'I was afraid he'd kill me': Amber Heard takes to the witness box in Depp trial

Words and video report by ITV News Correspondent Juliet Bremner

Amber Heard went into the witness box for the first time on Monday in the Johnny Depp libel trial and told the court that at times she feared for her life during the attacks she claimed her former husband launched upon her.

Wearing a white short sleeved shirt and black skirt and with her long blond hair tied back in a single plait, the 34-year-old actor took the oath before beginning her testimony.

She told the court that Johnny Depp’s denials of abuse towards her were lies.

In a statement she said: “He was both physically and verbally abusive. The physical abuse and the worst of the verbal abuse would usually happen when he was drunk or high on drugs, which was often.

"Much of the time he had difficultly recalling what he had done once he had slept it off."

She claimed that his physical abuse included throwing her into things and punching her, and he got angrier when she tried to stand tip for herself.

“The physical abuse included punching, slapping, kicking, head-butting and choking me, as well as throwing me into things, pulling me by my hair, and shoving me or pushing me to the ground. He threw things at me, especially glass bottles,” she said.

She claimed that she was also often subject to verbal tirades, such as screaming and swearing which she only later realised was another form of abuse.

The 34-year-old claimed that she feared for her life because the attacks were so severe.

Ms Heard said: “Some incidents were so severe that I was afraid he was going to kill me, either intentionally or just by losing control and going too far.

"He explicitly threatened to kill me many times, especially later in our relationship.” 

Ms Heard said it led to a decline in her mental health.

• Amber Heard made domestic violence claims to blackmail Johnny Depp, court hears

• Amber Heard was ‘abuser’ in Johnny Depp relationship, Pirates of the Caribbean's ex-aide claims

• Former Depp estate manager tells court Amber Heard abuse pictures were a 'hoax'

The court heard that Mr Depp’s doctor claimed Ms Heard had deliberately moved their wedding forward to try and avoid signing a pre-nuptial agreement.

She denied this and claimed that she was willing to sign an agreement before she got married to the Pirates of the Caribbean star but it “just never got done.”

Ms Heard claimed she never wanted his money.

It was suggested to her that the two of them had a row over her refusal to sign the agreement but she denied this, claiming the argument had actually been about an alleged affair she was a having with a co star. 

Ms Heard said the row resulted with her being “shoved” by Depp and “hit in the back of the head” in an hotel room in Tokyo where he had gone to promote a new film.

A doctor who had seen Ms Heard wrote in notes that she had anxiety problems, ADHD, an eating disorder and bi-polar disorder, but she said that this was wrong.

She admitted that she did have anxiety problems and she had taken one prescribed drug for sleep depravation that she had taken “all her adult life” but nothing else.

She claims that Mr Depp’s doctors had given her “a long list of medications” that had been intended to “keep me sedated.”

Ms Heard also admitted she had taken some illegal drugs including MDMA, which is also known as ecstasy, and magic mushrooms but insisted she never took cocaine with Mr Depp. She also admitted taking MDMA on one or two occasions.

• Johnny Depp accused Amber Heard of defecating in their bed, High Court hears

• Johnny Depp denies he has 'nasty, angry side to his character' as libel case begins

Amber Heard has described in court documents how charismatic and interesting she found Johnny Depp when she first started her relationship with him in 2012.

In her witness statement she said: “When Johnny and I were together, it was like we were the only people in the world. We loved the same music, and poetry, and art—we would just sit and talk for hours.”

For the first year he was mostly sober, and he regularly drank tea on the private Bahamas Island where they stayed. She claims that he told her he couldn’t drink because he had damaged his liver. 

But she also claimed it quickly became clear that he had a light and dark side to him, what Amber Heard called “the warm glow” and “the monster”. She claimed the monster would appear when Mr Depp had taken alcohol or drugs.

She noticed that he soon became controlling and possessive and would say that “death was the only way to end our relationship.” She also claims that he would say “dark” or “intense” things, such as threatening to carve her face up "so no-one else would want me.”  

Ms Heard denied she had a problem controlling her temper, but admitted she "did have outbursts of anger and times when I lost my cool with Johnny during fights and arguments.”

She told the court many of the fights had centred on his insecurity and jealousy, she claimed that he did not like her working and it increased the likelihood he would fall off the wagon or start using drugs again. 

The libel trial has been told about a previous incident of alleged domestic violence involving Amber Heard. The court was told about an alleged fight between Amber Heard and her previous partner, artist Taysa Van Ree in 2009.

She denies there was any kind of physical assault but admits there was a verbal argument when she was arrested in Washington State. She was released after Ms Van Ree said she would not press charges. 

Amber Heard has been accused of “shifting her account” of a big fight the couple had, when she claims that she was hit in the face with a telephone thrown by Mr Depp and she thought he had “popped her eye out.”

The 34-year-old denies she had ever made up any of the evidence in her witness statement and insists she was the victim of a brutal attack at the hands of Mr Depp.

She described to the court an alleged assault on 21 May 2016, just days before she applied for a temporary restraining order against Mr Depp, describing how he snatched the telephone from her hands and wound his arm back “like a baseball player."

Ms Heard she told the court on Monday: “It appeared to me as if he was throwing it as hard as possible... I thought it had popped my eye out when it landed.”

She also claimed that the heavy rings Mr Depp wears on his hands had hurt her head as he grabbed her by the hair and threw her around.

She described how Mr Depp swung around a magnum of wine, smashing a lamp and vases of flowers, leaving glass across the kitchen worktops and floor, punching holes in paintings belonging to her.

The actor could not explain why two police officers had previously told the court they did not see any damage to the apartments.

It was further alleged that Ms Heard, her friend Rocky Pennington and her friend’s husband Josh Drew got their heads together to come up with a “graphic scene.” She said this was totally untrue.

It was alleged that when she went to court in Los Angeles to apply for the restraining order, she had tipped off the entertainment media website TMZ.

Ms Heard denied this, but the court was shown a clip of the media scrum outside court.