Amber Heard was accused of staging a photograph of her breakfast table on which Johnny Depp allegedly snorted cocaine, while being cross-examined by his lawyer on Monday (16 May).
Mr Depp’s attorney Camille Vasquez suggested during cross-examination that the photo was inauthentic – citing a single, unsmoked hand-rolled cigarette in the ashtray, four neat lines of cocaine with no residue “when your lips and nose touch the table”, and a “pretty neat table”.
What followed was a bizarre back and forth about the logistics of consuming cocaine.
Ms Heard concluded her direct testimony on Monday, after proceedings in the $50m defamation trial resumed following a week-long hiatus.
Mr Depp has sued Ms Heard for alleged defamation over an op-ed she wrote in 2018 for The Washington Post. She doesn’t name him in the piece, but describes herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse”. The actor has asked for $50m in damages.
During cross-examination, Ms Vasquez showed the jury the photograph, listed as defendant’s exhibit 167A and already admitted into evidence.
“Directing your attention, Ms Heard, to the photograph,” Ms Vasquez said, confirming that Ms Heard took the photograph at her apartment in March of 2013.
“And it’s your testimony that Mr Depp left this breakfast table just the way you took [the photograph]?” Depp’s counsel asked the Aquaman 2 actor.
When Ms Heard replied in the affirmative, Ms Vasquez asked: “So this is what the table looked like after Mr Depp had been doing cocaine?”
“Well, clearly, he has yet to snort these lines,” Ms Heard responded, before Ms Vasquez asked the 35-year-old whether “there are four lines of cocaine on this table”.
Ms Heard said: “In this picture, I see four lines.”
When Ms Vasquez pointed out that “there isnt any cocaine residue around those lines” and that it didn’t “really look like anyone’s been doing cocaine off that table”, Ms Heard said: “With all due respect, I’m not sure you know how that works.”
“I’m asking if you do,” the lawyer replied, adding: “You’ve testified you’ve done cocaine.”
“I have,” Ms Heard confirmed, before Ms Vasquez repeated her question.
“Doesn’t really look like Mr Depp or anyone was doing cocaine off that table, does it?” she said.
“I beg to differ with you on that,” Ms Heard asserted, adding, “When you snort cocaine typically, it goes into your nose. It doesn’t stay on the table.”
When the lack of residue around the lines of cocaine was highlighted, Ms Heard suggested Mr Depp had used a tampon appplicator that “I believe my sister had taught him to use in order to put the cocaine in your nose”.
Ms Vasquez then switched to the subject of the ashtray, asking Ms Heard: “Mr Depp is a pretty heavy smoker, right?”
“He is,” Ms Heard said, also confirming that the only cigarette in the ashtray was one of Mr Depp’s “hand-rolleds”.
“The one that’s not smoked,” Ms Vasquez pressed, adding that “there’s no ash in the ashtray either” and that it looks “pretty clean”.
“It’s a pretty neat table, wouldn’t you agree?” Ms Vasquez continued her line of questioning, as Ms Heard suggested that “depends on what you would call neat”.
Once Ms Heard testified that she had sent the photograph of the breakfast table to her friend, Los Angeles-based yoga instructor Rocky Pennington, Ms Vasquez asked: “So you have a habit of sending staged photos to your friend Rocky, don’t you?”
“I had a habit of communicating with my best friend about what was going on in my life,” Ms Heard replied.
Ms Vasquez then enquired whether Ms Heard had any pictures of Mr Depp “actually consuming cocaine”, “holding cocaine, standing next to cocaine... sitting next to cocaine.”
“I don’t know, I don’t know,” Ms Heard replied, when Ms Vasquez counter-questioned her: “Well you haven’t shown any of those pictures like that to the jury, have you?”
“No, I haven’t,” the actor testified.
Ms Heard has countersued Mr Depp, accusing him of allegedly orchestrating a “smear campaign” against her and describing his own lawsuit as a continuation of “abuse and harassment”. She has asked for $100m in damages and immunity against his claims.
Follow live updates of the trial here.
