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Whitney Henriques, Amber Heard’s younger sister, told Fairfax County Court jurors Wednesday that she witnessed a physical altercation between Hurd and ex-husband Johnny Depp, refuting Depp’s earlier testimony that he never he did not hit his ex-wife.
The 58-year-old actor sued Hurd, 36, for $ 50 million in defamation after she published an article in The Washington Post in 2018 mentioning her as a public figure representing domestic violence, two years after filing for divorce. and a restraining order. Depp denied all allegations of ill-treatment and said Hurd was physically abusive. Hurd filed a $ 100 million lawsuit against Depp after his lawyer called her allegations of fraud.
Henriques, 34, repeated what other witnesses had said about Depp and Hurd’s relationship: Henriquez said Depp’s behavior changed when he started drinking and using drugs. She told the jury that Hurd’s personality had also begun to change as the relationship progressed, comparing it to a “slow shot”. Henriques said Hurd eventually became less sociable, stopped sleeping and looked weak.
Henriquez said she and Depp were once close – and sometimes drank and drank cocaine together – but eventually the actor began to gain more control over Hurd, trying to dictate her career choices and alienating her from his network of friends. . “It was hard to watch,” Enriquez said.
Part of the testimony focused on the night of March 23, 2015, when Henriquez said Hurd had entered her room (she lives next door to the couple in an apartment paid for by Depp) and said Depp was cheating on her. Henriquez went to their penthouse and found Debbie Lloyd, Depp’s personal nurse, and Travis McGivern, one of his bodyguards. Henriquez said Depp first denied the affair and then said he was cheating on Hurd, but it was Hurd’s fault.
Henriques said the couple started shouting “terrible things” at each other. At one point, she, Hurd, and Lloyd were on a mezzanine overlooking the lower level of the penthouse. She said Depp threw a box of Red Bull at Lloyd’s unresponsive back and that Depp ran up the stairs and hit Henriquez in the back. Hurd shouted, “Don’t hit my sister, damn it,” Henriquez recalled, and then Hurd hit Depp, causing McGivern to run up the stairs.
“By this time, Johnny had grabbed Amber by the hair with one hand and punched her repeatedly in the face with the other while I was there,” Henriquez said, adding that the guard had parted them as she pulled Hurd back. to her penthouse. Henriques said that as they left, she heard Depp call them vulgar names and that he was “screaming like an animal.” She said she could hear things being smashed, and when she returned to their penthouse the next day, there was broken glass and the place was “destroyed.”
Elaine Bradhoft, one of Hurd’s lawyers, turned to the actress’ counterclaim and asked Henriquez how Hurd was influenced by Depp’s lawyer’s statements, calling her allegations of abuse fraud. “These statements ruined her,” Enriquez said. “They devastated her because they were not faithful.”
During cross-examination, Rebecca Lecaroz, one of Depp’s lawyers, asked Henriques why she thought it would be a good idea to take cocaine with Depp if she suspected he was hitting her sister, and at one point she even joked with Depp about texting. message about hitting Hurd. Henriques called the text an “unfortunate” joke and said she was unaware of the situation at the time. She also confirmed that her relationship with Hurd was sometimes difficult and that she eventually moved out of the shared penthouse after Depp accused her of selling stories about the couple to the media.
Lecaros mentioned the “stairwell incident” and asked Enriquez why she tried to make the couple reconcile months later. “I was just trying to help what I thought they both wanted,” Enriquez said. She said she still “loves” Depp as a son-in-law at the moment and believes he and Hurd still want to be together.
“You wanted Mrs. Hurd to stay with Mr. Depp even after you saw him hit her, didn’t you?” Lecaroz asked.
“It really simplifies something that’s not easy,” Henriquez said, adding that if Hurd wants to stay with Depp, she will try to support her sister and doesn’t think it’s her place to say otherwise.
Earlier in the day, the jury heard testimony from Raquel Pennington, Hurd’s ex-best friend, although she said they have since split up and are no longer friends. Pennington, who also lived in Depp’s penthouses, appeared many times during the trial, as she was present on the night of May 21, 2016, when police were called to the building. That same week, Hurd filed for divorce and a restraining order.
During Hurd’s testimony, she claimed that Depp was intoxicated and threw a phone in her face (he denies this); Pennington said she remembers hearing shouts outside the apartment. When she came in, she saw Depp shouting at Hurd, who asked Pennington for help, so Pennington went and stood between them, raised his hands, and said to Depp, “No.” Eventually, his bodyguards intervened, and Pennington brought Hurd to her penthouse. Josh Drew, Pennington’s ex-husband, who also testified and was at the penthouse that night, said Hurd looked “catatonic”, but when police arrived, she asked Drew to talk to them because she still wanted to protect Depp and didn’t want to. to submit a report.
Pennington was shown numerous photos of Hurd after the May 21, 2016 incident and confirmed that they were how she remembers Hurd looking that night and the next day: that her cheek was red and swollen, with redness and bruising around the eye. Both Pennington and Drew said Hurd’s photos had not changed in any way; Depp’s lawyers claim that she edited the photos of her injuries.
Elizabeth Martz, an acquaintance of Hurd’s who was at the penthouse that night, said she was “frightened” by Depp’s behavior that night and said she ran away and hid after he “attacked” her while holding a bottle. wine.
Hurd’s lawyers also called on Melanie Ingles, Hurd’s make-up artist, who testified that she was hiding the bruises of the actress and her cut lip with makeup for the “Late Late Show with James Cordon” in December 2015 – a day after Hurd said Depp , head of … hit her. Ingles confirmed to Depp’s lawyer that she had not witnessed Depp’s physical violence and that she only knew what Hurd and her friends had told her.
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