Amber Heard’s sister was kicked out of rent-free penthouse after Johnny Depp accused her of selling wedding photos
Amber Heard’s sister told a British court Thursday that she was kicked out of a luxurious penthouse owned by Johnny Depp when he accused her of selling his wedding photos with the “Aquaman” actress.
Whitney Henriquez appeared at the High Court in London to back up her sister’s claims of abuse against her famous ex-husband as part of the actor’s libel case against The Sun, a U.K.-based tabloid that called him a “wife beater” in a 2018 article.
Henriquez, who lived rent-free in one of Depp’s five penthouses in Los Angeles before the couple got married in 2015, said she heard or witnessed multiple fights during her time there but chose to stay because Heard insisted she loved him, British news outlets reported Thursday.
Heard eventually booted her sister out of the apartment after Depp claimed she was planning to sell their wedding photos to the press, an allegation that Henriquez denies.
During her time living next door to the couple, Henriquez said she used to confront Depp about the alleged assaults, but the Hollywood star always had an excuse, according to the Evening Standard.
“I remember saying to him: ‘Why did you f--king have to hit her?’ Sometimes he would flat out deny it or downplay it by saying, ‘No, I just pushed her, I didn’t hit her,’” Henriquez told the court.
“Other times, he would acknowledge that he had hit her but would try to justify it, by claiming she hit him first or ‘she called me a pussy’ and would say ‘sis, I just lost control,’” she recalled.
Depp, 57, has repeatedly denied hitting Heard and accuses the actress of being the aggressor in their tumultuous relationship. He claims The Sun’s article was defamatory and hurt his career.
The tabloid’s defense team says the story was based on 14 domestic violence allegations made by Heard between 2013 and 2016.
The couple married in 2015 and separated just a year later, when Heard obtained a restraining order against him. Their divorce was finalized in 2017 and the pair has since accused each other of emotional and physical abuse.
Heard, 34, concluded her own testimony Thursday after four days of questioning. She said her former spouse could be a “wonderful” man, but his excessive alcohol and drug use fueled multiple violent rages over the years.
“Johnny, when he was clean and sober, could be a wonderful person, generous, loving,” she told the court. “He’s a remarkable man when he’s like that and I loved him. The other side of him was a monster, but I always held out hope he would get clean and sober.”
In a written statement to the court, Henriquez said she “felt sick” when she learned Heard was going to marry the actor. She reportedly urged her sister not to go through with the marriage, telling her that “putting a ring on her finger was not going to stop him hitting her,” the BBC reported on Thursday.
Henriquez also wrote that she was not aware of any violence in the beginning, but her sister later described many “big fights” that often turned violent.
She said her former brother-in-law not only had a drug problem, but he was also “incredibly jealous and possessive.”
The case will continue Friday and is expected to wrap up early next week.
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