Johnny Depp’s security guard Travis McGivern spoke of the actor’s shock when Amber Heard punched him in the face during a fight as he testified in the former couple’s defamation trial.
The trial between Mr Depp and Ms Heard began on 11 April in Fairfax, Virginia following Mr Depp’s lawsuit against his ex-wife in March 2019. Mr Depp is arguing that she defamed him in a December 2018 op-ed published in The Washington Post titled “I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change”.
Mr McGivern, who appeared in court on Monday via video link from Los Angeles, said the fight took place on 23 March 2015. Ms Heard left during an argument and came back with her sister Whitney. The bodyguard testified that he felt it was time to get Mr Depp away from the situation.
He said he “heard and saw a closed fist contact Mr Depp in the left side of his face”, noting that it was Ms Heard’s fist.
“The initial look on” Mr Depp’s face was “shock”, the guard said, adding that he moved him and told him they were leaving.
“It wasn’t up to him anymore,” he said, adding that it was “my time to do my job”.
He said Mr Depp wasn’t happy with him and that the actor pulled down his glasses, pointed to the left side of his face and said “that’s your fault”. Mr McGivern said he agreed and that there was “a nice little shiner” on Mr Depp’s face. He said it wasn’t black and blue “yet”, but that it was “swollen and red”.
Mr McGivern said he first met Ms Heard in the summer of 2013. He had started working for Mr Depp in March of that year.
The guard testified that the relationship became more “volatile” as time went on. He said he noticed a change in March 2015 when the couple returned from their trip to Australia, which has been heavily discussed during the trial.
Mr McGivern said arguments would take place “every other night ... several times a week”. He said he would receive a text from Mr Depp asking Mr McGivern to come to the penthouse and that he would stand by the door or in the kitchen.
He said the arguments were “just verbal ... yelling” at the time and that Mr Depp wanted “to get out of there”.
The guard said there was “lots of name-calling” and “f-bombs”. When asked what Ms Heard would say, Mr McGivern reacted by saying “oh dear”.
“F****** deadbeat dad,” he said. “F****** washed up” and “f****** c***”.
“You name it, she spewed it,” he added. Mr McGivern said Ms Heard sometimes grew irate at him for removing Mr Depp from “a situation”, calling him a “yes man” and demeaning his “career choice”.
When he picked up Ms Heard from the airport after she came back from Australia, she was “normal ... pleasant” and “polite, like she usually was”.
Mr Depp returned later on. Mr McGivern testified that his hand was “heavily wrapped”. Mr Depp’s finger was severed in Australia, he claims that Ms Heard threw vodka bottles at him – an allegation she denies.
The incident on 23 March 2015 occurred a couple of weeks after the couple’s return to Los Angeles.
In her 2018 op-ed, Ms Heard wrote that “like many women, I had been harassed and sexually assaulted by the time I was of college age. But I kept quiet — I did not expect filing complaints to bring justice. And I didn’t see myself as a victim”.
“Then two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out,” she added at the time.
While Mr Depp isn’t named in the piece, his legal team argues 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.
