Marriage counsel testifies in Johnny Depp defamation trial that marriage to Amber Heard was ‘mutually abusive’

New details about Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s seemingly toxic relationship surfaced in court on Thursday, including how the two of them abused each other during their brief time together. did not seem to agree.

Dr Laurel Anderson, the couple’s former marriage counselor who testified on Depp’s behalf, said in a video broadcast Thursday in Fairfax County Court. “I know she led more than once, and started it… Being abandoned and letting him go was her worst nightmare. And I think he may have initiated it on some occasions — but that I’m not so sure. ”

The testimony came on the fourth day of a civil libel case in Virginia in which Depp accused Heard of “devastating” her career after she wrote a 2018 Washington Post op-ed calls himself a domestic violence survivor. She does not name Depp in the piece.

Depp has long denied the abuse – and insists it was Heard who abused him during their relationship. Heard has repeatedly denied those claims, saying she only acted violently in self-defense. Since then, she has sued Depp for defamation.

But Christopher C. Melcher, a prominent divorce attorney who represented Kayne West in his divorce proceedings from Kim Kardashian, told The Daily Beast on Thursday that Anderson’s testimony supports allegations of abuse used by both actors — and thus possibly moving the jury away from Depp’s charges of defamation.

Melcher, who was not involved in the Depp case, said: “This doesn’t seem to help either side, so I’m not really sure why they’re presenting it. Marriage counselors who say they abuse each other prove that point. This backs up the truth in Amber’s claim that she was the victim of an abusive relationship because the nuance’s defense is so obvious. “

Depp’s case sent shockwaves through again on Thursday when longtime friend Gina Deuters, who is testifying on his behalf, gave her full testimony after admitting that she had watched “clips”. ” about the trial going on online.

Anderson, who said she worked with Heard and Depp for at least 21 sessions during their year-long marriage, says that both actors experienced abuse during their childhoods – and the traumas It affected their relationship. The couple met on set in 2011 The Rum Diaries, got married in 2015 and divorced in August 2016.

The therapist said that during their sessions, Heard used a “hammer talk style” that “triggered” Depp, who “had trouble talking at the same rate.” Anderson says some of their sessions were conducted separately because of their communication styles — and in those private conversations, she learned how to abuse each other.

“He hit her. No closed fist. She hit back and started it out of pride because her father hit her,” Anderson said she wrote in a note after speaking to Heard adding that the note was a depiction of Depp abusing his wife. yourself with a “slap of the hand. ”

“She said she fought back out of pride… a lot of things trigger her. If she is activated, she will hit him first,” the note added.

Heard’s former personal assistant Kate James testified on behalf of Depp earlier Thursday, saying she had never seen Heard suffer any physical abuse — and her former boss is in fact the one who will explode with blind rage.

James, however, admitted that she received a text message from Depp in August 2016 in which he called his ex-wife a “smear”.

Depp texted James, according to the text revealed in court: “I’m disgusted that I used to have sex with that scum,” Depp texted James. “Stop by the purple and we’ll fix her flabby ass, nice and good!!! Loveth… J.”

Melcher said Thursday’s testimony could confuse the jury, as it reduces the key point of the Depp case: that Heard either acted with “genuine malice” when she wrote Upload editorial — meaning the actress knows what she’s written is wrong — or she writes it with “reckless disregard” for the truth. The jury also had to decide whether Depp libeled Heard in his case.

“The jury is not being asked if this is a good or healthy relationship but they are being asked if Amber’s statement is truthful and if it was made maliciously,” Melcher said. , predicts that the jury “will believe this is a toxic relationship for sure.”

“So far, Depp’s team has done a good job of arguing that he was not physically violent, at least in one incident. But the question is not whether he was physically abused. So I think they still have a lot of work to do to prove Amber’s claims in the piece are untrue.”