‘Violence was now normal’, says Amber Heard

WASHINGTON: Amber Heard testified on Monday that she filed for divorce from "monster" Johnny Depp in May 2016 because she feared for her life.

"I had to leave him," the 36-year-old actress Heard told the jury at the defamation trail filed against her by her former husband. "I knew I wouldn’t survive if I didn’t. "I was so scared that it was going to end really badly for me," she said.

"At the time it felt like the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do," Heard said of filing for divorce. "I had worked so hard to try to make this relationship work." "It was hard because I loved Johnny so much," she said. "I loved him so much."

Heard said the "Pirates of the Caribbean" star would become a "monster" when he was drinking and her efforts to curtail his drug and alcohol use had failed. "The monster had been this thing that was now the normal and not the exception," she said. "The violence was now normal."

Heard said the same week she filed for divorce she sought a temporary restraining order following an argument during which Depp threw a mobile phone at her, hitting her in the face. The 58-year-old Depp, during his four days on the witness stand, denied ever striking Heard and claimed that she was the one who was frequently violent.

Depp filed suit against Heard over an op-ed she wrote for The Washington Post in December 2018 in which she described herself as a "public figure representing domestic abuse." Heard, who had a starring role in "Aquaman," did not name Depp in the op-ed, but he sued her for implying he was a domestic abuser and is seeking $50 million in damages. The Texas-born Heard countersued, asking for $100 million and claiming she suffered "rampant physical violence and abuse" at his hands.