Amber Heard’s sister Whitney Henriquez took the stand on Wednesday, as the actress’s team continued to bring in witnesses to testify in Johnny Depp’s ongoing defamation case.
Henriquez started off by saying her sister was “happy, bright” and fun-loving when she started dating Depp — but overtime, went downhill. “In hindsight it was like watching a slow-motion gunshot,” she said, saying she stopped sleeping as much as wasn’t as vibrant to be around. By the end of the relationship, “she was so physically unwell, she maybe weighed 100 pounds soaking wet.”
Talking about how Depp allegedly behaved throughout the relationship, Whitney said that over time he started “essentially controlling what she wore to events” and described Amber’s style as getting “more conservative” the longer they were together. She also said he went from being “protective over the kinds of job she was taking” to being “vehemently against her working at all” as time went on. Henriquez said certain friends were no longer “allowed in the fold” as well, including Whitney herself after Depp accused her of selling stories to the media.
Henriquez also claimed that anytime the two would fight, “a device was going to get smashed” and “you could almost guarantee something would get destroyed.” She said that they’d fight about text messages Amber received and eventually she “wasn’t allowed to have passwords on her phone” — or, if she did, it would be something Depp had memorized too.
Describing Depp’s alleged drug and alcohol abuse, she said she saw Johnny drunk “countless” times and high on drugs “a lot” — including times they did cocaine together. “I once saw him consume a bag of unknown pills, some prescription, some not,” she claimed, saying Depp “just took them all at once to see what would happen and he laughed about it.”
She said that when he was drinking he’d get “very angry and say really nasty, unkind things” about Amber, including comments like, “F—ing c—, a f—ing used up trash bag, slimy whore, saggy whore.”
Henriquez was then asked about a number of specific events that have come up throughout the trial, including an alleged incident that happened in March 21, 2013 when Depp — who she said had cocaine and alcohol in front of him — was upset Heard had been photographed with another woman. To him, she said, “it must have meant she was having an affair.” Whitney said he was also upset about a painting in the home by her ex Tasya van Peele, which he allegedly believed was hung up “to tease him” and “surely meant Amber and Tasya were back together again.”
She said the three of them left their place together to go film a documentary with Keith Richards, with Heard and Depp in the backseat while she sat up front with Johnny’s driver. “At some point I heard the back window open, and he was holding out dog out the window,” claimed Whitney. “I froze, I was scared, I just remember thinking I knew how inebriated he was and the dog was very small. I thought it he twitched, she was just going to go out the window.”
“He brought the dog back into the car and was laughing this really scary loud, it was almost like a cackle,” she claimed. “He made a joke about putting her in the microwave, putting the dog in the microwave.”
She went on to describe another instance where Depp allegedly “hurled” a knife at his assistant, before breaking down what she says she witnessed on March 23, 2015 — after Heard found text messages from another woman on Johnny’s phone.
“I woke up to Amber in my bedroom saying, ‘Can you believe he’s cheating on me? Your f—ing brother is cheating on me,'” she claimed. “He was saying this woman was meaningless, it wasn’t special, she’s nothing special. But he immediately shifted to, ‘Amber pushed me, Amber made me do it, of course I’m cheating on her.'”
She said during the ensuing chaos, Depp threw a Red Bull can at nurse Debbie Lloyd, before charging at Whitney on the stairs, hitting her in the back. Henriquez said Amber then “smacked” Johnny, before he “grabbed Amber by the hair with one hand and was whacking her repeatedly in the face with the other while I was standing there.” She said the two got away and locked themselves in safety, before emerging the next day to find Amber’s closet “completely destroyed” and the penthouse in disarray. She also shared photos of the alleged mess, which were sent to Depp’s estate manager.
Henriquez said Depp asked her to sign a non-disclosure agreement after that incident, but she didn’t. Shortly after, she moved out after Depp accused her of selling stories to the press, which she said was “absolutely untrue.”
Lastly, she was asked about Amber’s 30th birthday party, saying Johnny showed up extremely late and was drunk when he arrived. She said that during the festivities, the group assembled went around the table and revealed their favorite things about Heard — and when it was Johnny’s turn, he talked about his initial meeting with Amber for “The Rum Diary.” She claimed he said “her perfect ass left a perfect imprint on the couch and he wouldn’t let anyone sit there after she left that day.” Whitney added, “Everyone was kind of embarrassed. We had all said really nice things about her, it gets to him and she talks about her ass. We were all kind of embarrassed. I left shortly after that and went home.”
Under cross examination, she was asked about joking with Depp about hitting her sister, “Regrettably, yes, I did not have an understanding, fully, of what that was. I never would have said that now, knowing what I know.”
When asked about the staircase incident, she said she wasn’t injured, didn’t seek medical attention and reiterated that Amber hit Johnny “after he struck me.” She added that she was still acting as “marriage counselor” for the after the incident — saying, “I was asked to support. I was just trying to help what I thought they both wanted.”
She also said she didn’t see any bruises, swelling or marks on Heard following the alleged birthday night fight — but added Amber was “wearing a lot of makeup.” Henriquez also said it was a “complicated” situation, where Heard wanted Depp to join them at Coachella, despite fighting the previous night.
Lastly, she was asked whether she witnessed any incidents that resulted in physical injuries — with Henriquez saying the staircase incident was the only one for which she was present.
Depp is seeking $50 million in damages after Heard claimed she was a survivor of domestic abuse in an op-ed in the Washington Post in 2018. While she didn’t name Depp in the piece, his lawyers argue it was implied to be about him and negatively affected his career. She countersued Depp for $100 million.
The actor has already lost an earlier lawsuit he took in the UK over the same article that appeared in The Sun.
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