Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial: Witnesses for Heard take stand

Court has adjourned

Court adjourned for the day following the end of witness testimony from Heard's former acting coach, Kristina Sexton.

Depp instructed bodyguards to 'pay it off' after trailer damage, witness said

Kristina Sexton, Heard's former acting coach, recounted her experience with Heard and Depp in June 2013 when the couple were on a trip to a luxury trailer park in the desert.

Sexton testified that the trip began with everyone having a "lovely time," including Depp who was singing and playing guitar. The group were passing around a bag of white powder and mushrooms, though Sexton said she did not partake because she'd had surgery not long before the trip.

"I went to bed early. While my friend and I were in our trailer...we heard the fighting happening," Sexton said. "Johnny screaming and a commotion."

The next morning, Sexton said a group were discussing what happened and she left to check on Heard in the trailer she shared with Depp. Sexton characterized the trailer was being "in "shambles" when she saw it.

"I saw a completely torn apart trailer," Sexton said. "Johnny was apologizing for what he had done, and he was instructing his bodyguards to just pay it off. 'Let's take care of it'...Amber was really shaken up."

Acting coach says Heard cried at start of many of their sessions

Kristina Sexton, who served as Heard’s acting coach from 2010 to 2017, said she witnessed Heard and Depp's relationship go from "love-dovey and passionate" to sad.

In a video deposition, taped in December 2019 and showed to the court on Wednesday, Sexton said as the years went by, Depp's demeanor changed.

"Johnny became ... much darker as time went on," Sexton said. "Figuratively and literally, he would sit in dark rooms."

Sexton said she would see Heard less and less, and the actor would arrive late to coaching sessions in tears.

"I would say the last year they were together, probably 80 to 90 percent of our sessions began with her crying and that would be increasing as it went on," Sexton recalled.

Sexton also said Depp was controlling of Heard's work.

Makeup artist recounts how she covered Heard's injuries

Makeup artist Melanie Inglessis explained how she covered injuries on Heard's face before a December 2015 appearance on the "The Late Late Show With James Corden."

Inglessis confirmed that she saw injuries on Heard's face when working with her on December 16, 2015, consistent with photographs from that time submitted into evidence.

In the 2021 video deposition, Inglessis said she saw bruising around Heard's nose and eyes that looked like someone may have headbutted her as well as a bloody lip.

"We covered the discoloration, the bruises, with slightly heavier concealer," Inglessis said.

She added that used a concealer with a more peach undertone because "peach does cancel out blue."

"Although Amber always has red lip...I remember clearly talking we had no other option that night then to use a really red lipstick to make sure we could cover up the injuries on the lip," Inglessis said.

Heard had two waves of emotion that night, Inglessis described. One that was sad, angry and erratic but then could "turn it on" to do her appearance on the show.

In discussing the difficulty Heard experienced at the end of her relationship with Depp, Inglessis said she went through a rollercoaster of emotions. She appeared to cry at one point, wiping her face in the video deposition.

"It's not difficult for me now, no, but it just reminds me at the time how I felt," she said.

When questioned by Depp’s lawyers, Inglessis confirmed she did not witness Depp be violent toward Heard.

Makeup artist explains how she covered Heard's injuries before appearance on late night show

May 18, 202200:59

'Personally, I was scared of him,' witness says of Depp

Elizabeth Marz, an acquittance of Heard, testified through a 2019 video deposition on Wednesday about being present during the couple's May 2016 argument.

Marz said she was with Raquel Pennington, who was close friends with Heard at the time and living in neighboring penthouse, when they heard Depp and Heard arguing down the hall.

She said she heard the sounds of raised voices and destruction before Depp abruptly opened a door to a room she was in. Two men were with him, Marz said, and she assumed they were his security guards.

"Did you ever see Mr. Depp violent towards anyone?" an attorney asked.

"I experience him that night...Personally, I was scared of him," Marz said.

Marz described Depp as "combative" as he came in and that it felt as if he was charging inside the room.

"It all happened really fast...he came in very just, from my perspective, really under the influence of something — drugs or alcohol — because he was very sloppy like he was wasted," Marz said. "He was holding a very large wine bottle...which is kind of spilling all over the place."

Depp said something about getting "your b---" out of here, Marz said.

"His whole being really frightened me and almost felt like he was coming toward me," Marz said. "From my perspective, whether he was coming toward me or not, it scared me and I just ran out past him."

She ran and hid in a communal pool and gym area in the building.

"I remember being scared and not wanting to leave that area until, like, I was clear and wasn't gonna be attacked," Marz said.

Pennington later texted Marz that she should come meet them in the penthouse where Pennington was living in, she said.

Marz testified that she could not recall exact details but remembered seeing wine spilled in the hallway and later seeing Heard's "swollen and red" face.

Heard's sister was 'marriage counselor' in rocky relationship

David K. Li

Whitney Henriquez said on Wednesday that she supported her sister's efforts to salvage her marriage to Depp. During cross-examination, Henriquez said she was known as the "marriage counselor" to the former couple.

Henriquez said she always wanted to support her sister and recalled an instance when Heard was disappointed that Depp didn't join them at a music festival a day after an alleged fight in 2016.

"It was very complicated. It was very nuanced," Henriquez told Depp's lawyer. "They fought, they got back together. They fought, they loved each other, hated each other, loved each other. "

Heard's sister says Depp struck her during couple's March 2015 fight

Whitney Henriquez recounted her experience with a March 2015 argument between her sister, Amber Heard, and Depp that escalated, alleging that she was struck by Depp during the incident.

Heard woke Henriquez in the middle of the night and spoke to her about concerns that Depp was cheating on her, Henriquez said. Henriquez then went to speak to Depp who initially denied an affair, before saying, "Amber made me do it ... of course I'm cheating."

The incident led to a fight between Depp and Heard, Henriquez testified on Wednesday.

She said that both Depp and her sister were hurling insults at each other. She went up the stairs in the penthouse apartment, along with Heard and Depp's nurse, Debbie Lloyd.

Depp then threw a Red Bull can at Lloyd's back, which the nurse didn't seem to notice, Henriquez alleged.

"I'm at the back of the stairs, with my back to the stairs, and that's when Johnny runs up the stairs," Henriquez said. "And again, I'm facing Amber. He comes up behind me and strikes me in the back...he hits me in the back, I hear Amber yell, 'don't hit my f------ sister.'"

Heard then hit Depp, Henriquez said. Heard admitted during her testimony that she hit Depp in that moment, stating that she feared he might hurt her sister or that her sister would fall down the stairs. Depp has denied throwing the can and denied striking Heard.

Henriquez said that after that, she heard Depp cursing and smashing items. She said she later noticed her sister's clothing racks were overturned and her wardrobe had been destroyed.

Depp later asked her to sign a non-disclosure agreement, Henriquez said.

"It's basically, my understanding is, a contract to keep things private," Henriquez said. "To keep your mouth shut, essentially."

Henriquez, who was living in a penthouse owned by Depp, testified that Depp falsely accused her of leaking stories to the press. She denied the accusation, said she did not sign the contract, and moved out shortly after.

Heard's sister recalls 2013 group trip to Hicksville

David K. Li

Whitney Henriquez, Heard's sister, said during a trip in 2013 to Hicksville, a group that included Heard and Depp stayed in a "collection of themed airstreams."

When she saw Heard and Depp's trailer, Henriquez said she saw cocaine on the table but "didn't really think much of it at the time."

At the campfire that night, "everyone was drinking, some people were taking shrooms." She said she went to bed early because she "drank too much."

The next day, she said, she "went to my sister’s trailer, where she was staying with Johnny, and it looked like a bomb went off in there.”

"There was broken things, things had been skewed," she continued. "It looked incredibly messy, like somebody had ransacked it”

Heard's sister says Depp used profane language when drunk

Depp would use profane language to denigrate Heard often when he was drunk, Heard's sister said Wednesday.

Depp made "paranoid, delusional rants" when he was under the influence of alcohol and cocaine, Whitney Henriquez testified. The actor displayed significantly different behavior when using different substances, she said.

Whenever Depp was drinking, he would get angry and sometimes "say nasty, unkind" things about her and her sister, she said.

When asked for examples, Henriquez replied, “Pardon my language” and recited several expletives, including a vulgar term for a woman’s genitials.

She said Depp also called his sister a “slimy whore, saggy whore... just horrible things like that.”

Heard's sister describes Depp as 'lovely,' 'kind' when he was sober

David K. Li

Whitney Henriquez, Heard's sister, described Depp to jurors on Wednesday as a "bright and beautiful" person when he was sober.

“Johnny when he is sober is very bright and beautiful and lovely and kind and generous," Henriquez, 34, said.

But Henriquez said she witnessed Depp drunk “countless” times, "too many times for me to quantify."

“Every time they fought or had an argument a (electronic) device was going to get smashed," Henriquez said of her sister's tumultuous relationship with Depp. "You could almost guarantee that something would get destroyed when they fought."

Many of the fights were sparked by text messages Heard would receive, according to Henriquez. She said that eventually lead to her sister being barred from having a password to her devices.

“There was zero expectation of privacy," Henriquez said.

Heard was 'physically unwell' after alleged abuse, sister says

Whitney Henriquez, Heard's younger sister, testified that their family initially loved Depp when the couple was first together, but that she saw her sister deteriorate over the course of the relationship.

"She was just this happy, bright, fun, loving thing," Henriquez said. "Always surrounded by friends. And it was just a progression...so slow, in hindsight it's like watching a slow motion gunshot."

Heard wasn't sleeping well anymore, no longer as "gregarious" as she once was toward the end of Heard and Depp's relationship, her sister said.

"She was so physically unwell," Henriquez said. "She really weighed like 100 pounds soaking wet. She was emaciated, she wasn't sleeping...she just looked different."

Depp initially made "light jokes" about Heard's clothing and appearance, Henriquez said, but became more controlling over time. The control allegedly extended to Heard's professional life as well, beginning with comments about what work was unhelpful to her career and escalating.

"And then suddenly he has a problem with her taking any sort of job or any sort of audition...it was another fight," Henriquez said. "He would often say things like, 'I don't even understand why she needs to work. I'll take of her, I'll take care of you'...It was one of those things that he was, at the end, vehemently against her working at all."

Heard's sister called to the stand

Whitney Henriquez, Heard's younger sister, was sworn in to give her witness testimony once court resumed after a lunch break.

Court in recess

Court has adjourned for an hourlong lunch break.

Witness says Depp once screamed, cursed at him

David K. Li

Josh Drew, the former husband of Heard’s friend Raquel Pennington, testified that Depp screamed and cursed at him in May 2015.

Drew had lived in the same downtown Los Angeles building as Depp and Heard when he said he heard Depp smashing a bottle of wine in the hallway.

"He came in, caught eyes with me right away and bee-lined for me, screaming, cursing, spitting in my face," he said. "I walked calmly to leave."

Depp's angry words were "gibberish," according to Drew. Depp got "close enough for it to be aggressive," he said.

When Drew found Pennington and Heard nearby, he said they recounted to him an alleged physical confrontation between Depp and the women.

“Amber was like catatonic, like a thousand-yard stare and she was like done," Drew said. "Like a ghost."

Depp showed up to Heard's birthday dinner already intoxicated, witness says

Josh Drew, who cooked for Heard's 30th birthday dinner, recounted what he remembered of the event.

"Johnny was hours late and Amber spent the better part of the evening making excuses for him," Drew said. "He came very obviously intoxicated and put on a show for everybody."

During Depp's testimony, he noted that he was late for Heard's birthday because he was having a meeting about his financial issues. He testified that Heard was cold to him and instigated an argument over it.

Heard said that he was under the influence by the time he arrived at her birthday and she attempted to discuss the issue with him later, which she said started a fight.

Raquel Pennington testimony ends

Heard's team concluded their witness interview of Raquel Pennington, who was close friends with Heard at the time of her relationship with Depp, on Wednesday morning.

Pennington's testimony was given through a video deposition conducted in January, where both Depp and Heard's legal teams were able to question her.

Heard's next witness will be Joshua Drew, who was dating Pennington at the time Depp and Heard were together. Drew's testimony will also be played for the jury from a video deposition.

Witness says Heard screamed for help during a 2016 fight with Depp

David K. Li

Raquel Pennington, who was close friends with Heard at the time of her relationship with Depp, testified that she walked in on a loud altercation between the former couple in May 2016.

“He was yelling," Pennington said of the incident. "And she was calling for help and that had never happened before, saying ‘help, help me!’ "

Pennington said that she immediately got in between the two.

"He was yelling and yelling," Pennington said in a deposition taped in January and played for jurors on Wednesday. "I put my hands up on his chest and like, 'Stop, just stop,' just trying to calm him down."

She added: "He hit my hands away and so I went straight over to Amber.”

Heard's friend denies staging photos of May 2016 fight

Raquel Pennington denied allegations from Depp's legal team that she and Heard staged damage to the couple's Los Angeles penthouse in May 2016.

During her video deposition, Pennington was asked to recount the incident that Heard described in her request for a temporary restraining order against Depp.

Heard alleges that Depp assaulted her during an argument, throwing her cellphone at her face, and destroyed items around their property in a fit of rage. Depp denied the allegations, saying he tossed the phone onto their couch before walking away.

"I will also present to you, Ms. Pennington, that Mr. Depp's lawyer has been quoted as saying, 'Amber Heard and her friend Rocky Pennington staged the May 21 crime scene to prove the abuse allegations against Johnny Depp,'" an attorney said. "Is that statement true?"

"No," Pennington responded.

She further testified that she saw Depp swinging around a magnum wine bottle, knocking items off the counter and knocking over a bar cart.

"There was a wine spilled in the hallway," Pennington said. "There was a dent out of [penthouse] one's front door and then in [penthouse] five, where we had been getting stuff ready for my craft fair, my jewelry and materials had been thrown against the wall."

Heard regularly used makeup to cover injuries, witness says

Raquel Pennington, a former friend of Heard's, was asked if Heard ever used makeup to fake an injury.

"No, the opposite," Pennington said in a deposition taped in January and played for jurors on Wednesday. "She often had to cover bruises and injuries to her face with makeup."

During Heard’s cross examination earlier in this trial, Depp’s team questioned the defendant about self-harm and hinted that she might have injured herself or faked injuries. In her testimony, Heard described a "bruise kit" of makeup she kept in case the need arose to conceal bruises.

Depp apologized for his behavior, but didn't try to get better 'permanently,' witness says

Raquel Pennington said in her video deposition that Depp was often apologetic for his behavior after arguments with Heard, but promises to change often fell short.

"What he made clear to me in our conversations was that he was very sorry, and that he was working to get clean and get better," Pennington said of what Depp told her regarding his fights with Heard. "And that he was asking for forgiveness and ...that he was gonna get better."

She added that she did see him "get better" in times of knowing him.

"Did you ever see him get better permanently?" an attorney questioning her asked.

"No," Pennington responded.

Former friend gets emotional viewing photos of Heard's injuries

Heard's former friend, Raquel Pennington, became visibly upset during her deposition as she was asked to go through photos of Heard after the alleged assaults by Depp.

Pennington became tearful as Heard's attorney asked her to look at photos, some taken by her and some taken by Heard, of the injuries from the alleged assaults.

"What is this a picture of Ms. Pennington?" the attorney asked.

"Amber's face, turned at a slight profile...a bruise on her eye, swelling on her nose," Pennington responded.

She was shown another photo of Heard and asked if what was described as a bloody lip could possibly be a cold sore.

Former friend of Amber Heard becomes emotional after seeing images of Heard's injuries

May 18, 202201:41

"It does not look like a cold sore," Pennington said.

'He switched sometimes:' Witness on Depp's changing moods

Raquel Pennington, who was close friends with Heard, recounted the way Depp's demeanor changed like "a switch flipped" during a group trip to the desert.

Depp, Heard and Pennington were a part of a group that went to a luxury trailer park in the summer of 2013, where one of the alleged abuses by Depp occurred. Heard previously testified that Depp assaulted her in their trailer after getting jealous of a woman next to her.

Pennington described a moment when Depp had a sudden outburst and said, "get your hands off my woman."

“It was surprising because Johnny had been hanging out with everybody in a friendly way and a switch flipped when that happened," Pennington said, characterizing the interaction between Heard and the woman as benign. "Amber got up, went to go comfort Johnny and then they went back to their trailer.”

At first, she thought in the moment that Depp had been joking and that Heard got up to diffuse the situation. Pennington described this as behavior she'd seen from Depp before, that "he switched sometimes."

"Johnny would be acting like his wonderful self for a certain portion of an occasion where people were hanging out or sometimes just privately at home," Pennington said." I never knew what caused it. A switch would happen where he would either disappear, go somewhere off by himself, or his mood would change to something darker."

Witness describes Depp's dark side, 'the monster'

Witness Raquel Pennington said Amber Heard's inner social circle referred to Johnny Depp's dark side as "the monster."

"We called it ‘the monster, ” Pennington said in a January deposition played for jurors on Wednesday. "All of us, me, Johnny, Amber and anyone else in the inner circle that was privy to the private things that would happen."

Asked who came up with "the monster" moniker, Pennington said it was Depp himself. "He named it that," she said.

“I was scared for Amber and I was sad for Johnny because he was my friend too,” Pennington added. "I was worried for her physical safety. I was worried that when he turned he might accidentally do something that was worse than he ever intended."

Witness: 'There was a bloody patch with hair missing.'

David K. Li

Amber Heard had a "bloody patch" on her head with missing hair, a witness recalled seeing in late 2015.

In a deposition taped in January and played for jurors on Wednesday, Heard’s former friend Raquel Pennington recalled seeing Heard after an incident of alleged abuse.

“It (blood) wasn’t like dripping down her head, but it was raw and red," Pennington said.

Asked to describe what she saw on Heard's head: “There was a bloody patch with hair missing.” 

Pennington said she only saw the aftermath of an alleged beating and never witnessed Depp striking Heard or throwing an object at his then wife.

“I didn’t see it,” Pennington said.

Pennington’s account followed a taped deposition testimony of iO Tillett Wright, which was played for jurors on Tuesday. Wright recalled the aftermath of a December 2015 altercation between Heard and Depp when a “clump of hair was ripped out of her head.”

Trial resumes with video deposition of witness

Court was back in session on Wednesday as video testimony of Raquel Pennington, who was a close friend of Heard during her relationship with Depp.

Pennington is the second witness Heard's legal team has called for her defense through video deposition since Heard's testimony ended Tuesday afternoon. The jury listened to Pennington recount her meeting with Heard after Heard returned from Australia in 2015.

In the video deposition, Pennington spoke of injuries she saw on Heard. She said she saw cuts on Heard's feet and arms that Heard.

"She had these deep cuts on the backs of her forearms, and yeah they were very, very, deep, long cuts on the back of her forearms," Pennington said.

Pennington said she was not in Australia with Heard and Depp but that Heard informed her she was cut with glass from broken bottles.