The manager of Johnny Depp’s private island in the Bahamas has testified that she intervened after hearing Mr Depp saying that Amber Heard hit him with a can.
The defamation 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”.
Estate manager Tara Roberts appeared in court via video link on Tuesday. She told the court that Mr Depp would bring guests to the island, such as British actor Paul Bettany and his family, as well as Ms Heard and her friends.
She described a 2013 incident prompting Ms Heard to be asked to leave the island in the morning, but she came back that same afternoon. Ms Roberts said her impression of the early stages of the relationship was positive.
Recalling Mr Depp’s 2014 detox on the island, she said that Dr David Kipper and nurse Debbie Lloyd were there. She noted that she saw no property damage following their departure and that she witnessed no injuries to Ms Heard.
Ms Roberts also testified about the preparations she did for the couple’s 2015 wedding, noting that there were privacy concerns and that the nuptials occurred earlier than initially planned.
The estate manager testified that she was asked to get RedBull and Dr Pepper, Mr Depp’s drink of choice at the time.
She said Ms Heard often wore little makeup and recounted an episode in which the couple came to her office. Ms Roberts said Ms Heard asked Mr Depp to come back to the house and that she eventually entered his vehicle after previously blocking it, stopping him from driving away.
The estate manager said she and a colleague followed the couple to their house and that they could be heard arguing loudly.
“Amber was telling him he was a washed-up actor, ‘you’re going to die a fat, lonely old man,’” Ms Roberts said.
She added that she could hear Mr Depp say to Ms Heard “you hit me with a can”. As Mr Depp tried to walk away from the house, Ms Roberts said Ms Heard “tried to viciously pull him back”.
Ms Roberts said she was “in between” the couple at one point and that she decided that it was “best” for her to “remove” Mr Depp from the “situation”.
She testified that Ms Heard was “clawing” at Mr Depp and pulling on his clothes and his hair.
Asked how Mr Depp reacted, Ms Roberts said, “he didn’t – he stood there with his arms by his side, he didn’t do anything”.
Ms Roberts said Mr Depp “had a mark across the bridge of his nose” and that she got an ice pack to put on it “so that it wouldn’t swell” and that she made sure that he “wasn’t bleeding”.
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.
