Court resumes with Heard on stand

Heard describes makeup products she used as a ‘bruise kit’

While discussing how Heard used to cover bruises after Depp’s alleged attacks, she clarified what makeup products she used.

During opening statements, Heard’s attorney held up a Milani Cosmetics color-correcting palette, saying her client used it to help hide bruising while she was being abused by her former husband.

But Milani Cosmetics refuted that statement online, saying its the Conceal + Perfect All-in-One Correcting Kit was not released until December 2017 — more than a year after Heard filed for a temporary restraining order. Depp supporters online used the issue to allege that Heard was lying about being abuse during her relationship with Depp.

While on the witness stand Monday, Heard was shown the palette and said she used something similar to it.

“This is what I was talking about as a color correction kit,” Heard said. “This is not, obviously, the exact one I used to carry but I used to carry with me all the time.”

Heard told the court she used to refer to the makeup as her “bruise kit,” using a theatre makeup kit to hide her injuries. She explained that she’d immediately ice her injuries to reduce swelling, apply arnica cream, and then put makeup on.

“The idea is that you want to counteract whatever color you’re working with on the bruise,” Heard said. “So first day of bruising, well the immediate is red. The red is what shows up right away. So you want to go with the opposite on the color wheel by dabbing on a bit of the green or something to counteract the red.”

‘I wouldn’t survive’: Heard describes why she filed for divorce

While on the stand, Heard was asked about the end of her relationship and why she filed for divorce. Heard described trying to save her relationship before making the decision to get a divorce from Depp.

She said she went to Alcoholics Anonymous, read books, went to therapy and made other attempts to resolve the issues in the couple’s relationship. However, she said eventually she felt left with no choice but to dissolve the marriage.

“I knew I wouldn’t survive it if I didn’t so I filed for divorce,” she said, later adding, “I knew if I didn’t, I’d likely not literally survive.”

Heard said the stress of her marriage had led to her losing hair and experiencing panic attacks.

“The person I was scared of was also the person I was in love with,” Heard said, becoming emotional as she described how the alleged violence had become the norm “not the exception” in her relationship with Depp.

Heard said she didn’t want to leave Depp — something she had described earlier this month during her testimony — but she feared for her safety.

“I really didn’t want to leave him. I loved him so much, but I couldn’t do that one thing,” she said. “I couldn’t stay.”

Heard on lack of cooperation with police: ‘I wanted to protect Johnny’

After the May 2016 fight that led Heard to file for a temporary restraining order, police arrived to the former couple’s penthouse apartment.

But when officers arrived following the fight, Heard told the court she didn’t name Depp and did not want to give police a statement as to her injuries. She feared that the officers might arrest Depp.

“I didn’t want this to come out,” Heard said. “I didn’t want him to be in trouble. I wanted to protect Johnny.”

While on the stand, Heard said she did not call 911. Depp’s legal team objected to her speculation as to who might have called police to the scene.

The officers were there for maybe less than 30 minutes, Heard said, but left business cards with her in case she changed her mind about giving them a statement.

Heard’s attorneys showed numerous photos while she testified of damage that Depp allegedly caused in rage from the fight, including photos taken of bruising on Heard’s face and damage to the apartment.

Heard accuses Depp of mistreating her trans friend

During her testimony, Heard recalled an instance where she claimed Depp called her friend homophobic and transphobic slurs.

After calling iO Tillett Wright, a close friend of Heard’s, during a fight with Depp, Heard claimed that Depp grabbed her phone and began screaming at Wright, calling him slurs. Wright is a transgender man and uses he/him pronouns.

“[Depp was] telling iO that he can have me … screaming at him,” Heard said.

While on speaker phone in earshot of Depp, Wright told Heard she was not safe, Heard said.

Depp left the room, Heard said. But after hearing what Wright said, he returned to yell at Wright on the phone, according to Heard.

He began screaming at Wright, “every imaginable horrible name that you can say to an LGBTQIA person, for one, and any human being, ever,” she told the court.

Heard alleged Depp threw the phone at her face.

Depp, when speaking about Wright during his testimony, repeatedly misgendered him, saying Wright was “born a female, if that’s the right terminology these days, born a female but she had chosen she at a very young age, she had decided that she was she was a male, and she identified as a male.”

Depp’s accusation of feces in the bed led to one of final assaults, Heard says

Heard testified that one of the last fights she had with Depp, the assault that led her to file for a temporary restraining order, was over his accusations that she left human feces in their bed.

Depp previously testified that he believed Heard left excrement in their bed before she left for Coachella in April 2016 after they had a disagreement and as they separated for about a month. Heard said that the feces belonged to one of their dogs, who had longstanding health and bowel control issues.

The couple met again in May after Depp’s mother passed away because Depp called and said he needed her, Heard testified. Depp previously testified that he called to inform her about his mother’s death and his desire for a divorce, but that Heard asked to speak in person.

When Depp showed up, Heard said, he resumed his accusations that she and her friends attempted to “prank” him with the feces.

“I tried to point out how that didn’t make sense …my friends wouldn’t do that,” Heard said. “That’s not something a bunch of 30-year-old women think is funny. What is he talking about? And he just kept going on and on about it.”

Heard said she texted her friend and then got on a call with another friend, iO Tillett Wright, to “quell” what she thought was a delusion from Depp. During the call, Heard said that Depp began yelling at Tillett Wright.

Depp then tossed her phone and went upstairs, according to Heard. Heard said she apologized to her friend. Tillett Wright then asked Heard to leave, saying she wasn’t safe in the home with Depp.

Heard told the court that Depp returned and began screaming, eventually grabbing her phone and throwing it at her face. He taunted her as she cried on the couch, Heard said, then grabbed her by the head.

“I don’t know if he was intending to hit me in the face or if he was just trying to grab my face but he was making this gesture around my face … he said like, ‘yeah, let me see how back I hurt you this time,'” Heard said.

At some point during this, Heard testified that her friend, Raquel, who lived in a neighboring apartment ran in and wedged herself between the couple. She then tried to calm Depp as Heard went into a corner, according to Heard.

“He hit both of her arms…and barreled towards me,” Heard said. I instinctively curl up on the couch and I just feel her arms come around me.”

Heard testified that Depp continued to scream at the two women until his security came in to intervene.

Depp denied attacking Heard during his testimony weeks prior, saying he grabbed the phone and tossed it onto the couch in the apartment before walking away from Heard.

Heard addresses viral audio in which she says she hit Depp

Prior to the trial, an audio clip of Heard saying she hit Depp went viral after it was released.

Some on social media have pointed to the clip as a smoking gun in the trial, saying it shows Heard was violent with Depp.

On Monday, Heard was asked to address the clip while she was on the stand.

In the clip, Depp and Heard argue about Heard allegedly hitting Depp. “I was hitting you. I was not punching you. Babe, you’re not punched,” Heard says on the tape.

Depp responds, “Don’t tell me what it feels like to be punched.”

Heard tells Depp on the tape that he’s “been around a long time” and knows what it feels like to be sincerely punched. Depp accuses Heard on the tape of punching him with a closed fist.

“You’re fine,” Heard says. “I did not hurt you. I did not punch you. I was hitting you.”

Heard admits on the tape to starting the physical fight and says Depp did the right thing by leaving the room.

When asked to explain what was happening in the clip, Heard told the jury she’s referencing “the disparity” of the couple’s physicality in their physical fights. Heard accused Depp of “proactively” punching her, and Heard said she would have to “reactively hit him.”

On the stand, Heard said the incident referenced in the video is a time when Heard attempted to barricade herself in a bedroom and Depp tried to break in. She alleged that she hit Depp in an attempt to get Depp out.

“I hit his arms, his body as he was trying to prevent me from closing the door,” she said. “I knew what he would do to me when he got to the other side.”

The phrase “reactive abuse” has gained popularity over the course of the Depp-Heard trial. Psychologist Betsy Usher, who specializes in treating abuse and trauma, recently told NBC News that reacting to abuse in self-defense can include name-calling, physically pushing back and other emotional outbursts. Other experts dispute theories of “mutual abuse,” saying there is always a “primary aggressor.”

Heard alleged that Depp would punch her while she hit him in her defense.

“Even if he wasn’t twice my size, they’re very different [actions], and that’s what I’m pointing out to him,” Heard said.

Audio played during trial suggests Heard asked Depp to stop recording her

Heard’s attorney played a recording from July 2015, in which Heard asks Depp to stop recording her without her knowledge.

The audio appeared to have been recorded by Depp. In the brief clip, Heard tells Depp that recording her is “secretive” and “deceitful.”

“You had trouble with me before when you said to me that you didn’t feel like you were told I was recording you,” Heard said. “So please stop. Please stop.”

Depp makes an inaudible comment before loudly replying, telling Heard to acknowledge “what I’m saying before you keep make demands.”

“You are not a schoolteacher. Shut the f— up. Listen to me, and then you can f—— respond. Understand?” he said. “You ain’t nobody’s f—— mom. You ain’t no schoolteacher. Don’t pretend to be f—— authoritative with me. You don’t f—— exist.”

On the stand, Heard said the tapes were about whether it was OK for the couple to record one another without consent. Heard said Depp told her that he no longer required her permission to record her without her knowledge.

Depp would injure himself during arguments, Heard says

Heard told the court that during arguments, her former husband would sometimes create self-inflicted injuries while screaming at her.

This included burning himself with cigarettes, Heard said, which contradicts Depp’s previous testimony that Heard put out a cigarette on his face.

“I almost called 911 in New York in August of 2014,” Heard said. “I believe because I thought he had done himself an injury. In fights he often would cut his arms or hold his knife to his chest or draw blood superficially at first, but later in 2016 as our relationship was ending … oh, he also put cigarettes out on himself.”

Heard told the court that he would be in front of her, screaming in her face, when he’d put a cigarette out on his own cheek.

During cross-examination of Depp earlier in the trial, Heard’s legal team attempted to undermine Depp’s accusations that Heard severed his finger after throwing a vodka bottle at him. They spotlighted language he used in which he said he cut his finger off.

Depp testified that it was only a manner of speaking, a simpler turn of phrase than rehashing the cause of the injury in messages.

Depp attacked Heard during fight while honeymooning, she alleges

While Depp and Heard were honeymooning on a train in South Asia, Heard told the court that her then-husband assaulted her in their sleeper car.

Heard and Depp took their honeymoon in summer 2015, after Depp finished filming a “Pirates of the Caribbean” film, she said. This happened after Depp’s finger was severed in Australia and a period of sobriety for him, according to her testimony.

Depp and Heard argued on the last night of their time on the Orient Express train journey, because Depp wanted her “permission” to break his sobriety. She testified that he had already been drinking “brown liquor” that night.

She alleged that he slapped her in their compartment and then held her by her neck.

“It was a small narrow sleeper car, and there were two beds, one on each side,” Heard said. “He had me up against the wall while he’s standing on the floor in between the beds, and I was on the bed kind of half kneeling, half standing, trying to get his arms off my neck. And he was squeezing my neck against the railway car for what felt like a very long time.”

She said she recalled being scared that Depp would kill her accidentally. Heard wrote about the incident in her diary the next morning, she said.

Amber Heard adjusts prior testimony, says abuse started earlier

Heard spent her first few minutes on the witness stand Monday by adjusting her testimony, telling the court that the alleged abuse from Depp began earlier than she previously recalled.

“I’m embarrassed to say I think I would have liked to believe that the period of time in which I fell in love with Johnny, in which we fell in love and he was sober and he wasn’t violent to me, lasted longer than it did,” Heard said.

She said following a review of therapy notes, she recalled earlier moments of alleged abuse that dated back as early as 2012 rather than 2013.

When asked by her attorney why she didn’t recall these moments earlier, Heard said, “That’s not how my memory works.”

“You know, we were together for five years, almost four and a half,” Heard said. “And it was very chaotic at times — a very loving, emotional relationship. So as anyone can imagine, there was a lot going on, and unfortunately the violence became normal.”

Depp, Heard arrive at the courthouse to very different receptions

Amber Heard and Johnny Depp arrived at the courthouse Monday morning after a weeklong hiatus.

Heard arrived at the Fairfax, Virginia, courthouse first. A crowd outside the courthouse appeared to boo and jeer the actor as she made her way inside.

A few moments later, Depp arrived. As he exited a black SUV, the crowd roared with what appeared to be cheers. Some called Depp’s name, and the cheering grew louder as the actor waved to those who seemed to gather to support him.

Depp turned to a camera as he walked into the courthouse, seemingly joking that those outside the courthouse were “all relatives” of his.

Notable moments from Amber Heard’s testimony

Heard spent two days on the witness stand before the court took a weeklong break. She recounted the early days of her romance with Johnny Depp and how the relationship changed over time.

In her retelling, Heard said their relationship changed after Depp broke his sobriety following a period of abstaining from alcohol. She described him as jealous, often accusing her of having affairs.

Heard told the court that Depp’s alleged assaults would coincide with his drug and alcohol abuse. He has previously testified refuting the idea that he was ever “out of control” while inebriated.

In one instance, she said she was head-butted and repeatedly punched in the face by Depp in an attack she believed was going to end in death.

“He was just pummeling me,” she said, describing Depp on top of her in the alleged attack. “I thought: ‘This his is how I die. He’s going to kill me now. He’s going to kill me, and he won’t even have realized it.’”

Read the full story here.

How Depp has spent the break

During the more than a week off in the defamation trial, Johnny Depp was “in Europe taking some time to rest for a few days, hang out with old friends, playing music,” a representative for the actor told NBC News.

YouTube creators are pivoting their videos to Depp v. Heard content and raking in millions of views

Jacob, 15, was making YouTube videos about the video game “Elden Ring” when, he said, a video about a different topic — the trial in actor Johnny Depp’s defamation suit against his ex-wife Amber Heard — popped up in the platform’s recommended video feed. 

Jacob, who spoke on the condition that his last name be withheld for privacy reasons, said he noticed that the video had millions of views but that the channel it came from had “barely any subscribers.” Jacob’s own videos were getting only a few hundred views at the time, so he decided to try to make a video about the celebrity defamation case, instead. 

Within a week, Jacob’s new content — often short compilations of clips from the trial set to royalty-free music — had over 10 million views.

Few, if any, other topics have captivated social media like the Depp-Heard trial. Since it started last month, content about the trial has seemed to become unavoidable on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and other major platforms. That attention has in turn attracted content creators of all stripes who are riding high on a potent combination of viewer interest and algorithmic boosts.

A wide variety of creators — from makeup artists, comedians and true crime podcasters to K-pop fans, musicians and movie reviewers — have pivoted to covering the Depp trial. Six creators, including Jacob, said in interviews that the pivot allowed them to reach audiences of millions on YouTube and TikTok.

Read the full story here.

Amber Heard-Johnny Depp trial memes could have ‘a chilling effect’ on victims of domestic abuse, expert says

As a survivor of domestic abuse, Ruth M. Glenn said watching the Amber Heard-Johnny Depp defamation case has been triggering.

It’s not that she believes one side over the other. It’s more that the inescapable memes and jokes on social media emanating from the trial have exacerbated the trauma of surviving abuse to another level.

Hashtags like “AmberHeardIsAPsycho” or “AmberHeardIsALiar” have racked up billions of views on TikTok and Twitter. Even searching content that appears to be pro-Heard, like the hashtag “IBelieveAmberHeard,” typically yields videos and posts maligning the actor. 

“I can’t imagine what this might be doing to someone who may eventually want to seek safety and support,” Glenn said. “Whether it’s Amber Heard or Johnny Depp, how dare us make fun and make light of someone who is sharing something very personal — no matter how we feel about that person.”

Read the full story here.