Featured Image Credit: Law & Crime
Topics: News, Johnny Depp
Lucy Devine
Trigger warning: This article contains allegations of physical and sexual abuse.
Amber Heard has explained why she didn't file a police report against Johnny Depp following an alleged abuse incident in 2016.
During the ongoing defamation trial - which resumed on Monday following a week-long hiatus - Heard was asked why she didn't file a police report following the alleged incident.
You can watch a clip from Law & Crime below:
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In response, Heard told the court that she wanted to 'protect' Depp, explaining: "I wanted to protect Johnny. I didn't want him to be arrested. I didn't want him to be in trouble.
"I didn't want the world to know. I didn't want this to come out."
During Heard's response, Depp could be seen turning to his attorney before chuckling.
The defamation trial has heard from both Depp and Heard about their relationship, and the alleged physical altercations that occurred.
Depp, 58, is suing Heard, 36, for libel over a 2018 article in The Washington Post.
Depp’s legal team say the article implies Heard was physically and sexually abused by Depp when they were married, although the article does not mention him by name.
Heard's legal team believe she is covered by the first amendment of the US constitution which protects freedom of speech.
Earlier this month, the court heard a distressing account of an alleged incident in Australia, in 2015. Following the incident, Depp alleged that his finger was injured after Heard threw a bottle in his direction. Heard said she was not awake when the incident occurred.
Providing her own account of the incident, Heard alleged that Depp sexually assaulted her with a bottle on the same night.
“The next thing I remember, I was bent over backwards on the bar, meaning my chest was up. I was staring at the blue light. My back is on the countertop and I thought he was punching me. I felt this pressure on my pubic bone. I thought he was punching me. I could feel his arm moving and it looked like he was punching me. But I could just feel this pressure," she said.
A spokesperson for Depp has since publicly denied the claims.
"These fictitious claims were never made at the onset of Amber's allegations in 2016, and only advantageously surfaced years later once she was sued for defamation after noting in her op-ed that she was a victim of 'sexual violence'," they said.
"Words are key in a defamation case and conveniently, this allegation only came after that. This follows a pattern of her elaborate, erroneous claims which have continued to change and evolve over time for the purpose of Hollywood shock value of which Amber has mastered and used to exploit a serious social movement."
The trial continues.
For help and support with domestic abuse, Refuge is available 24 hours a day to call on 0808 2000 247.