In a tearful testimony in court on Wednesday, Amber Heard described how Johnny Depp lost control while he was on drugs and alcohol.
Currently, the two are embroiled in a legal battle, with the actor suing Ms Heard for $50m (£38.2m) for implying he abused her in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed.
Ms Heard’s testimony traced her upbringing to a working-class family in small town Texas and later shifted to her relationship with the actor, which she described as “always intense”. She said it featured a pattern of abuse fueled by drugs and alcohol
“He would explode. He started doing things like destroying property and screaming at me,” she said.
“He would grab me by the hair or he’d grab me by the arm. … And it started. Slapping. And it got to the repetitive slaps where he’d hold me in a position and slap like multiple times in a row,” she said.
Referring to his drug and alcohol abuse, she said that he had “lost control” due to his addiction.
She also alleged a pattern of alcohol and drug abuse that fuelled erratic behaviour, including holding his dog out of the window of a moving car and accusing her of having an affair she said she didn’t have.
”Johnny on speed is very different from Johnny on opiates. Johnny on opiates is very different from Adderall and cocaine Johnny, which is very different from quaaludes Johnny, but I had to get good at paying attention to the different versions of him,” she said.
Mr Depp has claimed that he does not have an alcohol problem but admitted to having a problem with prescription pills.
Ms Heard said that no one told him about his alcohol problem which contributed to her ordeal, she said.
“No one told him. No one was honest with him,” Heard said. “He passed out in his own vomit, he’d lose control of his body and everyone cleaned up after him. I cleaned up after him.”
Earlier Mr Depp had alleged that she had defecated on his bed.
Mr Depp is not named in Ms Heard’s 2018 op-ed titled “I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change.”
His legal team has argued that it contains a “clear implication that Mr Depp is a domestic abuser”, which they say is “categorically and demonstrably false”.
Mr Depp is seeking damages of “not less than $50m”.
Ms Heard has filed a $100m counterclaim against Mr Depp for nuisance and immunity from his allegations.
