Amber Heard will testify for the 2nd day in Johnny Depp's libel lawsuit against her

Updated May 5, 2022 at 3:33 PM ET

Actress Amber Heard says her ex-husband, actor Johnny Depp, slapped and kicked her in 2014, on a private flight from Boston to Los Angeles. The plane trip has become one of the most scrutinized episodes of the trial over Depp's $50 million defamation suit against Heard.

Depp is suing Heard over a 2018 op-ed published by The Washington Post in which Heard called for change in how the U.S. treats abuse survivors.

Heard said Depp slapped and berated her in front of others

As Depp and Heard argued on the plane ride from the East Coast to Los Angeles in May 2014, "he called me a slut," Heard said.

At the time, they were traveling with security personnel and Depp's assistants. Heard said Depp had been drinking and doing drugs before the flight — and that once aboard, he assailed her about an acting job she'd just completed, where she filmed sex scenes with the actor James Franco. Depp interrogated her about the scenes, and whether she enjoyed it.

"I struggle to be able to tell you how embarrassed I was because he was speaking to me in front of people in this way," Heard told the jury.

When she moved to sit elsewhere, she said, Depp threw ice cubes and utensils at her, calling her an embarrassment. Then, she said, he slapped her.

"I remember moving more than once," she said. "And Johnny came to me each time, not the other way around. He sits down in front of me at one point, and because I'm not answering him — I was looking out of the window — and he slaps my face," she said. Growing emotional as she recounted the experience, she added, "And his friend is in our proximity. And I — it didn't hurt me, it didn't hurt my face, I just felt embarrassed that he'd do that to me in front of people. It was the first time that anything like that had happened in front of somebody."

'I didn't know what to do about it,' Heard said

When Heard moved again, Depp taunted her and called her names, she said. When she looked into his eyes, she said, it felt like there was "a blackness" there.

"I wasn't engaging. I am walking away from him slowly and he tells me to hurry the f*** up. Hurry up," Heard said. She said she looked at him, and turned to walk away.

"My back is turned to him, and I feel this boot in my back. It just kicked me, in the back. I fell to the floor and caught myself on the floor, and it just felt like I was looking at the floor of the plane for what felt like a long time. And I thought to myself, 'I don't know what to do. I can't believe — did he just kick me?'" Heard said.

"No one said anything. No one did anything ... you could hear a pin drop on that plane. You could feel the tension, but no one did anything. And I just remember feeling so embarrassed. Felt so embarrassed, that he could kick me to the ground in front of people. And more embarrassing, I didn't know what to do about it," she added.

Heard gave her account of the now-infamous plane ride

Heard's account of the flight details the aftermath of her filming The Adderall Diaries alongside Franco in 2014. On May 24, she and Depp — who had been working in Boston — shared a plane ride from Boston back to Los Angeles. Depp was closely questioned about his condition on that trip in his own testimony, saying he had taken opioids and drank Champagne.

Heard said she knew Depp was likely not sober when she waited a long time for him to join her on the plane after his car pulled up to the tarmac. When he did board, he reeked of alcohol and marijuana, she said.

As Depp began to question her about her filming with Franco, she added, "I could anticipate that there was a no-win situation here."

Heard said that as Depp asked her about romantic scenes with Franco, he was "saying really disgusting things about my body, about how I liked it."

Heard says Depp's jealousy intruded on her career

As their relationship developed and the couple moved in together, Heard said, Depp began controlling aspects of her career, allegedly telling her she didn't need to work and questioning her about scripts. She said he was against her filming romantic or kissing scenes.

Heard also said Depp became enraged by her choice of co-stars.

"He was mad at me for taking the job with James Franco," Heard said of her decision to appear in The Adderall Diaries.

"He hated — hated — James Franco, and was already accusing me of kind of secretly having a thing with him in my past, since we had done Pineapple Express together."

Heard's testimony has focused on abuse and drugs

Heard began her testimony at the Fairfax County Circuit Court on Wednesday, telling the court, "I struggle to find the words to describe how painful this is. This is horrible for me to sit here for weeks and relive everything."

Over the course of more than two hours on Wednesday, Heard described years of alleged abuse at the hands of Depp, which she said was often brought on by his drug use. Depp has denied committing violence against Heard, and he accused Heard of domestic violence in his own lengthy testimony.

During Depp's testimony, the court heard recordings of the couple arguing.

"I'm sorry that I didn't hit you across the face in a proper slap, but I was hitting you," Heard was heard saying during one incident. "I was not punching you. Babe, you're not punched."

The alleged incident came less than a year before Heard and Depp got married

Heard and Depp married in February 2015. Heard filed for divorce in May 2016 and days later obtained a temporary restraining order accusing Depp of hitting her during a fight in their Los Angeles apartment. Depp denied he abused her, and police said they found no evidence of a crime.

When the two settled their divorce in 2017, the agreement reportedly included a stipulation in which they agreed not to discuss their relationship in public.

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