Amber Heard sobbed in court as she recalled pleading with Johnny Depp to not call her a liar. Watch here:
Depp is suing ex-wife Heard for $50 million (£38.2 million) in a defamation lawsuit over domestic abuse claims she made in a 2018 article in The Washington Post, and the trial recommenced today (Monday 16 May) after a week-long hiatus.
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Aquaman star Heard continued giving evidence and broke down on the stand when asked about an audio recording of an argument between her and Depp, which was played to the court.
The 36-year-old said: "I don't want to call myself a victim. I don't like to think of myself as a victim, and I don't want him to think I'm attacking him or blaming him.
"I'm pointing out I didn't cooperate with the police, that I didn't want to get him in trouble. That I didn't want to hurt him.
"I don't want anything from him - just don't call me a liar. It's all I said. Just don't call me a liar.
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"Just don't say this isn't real, because I'm the walking proof of it."
Depp is suing Heard for $50m (£38.2m), and she has issued a counterclaim for $100m (£76.4m).
The pair began dating after meeting on the set of 2011 film The Rum Diary and got married in 2015. Heard obtained a restraining order against Depp the following year and they finalised their divorce in 2017.
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Asked about her decision to file for divorce from Depp in May 2016, Heard said in court: "I knew if I didn't I'd likely not literally survive.
"I was so scared that it was going to end really badly for me and I really didn't want to leave him, I loved him so much.
"I would have done anything but I couldn't do that one thing, I couldn't stay."
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She continued: "The promise and the hope I had became less and less regular and more and more rare.
"The monster was now the thing that was normal and not the exception. The violence was now normal and not the exception.
"It was so hard but I knew I had to do it… what if he had taken it too far, I wouldn't be here."
In 2020, Depp lost a libel case brought against The Sun over an article in which he was labelled a 'wife beater'.
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He has denied all allegations of abuse.
Topics: Amber Heard, Johnny Depp, US News, Celebrity