During his pre-recorded deposition, a friend of Amber Heard, iO Tillet Wright, said that while he never personally witnessed Depp physically abusing Amber Heard, he allegedly heard him talking about it.
In Wright’s January testimony, he claimed that while Heard and Depp were in a relationship, he became friends with Depp during that time as well. He then recalled a joke Depp reportedly made on the day he married Heard in 2015.
Witness for Amber Heard Testifies That Johnny Depp Joked About Hitting His Then-Wife on Their Wedding Day
“As we were walking back from the ceremony [to the reception]… I was walking with Johnny and congratulating him that they pulled it off and they did it, you know,” Wright said in the recording. “And he said, ‘We’re married — now I can punch her in the face, and nobody can do anything about it.’”
As Wright continued, he said he had a lot of conversations with Depp during his relationship with Heard. And during those conversations, Wright claimed in his testimony that he and Depp had “a lot of conversations” about his fights with Amber.
“In the very beginning, [Depp] expressed that … he was so in love that it made him feel crazy,” Wright claimed before calling the actor “paranoid” at times. Then under oath, Wright discussed one of the conversations he and Depp allegedly had.
“He expressed that he thought she was cheating on him and sleeping with her costars… I said to him, ‘Listen, I know her, I think, pretty well, and I talk to her a lot. I think if she was having an affair, I would be one of the very few people that she would tell about it. I don’t hold secrets or lies for anybody, and I would tell you if that was happening so you could make your own decisions.’”
Wright continued, ”’But as far as I know, that’s really not the case. She’s really in love with you. And I think that she also is worried that you are having affairs because both of you are used to being sex symbols on earth. Both of you need to accept the fact that you’re really in love with each other and lean in and be together and love each other.’”
Wright then concluded his statement, saying, “And [Depp] told me that sometimes his jealousy would make him feel crazy and outside himself and that he had to get it under control. And that it would cause them to fight.”
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While it’s unclear when the alleged abuse began, during her own testimony, Heard spoke of truly disturbing moments she claimed occurred between her and Depp. However, during the cross-examination, Depp’s lawyers used the journal the former lovers kept together to argue a claim made by Heard, in which she says Depp sexually assaulted her with a liquor bottle while on vacation in Australia.
In the journal entries, Heard called Depp her “one and only,” adding, “I have seen in you the true bones of friendship and respect. Of course, I still, more than ever, want to rip you apart, devour you and savor the taste.” When asked about this specific entry, Heard said, “We were back in a honeymoon phase. That was a period of sobriety I spoke about.”
Depp’s team also asked about a picture in the journal, one in which Heard’s face does not appear injured, but Johnny’s does. During the cross-examination, Depp’s team called Heard the abuser, not Depp.
“I disagree. I’ve seen this picture before, and he is not injured in it. This one is Photoshopped,” Heard said of the photo. “I don’t believe my face was injured on that trip,” said Heard when asked why there were no pictures of her injuries.
“My husband, happy honeymoon,” another entry read. “What a beautiful, extraordinarily magical, memorable, wonderful, stunning, surprisingly evolving and impulsive adventure. I couldn’t have imagined a more gorgeous honeymoon. I love you more and more every passing day.”
Depp’s team also picked out entries in which Heard seemed to apologize. “I’m sorry I shook the wheel so far. I’m sorry we tested the shocks and brakes to this point … let me try to fix this … I hate having you hurt, I hate when you’re hurting … I need you, I love you.” Heard said that was yet “another example of me trying to fix it.”
When asked if Heard was apologizing for her own behavior, Heard said, “The whole book is love notes. Since we fought so much, it was important for me to try to nurture as much peace as we possibly could, and when things were good they were really good. […] I think it’s important in every relationship to apologize when you’re trying to move past fights.”
In his own testimony, Depp spoke about his “dark” sense of humor, admitting that he was embarrassed by some of the things he said in various text messages. However, Depp claims that while he may have joked about these disturbing things, he never reached “the point of striking Ms. Heard in any way, nor have I ever struck any woman in my life.”