Amber Heard was caught on camera smiling and rolling her eyes in a resurfaced 2016 deposition where she was questioned about hitting Johnny Depp.
Jurors at the former couple’s multi-million-dollar defamation trial in Fairfax, Virginia, were shown a clip from Ms Heard’s 13 August 2016 deposition on Tuesday, in which she is seen listening to an audio conversation between herself and Mr Depp.
In the audio, the couple are discussing an alleged fight where Mr Depp repeatedly accuses his wife of punching him.
Ms Heard is heard denying punching him, saying that Mr Depp pushed a bathroom door into her toes so she pushed the door back, striking him in the head. She repeatedly says “sorry” to her husband.
As Ms Heard listens to the audio during her deposition, she eats a snack, chews, looks around the room and shakes her head.
At one point, she is seen smirking and rolling her eyes. She also speaks to someone in the room and voices are heard in the background.
During an intense cross-examination on Tuesday, Mr Depp’s attorney Camille Vasquez questioned Ms Heard about the videotaped deposition asking her if she thinks there is “something amusing” about allegedly abusing her husband.
Ms Heard insisted she was reacting to the team of lawyers who were “snickering and laughing” in the room at the time.
“You’re smiling as that audio recording is being played in that deposition aren’t you?” asked Ms Vasquez.
Ms Heard replied: “I’m not smiliing because of the audio. I’m smiling because of what is happening around me.
“I was sitting opposite a whole table of lawyers that were snickering and laughing and rolling their eyes at me while I was talking.”
Mr Depp’s attorney asked the Aquaman actress if she found abuse “amusing”.
“Is there something amusing about kicking a door into your husband’s head?” she asked.
“No I was rolling my eyes and commenting on what I was experiencing at that time in recounting the story,” testified Ms Heard.
Ms Vasquez continued to press her: “Is there something amusing about punching your husband in the jaw?”
Ms Heard pushed back saying “that is not what I was smiling about and no I do not think that is amusing”.
During the cross-examination, Ms Heard was also questioned about the same audio she had been played back in 2016.
She insisted that she only hit Mr Depp to defend herself from his abuse.
“I tried to defend myself when I could, but it was after years of not defending myself,” she testified.
Mr Depp is suing his ex-wife for defamation over a 2018 op-ed she penned for The Washington Post where she described herself as a “a public figure representing domestic abuse”.
The Pirates of the Caribbean actor is not named in the article, which is titled “I spoke up against sexual violence – and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change”.
However Mr Depp claims that it falsely implies that he is a domestic abuser – something that he strongly denies – and that it has left him struggling to land roles in Hollywood. He is suing for $50m.
Ms Heard is countersuing for $100m, accusing Mr Depp of orchestrating a “smear campaign” against her and describing his lawsuit as a continuation of “abuse and harassment”.
