During Amber Heard’s four days on the stand, Johnny Depp has appeared to make a point of not looking his ex-wife in the eye, instead choosing to stare down at his seat or discretely speak to the lawyers leading his defamation crusade against the actress.
On Tuesday, Heard offered a new take on the pattern, claiming that the Pirates of the Caribbean star can’t look up at her because “because he’s guilty.”
“He knows he's lying. Otherwise, why can't he look at me?” Heard said when her own lawyer asked her about the man she has said sexually and physically abused her.
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“I survived that man and I’m here and I’m able to look at him.”
As Heard made that case, Depp—who is not charged with any crimes—was seen laughing and leaning in to whisper in one of his lawyer’s ears. Depp has described himself on the stand as a victim of domestic abuse, accusing Heard of violence during their relationship.
The smirk came after a brutal two-day grilling of Heard by Depp’s attorney, a stretch that saw the actress accused of making up claims of sexual assault, editing a May 2016 photo of herself with a red mark on her face, and verbally abusing her ex-husband on several occasions.
But it wasn’t the first time the actress was asked about her ex-husband’s courtroom habit.
At the start of Camille Vasquez’s cross-examination of Heard on Monday, the Depp attorney took pains to ask Heard why the actress thought Depp—who says she “damaged” his career with a 2018 Washington Post op-ed about being a survivor of domestic violence—has chosen to look down throughout her time on the stand. (Heard has since countersued Depp, alleging he and his team defamed her when they called her allegations a “hoax.”)
Vasquez then played an 2016 audio clip to the jury, in which Depp promises Heard that she will never see his eyes again after she publicly accused him of domestic violence. In the audio recorded in San Francisco after Heard filed a temporary restraining order against her ex-husband, Depp insisted: “I will always be nothing to you.”
“You know exactly why Mr. Depp won’t look back at you, don’t you?” Vasquez said. “He promised you would never see his eyes again, isn’t that true?”
“As far as I know, he cannot look at me,” Heard replied on Monday.
“He won’t look at you, right Ms. Heard?” Vasquez said.
“He can’t,” Heard shot back.
