Falls Church, Virginia –
Actress Amber Heard suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder from the violence she suffered from her ex-husband Johnny Depp, including numerous acts of sexual violence, a psychologist said on Tuesday.
Sexual assault includes forcing her to have oral sex and forcing Depp to break into it with a bottle of alcohol, psychologist Dawn Hughes told jurors during Depp’s defamation trial against Hurd. He accuses her of making a false statement in a newspaper article that she was a victim of domestic violence.
Hughes’ testimony contradicts that of a psychologist hired by Depp’s lawyers, who said Hurd simulated the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and suffered from borderline and histrionic personality disorders. Hughes argued that Hurd was suffering from a personality disorder.
Hughes was the first witness to take the position on Hurd’s behalf after Depp’s lawyers closed their case Tuesday morning.
Hughes said he has confirmed many of the abuses, including apologies and confessions made by Depp to Hurd and confessions he made to friends in text messages about his misconduct while drinking. In some cases, Hurd has told her therapists about the abuse at the same time, Hughes said.
Depp said he never physically attacked Hurd and that she was the aggressor who routinely hit him and threw things at him in the course of their relationship.
Hughes testified that Hurd admits that she sometimes pushed and pushed Depp, called him names and insulted his parents.
But Hughes said there was a difference in violence when a smaller person hit an older person, and that Depp’s violence was frightening and threatened her safety, but Hurd’s violence did not have the same effect on Depp.
“It’s just physics; it’s just a proportional force, “she said.
Much of the violence, Hughes said, stems from Depp’s obsessive jealousy. He insisted on avoiding nude scenes if she worked at all, and accused her of having an affair with actors Billy Bob Thornton and James Franco. If she’s been working on a film, Depp will call the director and others on set and say she has “eyes” that will report to him if she associates incorrectly, Hughes said.
Hurd, who identified herself as bisexual according to treatment notes presented during the trial, also faced control in her interactions with women. Hughes said Depp once manually infiltrated Hurd in anger after witnessing Hurd interact with a woman.
“Amber was accused of being beaten by women, and she was accused of being beaten by men,” Hughes said.
Hurd blinked back tears, her lips and chin quivering as Hughes described the violence.
Hughes said he based his testimony on 29 hours of interviews with Hurd, as well as interviews with her therapists and a review of court documents.
Earlier on Tuesday, Depp’s lawyers dropped their case, and a judge rejected Hurd’s lawyers’ request to drop the case. Hurd’s lawyers argued that Depp had failed to present his argument in law and that no reasonable jury could find it in his favor.
But Judge Penny Azkarate said the standard of dismissal at this point in the trial was extremely high and that the case should be allowed to proceed if Depp provided even a “scintilla” of evidence to support his allegations.
Depp and his chief lawyer, Benjamin Chu, patted each other on the back after the judge ruled that the case could continue.
Chu claims the jury has ample evidence to conclude that Hurd falsely accused Depp of abuse. In fact, he said, the evidence shows that “Mrs. Hurd physically abused him. She is the abuser. “
Hurd’s lawyer, J. Benjamin Rothenborn said the evidence was clear over the past three weeks from witness testimony that Hurd’s allegations of abuse were true.
“We have not yet taken up our case,” he said. “This is all the evidence that came while the plaintiff controlled the playing field.”
Depp is suing Hurd for $ 50 million in Fairfax County Court after Hurd wrote a December 2018 article in The Washington Post describing himself as a “public figure representing domestic violence.” The article never mentions Depp by name, but Depp’s lawyers say he was defamatory nonetheless because it is a clear reference to Hurd’s allegations of abuse in 2016, in the midst of the couple’s divorce proceedings.
The judge on Tuesday said she was deciding whether the title of the online article should be part of the defamation lawsuit because she said the evidence was unclear at the time as to whether Hurd had written the title or was responsible for it. The online headline reads: “I spoke out against sexual violence – and faced the wrath of our culture. That needs to change. “
Hughes will be cross-examined on Wednesday, and Hurd is expected to take the position on Wednesday.
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