Amber Heard, an actor, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after the violence she experienced at the hands her ex-husband Johnny Depp. This included multiple acts of sexual assault. A psychologist testified Tuesday.
Dawn Hughes, a psychologist, said that Depp had forced her to have oral sex, and also tried to penetrate her with a bottle of liquor. He claims she falsely claimed in a newspaper article that she was a domestic violence victim.
Hughes’ testimony is inconsistent with that of Depp’s psychologist, who claimed Heard was lying about her symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. Heard also suffered from borderline personality disorders and histrionic personality disorders. Hughes denied that Heard has any personality disorder.
Hughes was the first witness who took the stand for Heard’s side after Depp’s lawyers had resigned Tuesday morning.
Hughes stated that there is evidence to support many of the abuses, including Depp’s apology to Heard and his admissions to Heard in text messages. He also admitted to friends his poor drinking habits. Hughes stated that Heard may have told Hughes and her therapists about some instances of abuse simultaneously.
Depp claimed that he never attacked Heard physically, but that she was the aggressor and hit him repeatedly throughout their relationship.
Hughes testified that Heard admitted to her pushing and shoving Depp at times, calling him names, and insulting his parenting.
Hughes stated that violence can be different when a smaller person strikes at an older person. Depp’s violence was intimidating for her safety and she felt threatened by it. However, Heard’s violence didn’t have the same effect on Depp.
She said, “That’s just Physics; that’s just proportional Force.”
Hughes claimed that Depp’s obsession with jealousy was responsible for a lot of violence. Depp insisted that she not work on nude scenes and accused her of having affairs with James Franco and Billy Bob Thornton. Hughes stated that Depp would call the director and other crew members if she worked on a film and tell them he “had eyes”.
According to trial treatment notes, Heard identified as bisexual and was subject to scrutiny for her interactions with women. Hughes claimed that Depp once manually entered Heard’s ear in anger after seeing Heard’s interactions.
Hughes stated that Amber was accused of hitting women with her breasts and then she was accused of hitting men on her.
Heard was unable to hold back tears and her lips and chin trembled as Hughes described the abuse.
Hughes claimed that she relied on Heard’s interviews for 29 hours, interviews with her therapists, and review of court documents.
Depp’s attorneys had already withdrawn their case Tuesday and a judge denied Heard’s motion to dismiss the case. Heard’s lawyers claimed that Depp failed to present his case as a matter law and that no reasonable juror could find in his favor.
Penney Azcarate, the judge, stated that this is a high standard for dismissing cases at this stage in the trial and that Depp should not have provided any evidence to support his claims.
After the judge had ruled that the case could proceed, Depp and Benjamin Chew, his lead lawyer, congratulated each other.
Chew claimed that there is a lot of evidence that leads the jury to believe that Depp was falsely accused by Heard. He stated that the evidence actually shows that “Ms. Heard had physically abused him. She is the abuser.”
J. Benjamin Rottenborn was Heard’s attorney and stated that the evidence has been clear for the past three weeks, proving Heard’s abuse allegations are true.
He said, “We haven’t yet gotten to present our case.” “This is all the evidence that has been presented while plaintiff controls this playing field.”
After Heard published a December 2018 article in The Washington Post in which she called herself “a public figure representing domestic violence”, Depp sued Heard for $50m in Fairfax County Circuit Court. Depp’s lawyers claim that he was still defamed because the article clearly refers to the abuse allegations Heard made in 2016. This was during the couple’s divorce proceedings.
On Tuesday, the judge said she would reserve judgment on whether the headline of the online article should be included in the libel suit. She stated that the evidence was not clear at this stage as to whether Heard wrote or is responsible. The headline online reads: “I stood up against sexual violence — faced our culture’s wrath.” This must change.
Hughes will be cross-examined Wednesday. Heard is expected Wednesday to also take the stand.
