Amber Heard alleged in a British court on Wednesday that her ex-husband Johnny Depp threw "30 or so bottles" at her as if they were grenades or bombs while they were in Australia in March 2015 and that he accidentally severed part of his finger during the assault.
Taking to the witness box for a third day at the High Court in London during Depp's libel case against a British tabloid, the actress refuted his allegation that it was she who lost her temper and that she had injured him.
Heard has described her stay in Australia with Depp as akin to a three-day hostage situation. The incident is central to The Sun's labelling of Depp in an April 2018 article as a wife beater.
Depp, 57, is suing The Sun's publisher, News Group Newspapers, and the paper's executive editor, Dan Wootton, over the article. The Hollywood star strongly denies abusing Heard, and claimed in court that she had been violent to him. He was present to hear Heard's testimony.
Depp's lawyer, Eleanor Laws, said Heard had worked herself into a rage during her stay in Australia, where Depp was filming the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie.
Heard said she got "angry at times but not into a rage that would cause me to throw anything at him. She did concede that she did break one bottle in their second evening together in Australia as they argued about the scale of his drinking. I regret I did that," she said.
After that Heard alleges that Depp, fuelled by drink and drugs, started throwing bottles, full enough that they broke a window behind her.
He threw all the bottles that were in reach, all except for one which was a celebratory magnum-sized bottle of wine, she said. Heard alleges Depp's finger was severed during this barrage but that she didn't see it cut off. Heard also denied putting out a cigarette on his cheek.
“I will be shocked if Johnny remembers any of this," she said.
In the first nine days of testimony at the High Court, judge Andrew Nicol heard from Depp and from several current or former employees who backed his version of events. In his testimony, Depp said he was the one being abused by Heard and that she had a history of being violent against him.
In written testimony released to the court, Heard said that at various times during their relationship she endured punching, slapping, kicking, head-butting and choking. She said some incidents were so severe she was afraid he was going to kill her, either intentionally or just by losing control and going too far. She said he blamed his actions on a self-created third party that he referred to as the monster.
Depp and Heard met on the set of the comedy The Rum Diary, released in 2011. They married in Los Angeles in February 2015. Heard filed for divorce the following year, and it was finalised in 2017.
Heard's testimony is expected to last for four days, through Thursday.
