According to Raquel Pennington, Amber Heard’s hair was missing and her lip was busted when she was married to Depp

The jurors in Amber Heard’s defamation war with ex-husband Johnny Depp heard Wednesday as a former friend of the actress described her preparation for a 2015 performance The Late Late Show with a busted lip and a missing tuft of hair.

Raquel Pennington said in a January 2020 video testimony played Wednesday in Fairfax County Court that Heard revealed the lip to a makeup artist and the hair fiasco to a stylist before appearing on James Corden’s show in December.

“I remember her showing off the injuries,” Pennginton said, adding that she was with Heard at the actress’ home in the hours leading up to the performance.

The injuries are just some of many that Pennington said she saw the actress during her short-lived union with Depp, before the couple finally filed for divorce in 2016. Two years later, Heard wrote a Washington Post Comment that has now become the centerpiece of Depp’s $50 million defamation lawsuit, which is currently being fought in a Virginia court. Heard has since sued in court, alleging defamation after one of Depp’s ex-lawyers called her allegations a “hoax”.

Both Heard and Depp have accused each other of domestic violence – and denied any wrongdoing.

But Pennington’s testimony offers a new window on Heard’s claims that he was molested by Depp. Pennington, who said in the video testimony that she ultimately “broke up” with Heard and that the couple are no longer on speaking terms, told jurors she was called by the actress to “get under the microscope” after an incident Heard said Depp was involved in.

There, Pennington said she saw a bloody stain on Heard’s head, with a wisp of hair torn out and a swelling on the bridge of her nose. She added that Heard was still “very upset” when she got there and that she took pictures of the actress’ injuries.

“Her face was red and swollen. Hair had been pulled out of her head,” Pennington said emotionally, adding that she “didn’t even sleep that night … watched her to make sure [Heard] didn’t have a concussion.

However, Pennginton admitted that she never saw Depp hit or throw anything at Heard during their relationship. But she was privy to Depp’s allegedly erratic behavior — and noted that she was worried about Heard’s “physical safety.”

“Johnny would act like his wonderful self for a certain portion of an occasion where people were hanging out or just staying at home at times,” Pennington said in another January 2022 video deposition that played Wednesday. “I never knew what caused it. There would be a switch where he either disappears, goes somewhere alone, or his mood changes to something darker.”

One of those instances, which Heard previously testified about in the Stand, occurred when the group took a trip to the Hicksville Trailer Park, where Depp allegedly yelled “Get off my wife” at one of her friends for being too close to Heard. Pennington said a “switch flicked” on Depp at the trailer park – and she was scared.

“I was scared for Amber and I was sad for Johnny because he was my boyfriend too,” Pennington said after being asked if there were any signs of abuse between Heard and Depp. “I worried about her physical safety. I was afraid that if he turned around he might accidentally do something worse than he ever intended.”

Pennginton said another moment she worried about Heard came in May 2016, during an altercation between the former celebrity couple, who both have described as the final fight before their relationship ended. The former girlfriend said she overheard the pair having “a verbal argument” in their penthouse and that she eventually “walked over”. [Heard] and stepped between them.”

While she said she did not see Depp touch Heard or throw anything at him during that altercation, she noted that there was damage throughout the apartment.

Pennington has also admitted that she herself was involved in at least one physical altercation with Heard — over Thanksgiving meals.

“We were preparing Thanksgiving and maybe we were looking for glasses or dishes and we couldn’t find them anywhere,” Pennington said during a portion of her deposition, played in court a day earlier on Tuesday. “She finally found her in a place I thought I was looking for and we started arguing about it. She thought I wasn’t looking closely enough and I told her I thought I looked there.”

The argument eventually turned physical, Pennington said, after she shoved Heard. She said that Heard “either pushed back or hit back” in response. Pennington added that the incident was the only time she got into a physical argument with Heard — and that she wasn’t aware of any other instances of the actress being physical with anyone else.