Johnny Depp’s lawyers rested their case on Thursday morning in the defamation trial between him and his ex-wife Amber Heard, only for the actress to retake the stand and face a grilling from one of his attorneys.
Heard made her emotional return to the stand as the last witness to testify in the seven-week trial between her and Depp. Her voice shaking, she told jurors said she was still traumatized by a campaign of online vilification that she said began with Depp and his then-lawyer, Adam Waldman, labeling her abuse allegations a “hoax,” and continues today.
“Every single day, I have to relive the trauma,” Heard said. “My hands shake, I wake up screaming.”
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Heard was immediately challenged by a Depp lawyer who is beloved by his fans, Camille Vasquez, in a reprise of the intense cross-examination she conducted after Heard’s original testimony.
“Your lies have been exposed to the world multiple times, right?” Vasquez said.
“I haven’t lied about anything,” Heard replied.
Vasquez confronted Heard with witnesses this week who were called to rebut the actress’ allegations. Among them: Kate Moss, the model and former girlfriend of Depp; Morgan Night, the former owner-manager of a luxury desert trailer park where Heard said a weekend retreat turned violent; and Morgan Tremaine, a former employee of the gossip website TMZ who arranged coverage of Heard’s court hearing for a temporary restraining order against Depp.
Moss knocked down a rumor that Depp had pushed her down stairs on a trip to Jamaica, while Night said the only anger he saw that day in 2013 was from Heard, and Tremaine said he worked with Heard’s team to coordinate a photograph of her outside the courthouse in 2016 that would show bruising on her face. (Heard denied that she worked with TMZ.)
“You didn’t expect as many people to show up and testify on his behalf that did, did you?” Vasquez asked.
“Incorrect,” Heard replied.
“When you told this jury under oath that you punched Mr. Depp because you thought of Mr. Depp pushing Kate Moss down the stairs, you didn't expect Ms. Moss to agree to testify that that never happened, did you?” Vasquez asked.
“Incorrect,” Heard said. “I know how many people will come out of the woodwork to be in support of Johnny.”
Depp is suing Heard for $50 million, claiming she defamed him even without naming him in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed identifying herself as a victim of domestic violence. Heard’s $100 million counter-suit claims Depp defamed her in part by way of the attacks leveled by Waldman.
Lawyers for Heard also rested on Thursday, leaving the trial, in its seventh week, set to go to jurors for deliberations following closing arguments, which were scheduled for Friday.
