London: Johnny Depp arrived at Britain's High Court on Tuesday, for a hearing of his libel claim against a UK tabloid that accused him of abusing ex-wife Amber Heard.
On the first day of her testimony, on Monday, Heard accused Depp of abusing her both physically and verbally while he was allegedly bingeing on alcohol and drugs, claiming that at various times during their tempestuous relationship she feared for her life.
In written testimony released as she took to the witness box, 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 that I was afraid he was going to kill me, either intentionally or just by losing control and going too far."
According to Heard, Depp 'explicitly threatened to kill me many times, especially later in our relationship.' She said he blamed his actions on 'a self-created third party' that he referred to as 'the monster.'
Heard also denied accusations she was a heavy drug user and drinker as well as a controlling and abusive person.
The court is examining Depp’s libel suit against a popular newspaper over an April 2018 article that labelled him a 'wife-beater'.
READ |In UK libel case, Johnny Depp denies hitting ex-wife Amber Heard
Depp, 57, issuing the newspaper's publisher and the paper's executive editor Dan Wootton, over the article.
Depp and Heard met in 2009 on the set of the film The Rum Diary, which was released two years later. They married in Los Angeles in February 2015. Heard filed for divorce the following year, and the divorce was finalized in 2017.
Depp claims Heard was the aggressor during their volatile relationship, which he has likened to 'a crime scene waiting to happen.'
In nine days of testimony at the High Court, judge Andrew Nicol has heard from Depp and from several current or former employees who have backed his version of events.
Heard claimed in her written testimony that Depp 'often didn't remember what he had done' because of the amount of alcohol and drugs he had consumed, and that 'it was as if it hadn’t happened for him.'
Heard is due to back in court Tuesday and her testimony is now expected to last for four days instead of three.
With inputs from APTN
