Heard took the stand Wednesday and recalled her whirlwind romance with Depp before the alleged incident.
Amber Heard got emotional on the witness stand recalling the first time she claims Johnny Depp slapped her.
The 36-year-old actress testified on Wednesday that the alleged incident happened after she asked Depp about a tattoo on his arm, which she said "looked like a muddled, faded tattoo." She said when she asked him what it said, Depp responded with "Wino forever."
Heard recalled she laughed because she thought Depp was joking, and that's when she claims he slapped her across the face. "And I laughed," she said, growing emotional. "I laughed because I didn't know what else to do. I thought this must be a joke. I just stared at him kind of laughing still, thinking that he was going to start laughing too to tell me it was a joke, but he didn’t. He said, 'You think it’s so funny. You think you’re a funny b**ch,' and he slapped me again."
The actress said it was at this point when she realized it wasn't a joke anymore.
"And I stopped laughing but I didn’t know what else to do," she recalled. "I didn’t know what to do. You would think you would have a response but I, as a woman, had never been hit like that." Heard then claimed Depp slapped her again.
"I didn't move, didn't freak out," she said. "I just stared at him because I didn’t know what to do. Then he slaps me one more time. Hard. I lose my balance. I was on the edge of the couch and I’m, all the sudden, realizing that the worst thing just happened to me. I wish so much he had said he was joking, because it didn’t hurt. It didn’t physically hurt me."
Heard recalled being on the ground "looking at the dirty carpet." Heard, who did not say when exactly this alleged incident occurred, testified she didn't want to leave him and "didn't want this to be the reality." But, out of nowhere, Heard said Depp's attitude changed.
"He starts crying," Heard claimed. "I had never seen an adult man cry. He's crying. Tears just falling out of his eyes, gets down on his knees, grabs my hands and says, 'I will never do that again. I'm so sorry, baby. I put that f**ker away. I thought I killed it. It's done. I thought I put the monster way. I've done it before. It's done.' I didn't have words. I didn't know what to say."
Heard said she later went home and eventually saw her therapist before Depp called her a few days later and allegedly said he'd rather cut his hand off than to ever do that again. Heard would go on to detail more alleged physical abuse.
After Depp allegedly apologized and showered her with gifts that included expensive wine, Heard said she forgave him. She said she didn't know how long it was until the relationship soured again, but she claimed Depp started drinking again and would show up to her house to "catch her" with someone else when she wouldn't immediately respond to his texts.
She testified Depp would accuse her of cheating when she'd go for auditions, but the accusations soon escalated to Depp allegedly pushing, shoving and hitting her. Heard claimed Depp accused her of having an affair with her ex-wife.
Heard said it felt like she was walking on eggshells when she was around Depp and had no idea what she was doing wrong and why Depp kept throwing things at her, hitting her and screaming at her. She said she would go through the same cycle, saying she would never take him back. Heard said she eventually did take him back after he apologized, claiming Depp told her he was in Alcoholic's Anonymous and sober.
Heard also listed the drugs Depp allegedly used and how each one would change his personality in a different manner. She claimed she told her therapist and mother about all of this. What's more, Amber claimed she told her mom about the psychological abuse from the beginning and later divulged about the alleged physical abuse.
Her testimony -- in which which she recalled Deep courting her during and after filming The Rum Diary and later "secretly dating" -- is the latest key development in Depp's $50 million defamation lawsuit against her, and ET is streaming it live.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential.
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