I just - just stood there staring at the stupid light.”

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Quote

“he could fucking kill me and I was an embarrassment. I was embarrassing.”

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Day 15 May 5, 2022

Direct Amber Heard Direct Examination (Continued) Amber Heard Elaine Bredehoft 5 563

Summary

Heard's direct continues through alleged abuse incidents: Tokyo 2013, London Fields, Met Gala, Boston plane, Bahamas detox, and the three-day Australia incident including alleged bottle assault.

Highlights (5)

Quote

“The only way out of this is death. The only way out of this is death.”

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Quote

“What? What are you going to do about it?”

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Quote

“he slapped me across the face. But he did it, like, while crying.”

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Quote

“I don't see him anymore. I don't see him anymore. It wasn't him It was black.”

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Quote

“He said that he would fucking kill me. He said, "I'll fucking kill you."”

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Day 16 May 16, 2022

Direct Amber Heard Direct Examination (Continued) Amber Heard Elaine Bredehoft 4 640

Summary

Heard walks the jury through April 2015–May 2016 alleged abuse, culminating in a detailed account of the May 21, 2016 penthouse phone-throwing incident, with photos and audio admitted.

Highlights (4)

Quote

“You never forget it; that's how I remember it. It changes your life forever.”

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Quote

“I wanted to protect Johnny. I didn't want him to be arrested.”

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Quote

“Because I knew if I didn't, that I - I knew if I didn't, I'd likely not literally”

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Quote

“Johnny told me that he would ruin me.”

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Cross Cross Examination of Amber Heard Amber Heard Camille Vasquez 4 387

Summary

Vasquez opens Heard's cross with audio recordings and event photographs showing no visible injuries, then presses Heard on her public pledge to donate the $7 million divorce settlement.

Highlights (4)

Quote

“I could never hurt Johnny.”

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Quote

“I wasn't saying it because he was a man; I was saying it because he was a man who beat me up for five years.”

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Quote

“I'm not sure if it's broken, for the record. Yeah, you should see what I look like underneath the makeup.”

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Quote

“I use pledge and donation synonymous with one another.”

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Day 17 May 17, 2022

Cross Cross Examination of Amber Heard Amber Heard Camille Vasquez 4 954

Summary

Vasquez cross-examines Heard across Australia, penthouse, Bahamas, 30th birthday, May 21 and the op-ed, repeatedly contrasting her testimony with recordings, photos, witness accounts and the UK record.

Highlights (4)

Quote

“This is the same knife that I gave him as a present in 2012, yes.”

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Quote

“I have never testified to a sequence.”

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Quote

“What their testimony was is that they did not consider what my face looked like to be injury. They didn't consider what they walked on in this house damage. But it was.”

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Quote

“It is not. It is about what happened to me afterward. That's the more interesting - was the more interesting thing for me to write about.”

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Redirect Redirect Examination of Amber Heard Amber Heard Elaine Bredehoft 5 60

Summary

Bredehoft rehabilitates Heard on TMZ connections, Depp's post-mediation love note, ENT nose injuries, December 2015 Falati reporting, and Waldman's UK trial conduct.

Highlights (5)

Quote

“I asked my team to file in the most discreet way, literally to put it under a stack of papers and file it at the end of day, so it kind of had more of a shot of being missed by the paparazzi and by TMZ and those sorts of publicity outlets.”

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Quote

“Said, "I'll love you forever, my Slim, dead or alive.”

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Quote

“Because he's guilty. He knows he's lying. Otherwise, why can't he look at me? I survived. I survived that man, and I'm here and I'm able to look at him”

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Quote

“She guided me through a concussion check.”

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Quote

“He was carrying the paper that had that headline on it that he leaked and threw it at me at the U.K trial. We were unfortunately sat kind of - actually literally next to one another with COVID spacing in between us, and he threw the paper down at me as he sat down with that on the cover.”

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Cross Cross Examination of iO Tillett Wright iO Tillett Wright Elaine Bredehoft 9

Summary

Bredehoft elicits Wright's accounts of Depp's substance abuse, demeaning behavior toward Heard, a wedding punch comment, injury photos, and the May 2016 911 call.

Day 23 May 26, 2022

Direct Direct Examination of Amber Heard Amber Heard J. Benjamin Rottenborn 3 15

Summary

Rottenborn's brief rebuttal direct on the counterclaim draws Heard's testimony about daily harassment, death threats, career damage, and lasting psychological trauma from the Waldman statements.

Highlights (3)

Quote

“I am harassed, humiliated, threatened every single day. Even just walking into this courtroom, sitting here in front of the world, having the worst parts of my life, things I have lived through, used to humiliate me.”

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Quote

“I'm not sitting in this courtroom snickering. I'm not sitting in this courtroom laughing, smiling, making snide jokes. I'm not. This is horrible. This is painful, and this is humiliating for me, as a human being, to go through.”

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Quote

“I have the right to tell my story. I have the right to say what happened to me. I have the right to my voice and my name. He took it long enough.”

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Cross Cross-Examination of Amber Heard (Continued) Amber Heard Camille Vasquez 4 108

Summary

Vasquez closes cross-examination by impeaching Heard on the Hicksville trailer, TMZ courthouse tip-off, the cabinet video leak, and her contradictory attribution of the same floor photograph to two separate incidents.

Highlights (4)

Quote

“I sure did. I'm a public figure. I brought my publicist in case it blew up. In case.”

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Quote

“Absolutely not. Why would I want that? What actual survivor of domestic violence wants that?”

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Quote

“I know how many people will come out and say whatever for him. That's his power. That's why I wrote the op-ed.”

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Quote

“I relate to — I relate to Isaac because he and I are the only ones who cried on the stand.”

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Redirect Amber Heard — Redirect Examination Amber Heard J. Benjamin Rottenborn 4 11

Summary

Rottenborn's brief redirect rehabilitates Heard on faked-injury allegations and elicits her affirmations of physical, verbal, emotional, and psychological abuse.

Highlights (4)

Quote

“Johnny. And I don't blame him. I don't blame him for crying. This is horrible.”

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Quote

“Absolutely not. I didn't need to.”

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Quote

“Johnny promised me, promised me, he would ruin me. That he would ruin my career, he'd take my life from me.”

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Quote

“Those are just an echo of what I'm living through today.”

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Day 24 May 27, 2022

Jury Instructions Jury Instructions — Defamation Elements and Damages 3

Summary

Judge Azcarate reads final jury instructions on defamation elements, actual malice, and damages standards before closing arguments begin.

Closing Closing Argument — Plaintiff (Vasquez and Chew) Camille Vasquez 3 33

Summary

Depp's attorneys Vasquez and Chew deliver closing argument on the sixth anniversary of Heard's TRO filing, replaying audio admissions and challenging the lack of corroborating injury evidence.

Highlights (3)

Quote

“Tell the world, Johnny.' Tell them, Johnny Depp, I, Johnny Depp, a man, I am a victim, too, of domestic violence.”

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Quote

“I meant to hit you. And I did not do this thing with the door. I do remember I did mean to hit you.”

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Quote

“You didn't get punched. You got hit. I'm sorry, I hit you like this, but I did not punch you. I did not fucking deck you. I fucking was hitting you. I don't know what the full motion of my actual hand was, but you're fine. I did not hurt you. I did not punch you. I was hitting you.”

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Closing Closing Argument — Defendant (Rottenborn) J. Benjamin Rottenborn 10

Summary

Rottenborn delivers Heard's closing, arguing the op-ed is First Amendment-protected, Depp cannot meet his burden of proof, and reviewing evidence of alleged abuse chronologically.

Locations

ECB Penthouse 5 procs

Evidence From Their Proceedings (83)

Documents Admitted

Heard Washington Post Op-Ed (Dec 18, 2018)

Amber Heard's opinion piece titled 'I spoke up against sexual violence and faced our culture's wrath. This has to change.' published in the Washington Post on December 18, 2018,…

Amber Heard

About

Trial Record (19)

2022 Defamation Trial Apr 11, 2022 – Jun 1, 2022 19 proceedings

Day 6 April 20, 2022

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Day 7 April 21, 2022

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Day 8 April 25, 2022

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Day 14 May 4, 2022

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Day 15 May 5, 2022

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Day 16 May 16, 2022

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Day 17 May 17, 2022

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Day 23 May 26, 2022

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Day 24 May 27, 2022

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Locations

Evidence From Their Proceedings (83)

Heard Washington Post Op-Ed (Dec 18, 2018)

Kitchen Cabinet Video — Depp, February 10, 2016

Australia House — Bar Area Photos (Exs. 1816, 1817, 1820, 1821)

Australia House — Bathroom Mirror Writings (Exs. 374, 375, 1830)

Depp–Heard Multi-Segment Argument Recording (PX 343)

Depp Ice Cream / Passed-Out Photo (Def. 1094)

Falati Nursing Notes for Amber Heard (Aug 2014–May 2016)

Hasta la muerte bowie knife gifted by Amber Heard

Heard's Tweet Sharing Op-Ed (Dec 19, 2018)

'Tell the World, Johnny' Recording (PX 357A)

Boston–LA Plane Audio Recording (Ex. 221)

Heard March 2013 Self-Portrait Bruise Photo

May 21, 2016 Face Photos — DX-710/712/713/714 + Metadata

'Punch vs. Hit' Admission Recording (Pl. 356A/356B)

Depp May 22, 2016 Apology Texts to Heard

Depp Passed Out on Bahamian Island, July 2013 (Def. 1091)

Depp Passed Out on Floor in Tokyo, July 2013 (Def. 1090)

Depp–Heard Argument with Insults (PX 397)

Heard's color-correction makeup kit

March 2013 Breakfast Table Cocaine Lines (Def. 167A)

Post-Birthday / San Francisco Hotel Recording (PX 1229)

Stephen Deuters Text Chain (DX-229A-M)

'Different Versions of Johnny' Recording (Pl. 371A)

'Tip of an Iceberg' Statement Recording (Pl. 393A)

Amber Heard Third UK Witness Statement (Feb. 26, 2020)

Australia House — Interior & Grounds Photo Series (DX-1804–1842)

Broken Bed Frame Photo — DX-509 (Dec. 15, 2015)

Car/'Let Me Go' Recording Outside Studio (Def. Ex. 598C)

Day 16 trial transcript, pages 4585–4604, containing Heard's testimony identifying Defendant's Exhibit 512 as depicting December 15, 2015 penthouse damage.

Day 17 trial transcript, pages 4750–4805, containing Heard's testimony identifying Defendant's Exhibit 725 as depicting spilled wine on May 21, 2016.

December 17, 2015 Kipper Office Medical Record (Heard Visit)

December 2015 Heard Injury Photos — Defendant's 516 and 517

Defendant's 161 — Text exchange between Heard and Depp dated 3/12/2013 referen