Amber Heard recorded friend slamming Johnny Depp lawyer

Amber Heard secretly recorded her interior designer raging against Johnny Depp’s lawyer for pressuring her to make a critical statement about the actress, it emerged in court today.  

Laura Divenere, who furnished the ex-couple’s Los Angeles penthouse, said in her witness statement she never saw Heard with any injuries following a fight with Depp in May 2016.

She even claimed in her written statement that Heard, 34, never spoke about being the victim of domestic abuse during her time with Depp, 57, who she described as ‘delightful’ and never aggressive. 

The alleged row has become a focal point of the Depp’s High Court showdown against The Sun newspaper, who branded the actor a ‘wife beater’ in a 2018 article.

But evidence of a conversation between her and Heard in which Divenere vented against Depp’s US attorney Adam Waldman for leaning on her to brand Heard physically abusive in her High Court statement was then shared.

In the conversation, Ms Divenere called Waldman the ‘biggest a**hole under the sun’ after he asked her to abandon Heard’s version of the contentious 2016 fight.

London’s High Court was also today read a text from Waldman to Ms Divenere, who was strongly urged to cooperate with Depp’s legal team or face being subpoenaed. 

And at the trial, Ms Divenere even conceded she had come under enormous pressure from Waldman to provide her statement, which she had not even written herself.

In one section of her statement, referring to the incidents of May 2016, Ms Divenere claims: ‘On none of those days immediately following the abuse claims did I observe any signs of physical abuse or injury, including any redness, swelling, cuts, bruising or damage of any kind.’

When asked by Ms Wass, representing The Sun, whose idea it was to include this, Ms Divenere replied: ‘Adam Waldman.’

She added: ‘Mr Waldman wrote the declaration, I just approved it and signed it.’ Ms Wass asked Ms Divenere: ‘I suggest that you felt pressurised by Mr Waldman to say things that were unfavourable about Miss Heard?’ Ms Divenere replied: ‘Yes.’

When asked about allegations she made about Heard having an affair with James Franco and Elon Musk, while she was still married to Depp, Ms Divenere said: ‘I did feel under pressure to say something about that.’

When asked about another section of her statement, which refers to Heard having spent a night in jail for attacking her former wife, Ms Divenere said: ‘That was Mr Waldman. I didn’t know about that until he told me.’

A text message from Mr Waldman to Ms Divenere was also read out in court, in which he asks her if she wants to ‘remain on the side of the hoax’ or the truth.

Ms Wass asked her: ‘Prior to this did you want to become involved as a witness between Miss Heard and Mr Depp. As a result of this text did you feel uncomfortable. Put under pressure?’

Ms Divenere replied: ‘I felt pressured.’

The High Court also heard a conversation that was secretly recorded by Heard when she spoke with Ms Divenere after she made her statement last June.      

But the High Court in London heard a recording by Ms Heard of a conversation with Miss Divenere after she signed the statement, where she said Depp’s US attorney Adam Waldman drafted the statement and pressured her into signing it.

Ms Heard then told her former aide: ‘It’s not your fault, you didn’t know. I hid it from everybody’.

Sasha Wass QC, representing The Sun’s publisher News Group Newspapers, read out a text to Ms Divenere from Mr Depp’s American lawyer Adam Waldman.

The message, sent on June 22, 2019, read: ‘I assume you are fearful of something and you needn’t be. I wanted to talk to you specifically because I heard from Johnny and others that you are a nice person and, more importantly, I have you all over the surveillance video immediately after the May 21 faked abuse claims, have witness testimony about you and possess other written and testimonial evidence of your constant interactions with Amber and acting on her behalf after she claimed to be beaten but before she filed for a domestic violence restraining order and Johnny had already left the country.

‘You were with her immediately prior to and immediately after she created this hoax.

‘You also know she left Johnny for Mr (Elon) Musk and when that first happened … and that Ms Heard destroyed this man’s reputation for her own selfish gains.’

It added: ‘So the question for you to consider is: do you want to speak with me off the record and we can consider if and how to use any eyewitness account you provide, regarding which I would be very respectful of your wishes and sensitivities, or do you want to remain on the side of the hoax and indirectly facilitate her suppression of the truth that continues to create catastrophic damage to Johnny Depp? If it’s the latter, we will send you a subpoena to compel your appearance in a sworn deposition. Please call me if it’s the former. Adam.’ 

Amber Heard today released an unseen picture of her face after Johnny Depp allegedly threw a phone at her.

Ms Heard’s photograph shows redness on her right cheek and eye but the images were written off by Mr Depp’s lifelong friend Isaac Baruch as ‘phoney baloney’ at the High Court today.

Mr Baruch said there were no signs of any marks, scratches, swelling or bruises on Amber Heard’s face and described Mr Depp, who he has known for 40 years, as a ‘noble mensch’ and ‘a true honest guy’, adding: ‘In all the years I’ve known Mr Depp, I have never once seen him commit an act of violence’. 

He said in his witness statement: ‘She told me that he hit her in the face and threw a phone at her. I then asked her where he had hit her and she stretched her neck and pushed out the right side of her head for me to look at her right eye. Her face looked to me just as natural and normal’. 

Today the actor’s security guard claimed Amber Heard spat at Johnny Depp and punched him in the eye during a heated row.  Travis McGivern, who has worked for the Hollywood star for almost seven years, also alleged Ms Heard, 34, threw a can of Red Bull at her now ex-husband, striking him on the back.

Mr Depp is accused of grabbing Ms Heard by the hair and repeatedly hitting her in an argument at a Los Angeles apartment at the Eastern Columbia Building on March 23 2015, which he denies.

In a written witness statement, submitted in support of Mr Depp’s libel action against News Group Newspapers (NGN) at the High Court, Mr McGivern said he was working at the residence on the day of the incident and was called by Mr Depp to come to the apartment and to bring a nurse called Debbie Lloyd.

Mr McGivern alleged that when they arrived, Ms Heard and Mr Depp, 57, were having a ‘verbal argument’, and that Ms Heard’s sister, Whitney Henriquez, was also present.

He said he initially stood outside the apartment with the door open and entered ‘when the argument got louder and more intense’.

The statement said: ‘At some point approximately 30 to 45 minutes after my arrival, Ms Heard threw a full can of Red Bull that hit Mr Depp in his back.’

Mr McGivern went on to claim: ‘After Ms Heard threw the can of Red Bull, I recognised that Ms Heard had access to a variety of other items that she could throw from her position.

‘I therefore moved next to Mr Depp to ensure that he would not get hit by anything else.

‘At this point, Ms Heard was standing on the landing above Mr Depp and I witnessed her spit on Mr Depp from above.

‘Ms Heard also tried to throw her purse at Mr Depp, but I deflected it mid-air. Approximately 10 minutes before we left, I witnessed Ms Heard punch Mr Depp in the eye with a closed fist.’

Mr McGivern alleged that Ms Heard and Ms Henriques left the apartment and Ms Lloyd persuaded Mr Depp to leave.

The guard also claimed he understood it had been alleged that Mr Depp ‘hit Ms Heard repeatedly with one hand whilst holding her hair with the other, and that Mr Depp’s security had to step in to separate them’.

He said: ‘Once again, this did not happen and at no point did Mr Depp hit Ms Heard.’

Isaac Baruch lived in an apartment owned by Mr Depp, 57, at the Eastern Columbia Building in Los Angeles between 2013 and 2016.

In a written statement submitted in support of Mr Depp’s libel claim against News Group Newspapers (NGN), he alleged: ‘Within the first year in 2013 of living in the Eastern, Mr Depp one day knocked on my door to visit. 

‘He said, ‘l don’t know what to do’.

‘l said, ‘about what?’

‘He said, ‘She likes to argue and she likes to hit’.

‘I said, ‘what do you mean, sexually?’

‘He smiled and said, ‘No. She just wants to argue about stuff all the time and then she’ll start hitting me’.

‘I was kind of surprised when he said this and I asked almost disbelievingly, ‘you mean like playful hitting or hit hitting?’.

‘He said, ‘Yes, she argues and then she’ll just start punching me and wants to fight. I’ll try to stop her but she just keeps going to the point where I just stop trying to stop her and say OK, go ahead do your worst, get it out of your system’.

Mr Baruch also gave his account of his encounters with Ms Heard, 34, in the days after an incident on May 21, 2016, in which it is alleged Mr Depp was violent towards the actress, which he denies. 

Mr Baruch claimed he saw Ms Heard the following day, May 22, and she told him the Pirates Of The Caribbean actor ‘had come by the night before and got violent’ and she was changing the locks to three apartments.

After a conversation with Ms Heard’s friend, Josh Drew, Mr Baruch said he went back to speak to Ms Heard, who told him that Mr Depp ‘hit her in the face and threw a phone at her’.

His statement said: ‘With lights from the hallway and the sunlight that came in through the windows from Penthouse 1, which filled the room and spread into the hallway, it was very easy for me to get an excellent view of Ms Heard’s face.

‘I literally was around 12 inches from her, inspecting her face and I did not see a single mark or evidence of any marks, bruising, or swelling of any kind anywhere on her face. She also definitely didn’t seem to be wearing any makeup at this time of day that could cover any marks or swelling.

‘Her face looked to me just as natural and normal as all the other times I’ve seen it over the past three years while hanging out together around the apartments.’

Mr Baruch’s statement also makes references to four other occasions in which he saw Ms Heard in the following few days, including once when he claims the actress knocked on his door to ask him to let her cleaning lady in and he ‘saw no marks of any kind on either side of her face’.

Giving evidence via video link on Friday, Mr Baruch confirmed he had lived rent-free in a penthouse owned by Mr Depp in the Eastern Columbia as part of the patronage arrangement he had with the actor.

Asked if he was the only person allowed to stay rent-free, Mr Baruch said no, and listed others including Ms Heard’s friends, Raquel ‘Rocky’ Pennington and Josh Drew, and her sister Whitney Henriquez.

Earlier, Sasha Wass QC, lead counsel for NGN, had asked Mr Baruch if all the people who lived in the apartments next to Mr Depp and Ms Heard ‘lived like almost family?’.

Mr Baruch said: ‘That’s exactly what it was, like friends, family, in this amazing top floor of this building, five beautiful apartments and everybody enjoying what Johnny was funding.’

David Sherborne, Mr Depp’s barrister, asked Mr Baruch if the actor was only generous to him, to which the artist chuckled and said: ‘No, no he is an ubermensch.’

‘Elon Musk visited Amber Heard a few times a WEEK when Johnny Depp was away’: Concierge tells libel trial 

Elon Musk would pay regular late-night visits to Amber Heard in her California penthouse – but only when Johnny Depp was away, the megastar’s concierge told the High Court today. 

Alejandro Romero, who worked at the actor’s Los Angeles apartment building, said that the Tesla billionaire would come over ‘a few times a week’ usually between 11pm and Midnight – and ‘would always visit when Mr Depp was not at home’.

Johnny Depp, 57, has accused Ms Heard of having an affair with the SpaceX entrepreneur before they divorced in 2016 and is suing The Sun’s publisher News Group Newspapers (NGN) and its executive editor over the April 2018 article which alleged he was violent towards former spouse Ms Heard, 34, during their tumultuous three-year marriage now being laid bare in a British court.

Mr Romero said in his witness statement that, after Mr Musk had visited a few times, Ms Heard then gave him a remote control for the building’s garage and a fob to enter Mr Depp’s penthouse.

He said: ‘From March 2015 onwards, Ms Heard was visited regularly late at night, at around 11 :00 pm to midnight, by Mr Elon Musk. For his initial visits, I would receive a call from Ms Heard who would tell me to give Mr. Musk access to the garage for the building and then send him up to the penthouse. After he had made a few visits, Ms Heard provided Mr. Musk with his own garage remote and a fob to Mr. Depp’s penthouse. I believe he visited Ms Heard a few times a week and he would always visit when Mr Depp was not at home’.

Mr Romero also told the court he ‘did not notice any bruises, cuts, swelling, red marks or any other injuries of any kind to Ms Heard’s face’, after an alleged incident of violence by Mr Depp in May 2016. 

MailOnline can reveal that Mr Depp missed the start of the ninth day of his libel trial today for a meeting about a new movie as his ex-wife watched as she was accused of making up domestic abuse to ‘extort’ and ‘blackmail’ the actor.  

Depp is said to be convinced Amber Heard was having a relationship with Mr Musk, 

Cross-examining concierge Alejandro Romero, Sasha Wass QC, for The Sun, said: ‘What you say about Ms Heard and Mr Musk is not disputed, but what I do suggest is that you have got the dates all muddled up.’

Mr Romero said he remembered that it was March 2015 because ‘that was when Mr Depp injured his hand… that’s how I remember exactly the year’.

Ms Wass asked if it was ‘in that same month that Mr Musk started coming to the Eastern (Columbia) Building?’

Mr Romero said: ‘That’s correct.’

Ms Wass referred Mr Romero to his evidence that Ms Heard was ‘not resident at the Eastern until around March 2016’, asking: ‘Are you saying that Ms Heard, not being a resident, would invite Mr Musk to Mr Depp’s flat?’

Mr Romero said: ‘I do remember when Johnny Depp injured his hand, that was the first time I saw Mr Musk going into the building.’

Asked by Mr Depp’s barrister David Sherborne why he had such a ‘clear memory’ of the injury to the actor’s hand, Mr Romero said a friend of his was ‘a big fan of Mr Depp and he was concerned about him not being able to play the guitar, that’s how I remember, and then the same day I saw Mr Musk’.

Mr Romero said that he saw the SpaceX billionaire in the building on the same day he found out Depp had lost the top of his finger.

The infamous injury is said to have taken place during an explosive row between the former couple.

Depp maintains it was severed by a vodka bottle thrown at him by Ms Heard while his ex-wife claims he injured it himself when he smashed a wall-mounted telephone.

‘I remember my friend was upset that Depp couldn’t play guitar, and then later I saw Mr Musk in the building,’ the security guard said.

In his witness statement Mr Romero said: ‘I know Ms Amber Heard to be a resident of Penthouse 3 of the Eastern.

‘I saw Ms Heard at the Eastern for the first time in around July 2015 but I understand that she was not resident at the Eastern until around March 2016.

‘I frequently saw Ms Heard both in person and on security footage in the course of my duties.

‘I have never spoken with Ms Heard in relation to her personal life and I do not know Ms Heard outside of my duties for the Eastern.

‘My interaction with Ms Heard was limited to brief interactions about logistical matters with the apartments, including, for example, giving access to guests of Ms Heard..

‘From March 2015 onwards, Ms Heard was visited regularly late at night, at around 11:00 pm to midnight, by Mr Elon Musk.

For his initial visits, I would receive a call from Ms Heard who would tell me to give Mr. Musk access to the garage for the building and then send him up to the penthouse.

‘After he had made a few visits, Ms Heard provided Mr Musk with his own garage remote and a fob to Mr Depp’s penthouse.

‘I believe he visited Ms Heard a few times a week and he would always visit when Mr Depp was not at home.

‘My duties at the Eastern include checking visitors in, processing mail and ensuring the safety of the building, including making rounds of the building and monitoring security footage.

‘My regular working hours are 4.00 p.m. to 1.00 a.m. from Monday to Friday. However, I occasionally work overtime when the garage gate malfunctions and there is no one else tovstay overnight.

‘Otherwise, there is no 24-hour security on site at the Eastern during the week.

The security guard also claimed he had not seen any visible signs of injury when he crossed paths with Ms Heard in the lobby of the building after an alleged domestic violence incident.

He said: ‘On Wednesday 25 May Ms Heard approached me to ask for the key to her unit, which I gave to her.

‘We did not discuss anything else at this time. Ms Heard stood approximately three feet away from me during our conversation.

‘I did not notice any bruises, cuts, swelling, red marks or any other injuries of any kind to Ms Heard’s face.’

The actor is said to have hit Ms Heard during an attack at the penthouse on 21 May 2016.   

Amber Heard spat at Johnny Depp and punched him in the eye during a heated row, the actor’s security guard has claimed.

Travis McGivern, who has worked for the Hollywood star for almost seven years, also alleged Ms Heard, 34, threw a can of Red Bull at the actor.

Mr Depp is accused of grabbing Ms Heard by the hair and repeatedly hitting her in an argument at a Los Angeles apartment at the Eastern Columbia Building on March 23 2015, which he denies.

In a written witness statement, submitted in support of Mr Depp’s libel action against News Group Newspapers (NGN) at the High Court, Mr McGivern said he was working at the residence on the day of the incident and was called by Mr Depp to come to the apartment and to bring a nurse called Debbie Lloyd.

Mr McGivern alleged that when they arrived, Ms Heard and Mr Depp, 57, were having a ‘verbal argument’, and that Ms Heard’s sister, Whitney Henriquez, was also present.

He said he initially stood outside the apartment with the door open and entered ‘when the argument got louder and more intense’.

The statement said: ‘At some point approximately 30 to 45 minutes after my arrival, Ms Heard threw a full can of Red Bull that hit Mr Depp in his back.’

Mr McGivern went on to claim: ‘After Ms Heard threw the can of Red Bull, I recognised that Ms Heard had access to a variety of other items that she could throw from her position.

‘I therefore moved next to Mr Depp to ensure that he would not get hit by anything else.

‘At this point, Ms Heard was standing on the landing above Mr Depp and I witnessed her spit on Mr Depp from above.

‘Ms Heard also tried to throw her purse at Mr Depp, but I deflected it mid-air. Approximately 10 minutes before we left, I witnessed Ms Heard punch Mr Depp in the eye with a closed fist.’

Amber Heard ‘punched Johnny Depp in the eye’ and ‘threw a full can of Red Bull’ at him, court hears

Amber Heard spat at Johnny Depp and punched him in the eye during a heated row, the actor’s security guard has claimed.

Travis McGivern, who has worked for the Hollywood star for almost seven years, also alleged Ms Heard, 34, threw a can of Red Bull at the actor.

Mr Depp is accused of grabbing Ms Heard by the hair and repeatedly hitting her in an argument at a Los Angeles apartment at the Eastern Columbia Building on March 23 2015, which he denies.

In a written witness statement, submitted in support of Mr Depp’s libel action against News Group Newspapers (NGN) at the High Court, Mr McGivern said he was working at the residence on the day of the incident and was called by Mr Depp to come to the apartment and to bring a nurse called Debbie Lloyd.

Mr McGivern alleged that when they arrived, Ms Heard and Mr Depp, 57, were having a ‘verbal argument’, and that Ms Heard’s sister, Whitney Henriquez, was also present.

He said he initially stood outside the apartment with the door open and entered ‘when the argument got louder and more intense’.

The statement said: ‘At some point approximately 30 to 45 minutes after my arrival, Ms Heard threw a full can of Red Bull that hit Mr Depp in his back.’

Mr McGivern went on to claim: ‘After Ms Heard threw the can of Red Bull, I recognised that Ms Heard had access to a variety of other items that she could throw from her position.

‘I therefore moved next to Mr Depp to ensure that he would not get hit by anything else.

‘At this point, Ms Heard was standing on the landing above Mr Depp and I witnessed her spit on Mr Depp from above.

‘Ms Heard also tried to throw her purse at Mr Depp, but I deflected it mid-air. Approximately 10 minutes before we left, I witnessed Ms Heard punch Mr Depp in the eye with a closed fist.’

Mr McGivern alleged that Ms Heard and Ms Henriques left the apartment and Ms Lloyd persuaded Mr Depp to leave.

The guard also claimed he understood it had been alleged that Mr Depp ‘hit Ms Heard repeatedly with one hand whilst holding her hair with the other, and that Mr Depp’s security had to step in to separate them’.

He said: ‘Once again, this did not happen and at no point did Mr Depp hit Ms Heard.’

Johnny Depp’s friend accuses Amber Heard of ‘filing a fraudulent domestic violence claim to blackmail for a divorce’ 

Artist Isaac Baruch insists he did not see ‘a single mark or evidence of any marks, bruising, or swelling of any kind anywhere on her face’ after the alleged incident in California in May 2016.

Mr Baruch told the court via video link from Los Angeles that Mr Depp had let him live rent-free next to Ms Heard in one of his five penthouse. He said Amber had two – one to live in and one as her ‘closet’. He also revealed the star had given him $100,000 over four years, which he described as ‘patronship’, adding: ‘Everyone lived there rent free. Johnny paid for everything’.

But when asked about Heard’s claims that she was the victim of domestic abuse, Mr Baruch said: ‘She’s filed a fraud domestic violence claim to extort and blackmail for a divorce.’  

Mr Baruch got to know Ms Heard and her friends who lived in neighbouring apartments owned by the actor, including Raquel ‘Rocky’ Pennington and her then-fiancee Josh Drew.

He said in his witness statement: ‘She told me that he hit her in the face and threw a phone at her. I then asked her where he had hit her and she stretched her neck and pushed out the right side of her head for me to look at her right eye.  Her face looked to me just as natural and normal as all the other times I’ve seen it over the past 3 years’. He added: ‘In all the years I’ve known Mr Depp, I have never once seen him commit an act of violence’.  

Cross-examining him Sasha Wass QC, representing News Group Newspapers, said to Mr Baruch that Mr Depp had been ‘very generous to you’ and had ‘allowed you to stay in one of his penthouses… rent free’. 

Ms Wass said Mr Depp gave Mr Baruch ‘20,000 a year’, to which Mr Baruch said: ‘Sometimes it was 20,000 a year, sometimes it was 25,000 a year. I would ask for the dough when I needed it… to cover expenses.’

The barrister suggested that the money ‘was not a loan… there was no understanding that you had to pay that money back’.

Mr Baruch said the ‘patronship’ from Mr Depp changed, and he arranged to pay it back ‘because I didn’t want him to eat all that money, that didn’t seem right to me’. Ms Wass asked: ‘Have you paid any of the money back?’ Mr Baruch said: ‘No, not yet.’

Mr Baruch revealed that he lived rent free in one of the five penthouses Depp owned in the Eastern Columbia Building, with the actor and Heard living in an adjoining one. Her sister Whitney lived in another of the penthouses with her friend’s Raquel Pennington and Josh Drew in another one.

The fifth was used as a ‘closet’ by Heard.

Mr Baruch revealed that none of them had to pay rent and that ‘Johnny paid for everything.

When questioned by David Sherborne, Depp’s lawyer, Mr Baruch said: ‘Everyone lived there rent free. Johnny funded everything, Johnny paid for everything.’

He described Depp ‘s generosity as ‘ubermensch’ (superman), telling the court: ‘He’s an ubermensch, he’s generous to everybody. He’s the ultimate good guy, he does the right thing.’ 

Barrister Sasha Wass then read a text from Mr Depp to Mr Baruch, sent in October 2016, which read: ‘I’ve got no cake, I should’ve told my business manager earlier… I can probably get you some dough tonight, just not very much. Sorry dude.’

Ms Wass said the text continued: ‘But we should talk about moving you out of the building and, for the moment, bring you to Sweetzer (Mr Depp’s Hollywood home).’

Mr Depp also said: ‘I hate it but I’ve got to lose those f****** penthouses. That c*** ruined such a f****** cool life we led for a while. I can’t even look at the building anymore.

‘F***** up. I really loved that spot.’ Ms Wass asked if Mr Depp was referring to Ms Heard when he said ‘that c***’. Mr Baruch laughed and replied: ‘Yes.’  

Actress Katherine Kendall, an advocate for the #MeToo movement which sprang out of widespread revelations about Harvey Weinstein’s sexual misconduct, gave evidence on Friday. 

In a written witness statement submitted to the court, Ms Kendall, 50, who starred in Beverly Hills 90210 and the hit film Swingers, said that when she read the article, ‘I realised that I had been completely misquoted and misused by The Sun to accomplish their goal.

‘In my brief interview, I had actually said many of the opposite things that The Sun had falsely quoted me as saying’.

Ms Kendall said in her statement that in a message to a reporter she had spoken to, she wrote: ‘I felt like I was misquoted, or that my words were taken out of context.

‘I never meant to be in an article that called Johnny Depp a ‘wife beater’. I told you that I didn’t know that to be true at all!

‘I have heard several times that she in fact was abusive to him.

‘That’s why I only wanted to make a comment in general about not being supportive of people being violent with each other, whichever direction it goes … It seems that the whole article was about de-faming him.’

The statement says in a second message, Ms Kendall said: ‘You have tried to use the £metoo movement to your purposes by using me in this way.’

Ms Kendall has publicly accused disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein, who was jailed for 23 years in March after being convicted of rape and other sexual offences, of harassing her in the 1990s.

Questioning Ms Kendall on Friday, Sasha Wass QC, lead counsel for NGN, asked her to explain ‘from your own experience, how difficult it was for a person to call out the misconduct of a powerful, influential figure in Hollywood’.

Ms Kendall said: ‘It took 20 years to finally have the courage to call him out publicly.’

Ms Wass said Ms Kendall and others were ‘subjected to personal attacks’ and were ‘being accused being fantasists, gold diggers and people with their own agenda’.

She asked: ‘And that’s your experience of standing up to a powerful man in Hollywood?’

Ms Kendall said it was.

Mr Depp’s barrister David Sherborne asked her: ‘What happened to Mr Weinstein as a result of the accusations that were made against him?’

Ms Kendall replied: ‘He was convicted and he’s in prison.’

She said he was convicted after a court hearing, to which Mr Sherborne asked: ‘So, the court heard the allegations and determined he was guilty.’

Mr Sherborne began to ask: ‘Do you think that is the appropriate or inappropriate way…’ before Mr Justice Nicol intervened, saying: ‘I’m not sure that that is going to assist me one way or the other in deciding this case.’

Mr Depp is suing NGN and Mr Wootton over the publication of an article on April 27 2018 with the headline: Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be ‘genuinely happy’ casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?

His lawyers say the article bore the meaning there was ‘overwhelming evidence’ Mr Depp assaulted Ms Heard on a number of occasions and left her ‘in fear for her life’.

NGN is defending the article as true, and says Mr Depp was ‘controlling and verbally and physically abusive towards Ms Heard, particularly when he was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs’.  

The court is also due to hear evidence from artist and friend of Depp, Isaac Baruch, Travis McGivern, a member of the actor’s security team, and Laura Divenere, former interior designer to Heard.

The Pirates Of The Caribbean star is suing NGN over the publication of an article on April 27, 2018 with the headline: ‘Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be ‘genuinely happy’ casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?’

His lawyers say the article bore the meaning there was ‘overwhelming evidence’ Depp assaulted Heard on a number of occasions and left her ‘in fear for her life’.

Heard claims that, during the incident in Australia, she was subjected to a ‘three-day hostage situation’ during which Depp drank to excess and took pills.

NGN is defending the article as true, and says Depp was ‘controlling and verbally and physically abusive towards Heard, particularly when he was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs’. 

Depp’s security guard yesterday revealed four photographs of the Hollywood actor with injuries after his then-wife Amber Heard allegedly attacked him, to support his sensational libel claim against a newspaper. 

Security guard Sean Bett, who has worked for Depp for nine years, said he took three pictures on his mobile phone of the actor in December 2015, adding: ‘Mr Depp told me that Miss Heard had slapped him in the face a few times.’

Asked in court by Depp’s lawyer David Sherborne what he could see, Mr Bett replied: ‘I could see what appears to be redness and what appears to be a 1.5 inch to 2 inch scratch and redness to the right of that scratch.’

Mr Bett also revealed a fourth photograph of an injured Depp in his witness statement released today, claiming that the injury in that picture was caused by Heard following her 30th birthday party in Los Angeles in April 2016.

But NGN’s barrister Sasha Wass QC told the court that the photograph was actually taken in March 2015 in the same city on a date when Heard had already admitted she attacked Depp in defence of her sister Whitney.

Heard has previously claimed she and Depp were having an argument when he approached Whitney on a landing between two staircases in their home in Los Angeles – and she feared he might push her, so hit him in the face.

Last week, Ms Wass claimed in court that the couple had an argument in March 2015 because Heard found out he was having an affair with a woman named Rochelle Hathaway, with Depp responding that Heard ‘was quite jealous of Rochelle and several other people, so I don’t know that she found out I was having an affair’.   

Yesterday in court, Mr Bett also insisted that he was not lying over claims that he saw Depp being regularly attacked by Heard but never hit back. When accused of lying by Ms Wass, he said: ‘You can call me a liar a hundred times but I’m not lying, I’m telling the truth.’ 

Mr Bett was shown a photograph of Depp with a facial injury. He initially stated in his statement that this was from an incident in April 2016, when he claimed Heard attacked the Hollywood star after he arrived late for her birthday.

Security guard becomes confused over when photograph of Depp’s injuries was taken 

It was revealed by Ms Wass that the photograph was in fact from an incident in March 2015 when Heard has admitted to attacking Depp in an attempt to protect her sister Whitney. 

Ms Wass said: ‘This is a picture from March 2015 in which she (Heard) admits she punched Mr Depp in defence of her sister.’

Turning to Mr Bett, she said: ‘This is the only photo of Mr Depp with a visible injury. You are suggesting that this injury is in relation to an incident that took place more than a year later.’

Mr Bett told the court he had been sent the one attached to his statement by Depp’s attorney Adam Waldman and that he initially believed it was the one he had taken, but had recently learned it was a different photo from March 2015, after seeing a version with a time and date stamp.

He said: ‘He (Mr Waldman) sent me the photograph initially and asked me if I had any recollection of it and I said ‘yes, of course’. 

He added: ‘I do remember taking that photograph, which now I know isn’t the photograph that I took but a photograph was taken which was very similar to that photograph.’

Mr Bett explained that he had not kept old mobile phones and had looked for the original photo he took but been unable to find it, and thought perhaps he had taken the photo on Depp’s phone on April 21.

He said he realised the mistake a few days ago when he saw the time stamp on the photo and told Depp’s lawyers.

Ms Wass put it to him that he had attempted to use the wrong photograph to support his evidence of Depp being injured on April 21 and the security guard replied: ‘That is not true, because I have taken other photographs of injuries which I have sent to the attorneys.’ 

Heard had no injuries following a row with Depp in their LA penthouse, says bodyguard

Mr Bett also insisted that he did not see Heard with any injuries following a row between Depp and Heard a month later in the Los Angeles penthouse they shared, when it is alleged, he left her with a black eye.

In a statement submitted to court, Mr Bett insisted that he had never seen Depp being ‘violent to anyone including Ms Heard.’ 

He claimed that he regularly saw the Aquaman actress throw ‘bottles, glass and other objects’ at Depp while also being verbally abusive to him.

In response, maintained Mr Bett, Depp always remained passive and ‘always tried to remove himself from the situation.’ 

He also described Heard as ‘polite’ when asked by Ms Wass if he had found her to be ‘perfectly polite’ when he was on his own with her without Depp. He was asked about the ‘guard shack’ at Depp’s home.

Security guard reveals how Depp’s home had a ‘guard shack’ for monitoring CCTV cameras 

He told the court: ‘The guard shack was an area where the security personnel stayed at his Hollywood address. It had several cameras in there, CCTV cameras, where you could monitor the streets and property.’ 

Ms Wass put it to Mr Bett: ‘You said in your statement that Ms Heard never told you that Mr Depp would hit her.’ He replied: ‘Correct.’

Ms Wass asked if it came as a ‘surprise’ to him that she did not confide in him in the circumstances, saying he was Depp’s employee. ‘There was absolutely no reason whatsoever for Ms Heard to confide in you,’ Ms Wass said.

Mr Bett told the court he would sometimes drive Heard home to the Eastern Columbia Buildings from Depp’s Sweetzer Avenue property in Los Angeles.

Depp would ‘feel bad for’ Heard and didn’t want her driving home herself while upset

He said Depp would ‘feel bad for her’ and would say that he didn’t want her driving home herself while upset, so Mr Bett would drive her and make sure she got home safely.

The bodyguard said: ‘During these times she would be crying, saying how much she loved Mr Depp and she’s tired of the arguing, and I would tell her, ‘well this has to stop between you two’.’

Ms Wass asked him if he was present during arguments between the couple and he said he was there ‘when she would get upset for no apparent reason’, adding that it was ‘like a tantrum’.

Mr Bett was asked about part of his witness statement in which he said Heard was someone who ‘behaved badly’ when she had been drinking alcohol, and he confirmed to Ms Wass that he had seen both Heard and Depp drinking on ‘many occasions’.

Ms Wass QC asked Mr Bett about Heard’s 30th birthday party at the Eastern Columbia Buildings on April 21, 2016 and the security guard confirmed that he drove Depp from there to the Sweetzer Avenue home at some point after the guests had gone.

He then confirmed to Mr Justice Nicol that Depp had ownership or control of a number of penthouses in the Eastern Columbia Buildings, Sweetzer Avenue and a Woodrow Wilson address, which is where his children Lily-Rose and Jack and their mother Paradis live. 

Ms Wass asked Mr Bett how long he, Depp’s former head of security Jerry Judge and Depp were in the apartment building on May 21 2016, to which Mr Bett said ‘between 30 and 40 minutes’.

The barrister then showed Mr Bett CCTV footage of the three of them entering the lift at around 7pm and leaving at around 8.30pm. She said: ‘It would appear that your estimate of how long you were there is incorrect.’

Mr Bett replied: ‘They are slightly off according to the (footage).’

Ms Wass asked what happened when Mr Bett entered the penthouse and whether ‘Ms Heard was sitting on the sofa’. Mr Bett said: ‘No, she was standing.’

Ms Wass asked if Ms Heard was crying, to which Mr Bett said: ‘She was agitated and upset.’ He added: ‘I can’t remember if I saw tears.’

Heard said she would call police ‘if he hits me one more time’, court hears 

Ms Wass said: ‘Ms Heard said to Jerry Judge ‘if he hits me one more time I’m going to call the cops’.’ Mr Bett confirmed that she said ‘words to that effect’.

Ms Wass asked if Mr Bett was certain that he saw ‘no injuries to Ms Heard’. Mr Bett replied: ‘Correct.’

He added: ‘If you are 20 feet away, in my opinion it can be difficult to see a tear on one’s face (but) it’s clear if there is an injury of any type, you would be able to see.’

Mr Bett said that he would be able to have seen an injury to Heard ‘especially with her fair skin’.

Ms Wass suggested to Mr Bett that ‘you are lying and that she had visible reddening to her cheek’. Mr Bett replied: ‘I’m not a liar, I’m telling the truth.’

Ms Wass asked if Johnny Depp was ‘extremely agitated’ when he was being ‘ushered out of the flat’, and Mr Bett said he was. The barrister said: ‘Presumably you have seen him like that many times before.’ Mr Bett said: ‘No.’

Ms Wass said Depp then went to one of the neighbouring penthouses he owned and ‘was threatening people, other people (Joshua) Drew and the other woman’.

Mr Bett replied: ‘That’s not true. Mr Depp told Mr Drew and the said female to get out of this apartment.’

Ms Wass said: ‘When Mr Depp left (the penthouse) he had with him a bottle of red wine, do you remember that?’ Mr Bett replied: ‘I can’t confirm if he had wine with him or not.’

Ms Wass suggested Mr Depp ‘threw the wine and smashed the wine’ outside one of the other apartments. Mr Bett responded: ‘There was no smashing of anything.’

‘Did you not see wine dribbled along the wall?’ Ms Wass asked. ‘I didn’t,’ Mr Bett replied.

Ms Wass then said: ‘You knew the police had been called that night, didn’t you?’ Mr Bett said: ‘I did.’

Ms Wass asked: ‘How did you find that out?’ Mr Bett replied: ‘I believe that the estate manager at the time, Kevin Murphy, sent me a text.’

Ms Wass continued: ‘The name of the officers who attended, you found out their names, didn’t you?’ Mr Bett said: ‘Not until they had a deposition and it was made public.’

Ms Wass said that Ms Heard would have known the identities of the two police officers who attended, but that ‘there was no way the public would have access to the identities’.

She asked: ‘Are you able to offer any explanation as to how the identities of the police officers were released to the Depp team in order to enable them to depose those two witnesses?’ Mr Bett replied: ‘I have no idea how those names were obtained.’ 

Ms Wass asked: ‘It would have to be some sort of inside information at the LAPD?’ She added: ‘This is, on the face of it, confidential police information, isn’t it?’ Mr Bett replied: ‘No, if there is a court order… departments in California are bound to release it.’

Ms Wass asked: ‘You played no part in seeking the identity of those officers?’ Mr Bett replied: ‘That’s correct.’

Ms Wass put it to Mr Bett: ‘Your evidence, Mr Bett, is that Mr Depp is not violent and you are not violent.’ He replied: ‘That’s correct.’

Woman claimed she was ‘roughed up’ by Depp’s bodyguards at an Iggy Pop concert

Ms Wass then referred to a 2012 court case about an alleged incident involving Depp’s security guards at an Iggy Pop concert.

She read out an LA Times article about the incident in which a woman alleged she was ‘roughed up’ and forced into handcuffs by Depp’s bodyguards.

‘It’s not factually accurate,’ Mr Bett said. Ms Wass asked Mr Bett: ‘Did you ever say to this lady that you were a police officer?’ ‘No,’ he replied.

Ms Wass said the woman’s pants were removed ‘exposing her buttocks’. 

At this point, the judge intervened to ask Ms Wass where her line of questioning was going. Mr Depp’s barrister David Sherborne said: ‘This is ridiculous.’ 

Ms Wass asked Mr Bett: ‘Do you agree that you were involved in violence against a woman?’

Mr Bett replied: ‘No, and those statements are incorrect and it was proved through the testimony of witnesses.’ Ms Wass said there was a ‘confidential settlement’ of the case, and Mr Bett said: ‘Yes.’ 

Mr Sherborne asked Mr Bett about the incident at the Iggy Pop concert: ‘Was Mr Depp on his own or with his children?’ Mr Bett replied: ‘His children were present.’ 

Mr Sherborne continued: ‘You (Sean Bett) described how… Mr Depp, at the end of an argument, would still ask you to drive Ms Heard home because he wanted to make sure that she got home safe.’

He added: ‘You said that she would be crying sometimes, she would say she was tired of arguing… at any time, did she ever say that Mr Depp had hit her?’ Mr Bett replied: ‘No.’

He was also asked if Ms Heard ever said Mr Depp was ‘violent’ or that she was ‘afraid of him’, and he said ‘no’ to both. Mr Sherborne asked: ‘Did you ever see any injuries, bruises, marks, swelling on her during those conversations you had with her?’ ‘I didn’t,’ Mr Bett said.

Mr Sherborne asked Mr Bett about photographs of Mr Depp which Mr Bett said showed injuries on Depp’s face. ‘Mr Depp told me that Ms Heard had slapped him on the face a few times,’ he said.

Mr Sherborne asked the witness: ‘It was put to you, Mr Bett, that you’re lying for Depp… that’s what you came here to do’. Mr Bett replied: ‘That’s incorrect.’

Security guard talks about ‘recurring cycle’ in which Heard would ‘abuse’ Depp

Mr Bett alleged in his written statement that there was a ‘recurring cycle’ in which Heard would ‘abuse’ Depp, who would then ‘remove himself from the situation’. 

Mr Bett said it was a ‘very common occurrence’ that the actor would call members of his security team to ‘take him away from Ms Heard’.

Mr Bett, a former deputy with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, claimed in his witness statement that he saw the couple ‘very regularly’ during their relationship and ‘never saw any cuts, bruises or other injuries on Ms Heard’.

‘On the contrary, throughout the course of Mr Depp and Ms Heard’s relationship, Ms Heard was verbally and physically abusive towards Mr Depp,’ he alleged.

‘On many occasions, I witnessed her shout at Mr Depp. I was also told by Mr Depp on multiple occasions that Ms Heard had physically abused him.

‘A very common occurrence throughout the relationship would be that Mr Depp would have me, and other members of his security team, take him away from Ms Heard, due to her behaviour. He would then stay somewhere else.

‘This happened on so many occasions that it is not possible for me to remember them all in detail. However, I would describe it as a recurring cycle that Ms Heard would abuse Mr Depp, who would then remove himself from the situation.’

Mr Bett also claimed: ‘Ms Heard often behaved in this way when she had been drinking. I learnt quickly to recognise the signs, so that we were able to leave the situation before it escalated further.’

In his statement, Mr Bett gave his account of an incident on May 21 2016, in which Depp is alleged to have thrown a phone at Heard and smashed objects at their LA penthouse, which he denies.

Mr Bett said he and another security guard, Jerry Judge, were waiting outside and entered the apartment when they heard shouts from Ms Heard.

His statement said: ‘When we entered, we saw Mr Depp standing approximately 20 feet away from Ms Heard, who was standing by the couch.

‘As soon as Ms Heard noticed that we had entered the room, she looked very surprised; her demeanour then changed and she pointed at Mr Depp and screamed to us words to the effect of ‘If he hits me one more time, I am calling the police’.’

Mr Bett went on to say: ‘I have quite good eyesight. I was able to see that Ms Heard was wearing little or no make-up, her skin was quite pale and she had no red marks or evidence of any bruises or abrasions to her face or body.

‘I could see Mr Depp was visibly upset at having been accused of hitting Ms Heard. However, he never came closer than 20 feet to her during the time I was able to observe them.

‘I did not notice any smashed glass or broken bottles in the apartment at the time.’

Mr Bett claimed he, Depp and Mr Judge agreed that the actor should leave the building ‘due to the fact that the situation had escalated and Ms Heard was hysterically shouting at Mr Depp and making allegations about his behaviour’.

Vanessa Paradis and Winona Ryder will now not appear at court to support Depp’s libel claim 

Meanwhile, it was revealed yesterday Depp’s former partners Vanessa Paradis and Winona Ryder will now not appear at the High Court to support his libel claim. 

Actress Paradis, who was in a relationship with Depp for more than 14 years and had two children with him, had been expected to give evidence in support of the Pirates Of The Caribbean star’s case over a videolink yesterday.

But the court was told that there was no need for her – or another ex-partner, actress Ryder – to give evidence because Depp’s claim that he has never hit a woman was only tested by the defence regarding Heard.

At an earlier preliminary hearing in the case, part of 47-year-old Paradis’s witness statement said: ‘I have known Johnny for more than 25 years. We’ve been partners for 14 years and we raised our two children together.

‘Through all these years I’ve known Johnny to be a kind, attentive, generous, and non-violent person and father.’ She added: ‘He was never violent or abusive to me.’ 

This morning, Depp’s barrister David Sherborne said the trial timetable had been revised, adding: ‘There is no need to reschedule those witnesses (Ryder and Paradis), much as it would have been a pleasure to have them here.’  .

Heard’s former PA accuses her of ‘twisting’ her own account of a rape for ‘her own use’

Yesterday, Heard’s former personal assistant accused the actress of ‘twisting’ her own account of a machete-point rape for ‘her own use’, in explosive evidence on the seventh day of Depp’s libel claim.

Appearing by videolink from Los Angeles yesterday, Kate James claimed Heard, 34, had ‘stolen’ her story of being ‘violently raped’ in Brazil almost three decades ago. 

In her witness statement, Ms James said she discovered the Aquaman actress had ‘stolen my sexual violence conversation with her and twisted it into her own story to benefit herself’.

She added: ‘This of course caused me extreme distress and outrage that she would dare to attempt to use the most harrowing experience of my life as her own narrative.’ 

Ms James said she was giving evidence because she took ‘offence’ at Heard’s actions. 

NGN’s barrister Sasha Wass QC suggested Ms James had been ‘influenced’ by Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas actor Depp and his associates and ‘encouraged’ to give ‘vicious evidence’ against Heard.

Ms James replied: ‘I’m here for my own reasons … I’m a sexual violence survivor and that’s very, very serious to take that stance if you are not one and I am one. That’s the reason I’m here, because I take offence.’ 

Ms James, who worked for Heard between 2012 and 2015, said her former employer would send a ‘barrage of drunk text messages between the hours of two and four in the morning … on an almost daily basis’, describing the messages as ‘abusive’.

She accused Heard of deleting all the ‘abusive’ texts after the actress terminated her employment, adding: ‘She saved the ones that weren’t.’

Heard ‘did not care about throwing anyone under the bus’, says former PA

In her statement, Ms James said Heard felt she was ‘above the law’, and claimed she ‘did not care about throwing anyone under the bus, if it meant saving her own skin’. 

Heard asked her in September 2014 to send a letter the actress had drafted to Homeland Security officials in the US about a woman named Savannah McMillan, who had been hired to work as a set assistant, Ms James claimed. 

According to Ms James, Heard said in the letter: ‘Savannah McMillan is a personal friend and, to my knowledge, has never worked unlawfully or otherwise in the United States. Or for me.’ 

Ms James said in her statement that Heard ‘knew this to be untrue’ and ‘Amber was therefore wilfully lying to the US immigration department’.

She also claimed Heard ‘deliberately smuggled’ two Yorkshire terriers, Pistol and Boo, into Australia illegally in April 2015.

Heard asked Depp’s estate manager to ask her PA to ‘lie under oath’, court hears

The High Court in London earlier heard evidence from Kevin Murphy, Depp’s former estate manager, who claimed Heard asked him to contact Ms James and ask her to ‘lie under oath’ to an Australian court.

Mr Murphy said the actress also ‘demanded’ he make a false statement about the animals being ‘smuggled’ into the country, and told him: ‘I wouldn’t want you to have a problem with your job.’

In October 2015, Heard faced criminal proceedings in Australia for taking the couple’s two dogs into the country illegally. 

She and Depp later recorded a now infamous video, which was played to the court, apologising for doing so. 

Mr Murphy said he lied under oath ‘because Amber wielded a lot of power and would have made my life miserable’.

He also gave evidence about the ‘defecation incident’, when faeces were found in the couple’s bed after Heard’s 30th birthday party in April 2016.

Ms Wass read a text from Heard to Mr Murphy in October 2014, when the actress said: ‘I’m worried she’s got brain damage. She can’t seem to predict or control when she uses the bathroom.

‘Last night she s**t ON Johnny while he was sleeping, like all over him. Not exaggerating.’

Mr Murphy said in his witness statement that, when he spoke to Depp in April 2016 about the ‘defecation incident’, the actor was ‘sullen and disgusted’.

Ms Wass read two text messages sent by Depp shortly after the incident, saying that in one, he wrote ‘my wife left a whopper poop on my bed’ and ‘then he says ‘Amber Turd”.

She said: ‘In fact, it appears from those texts that Depp found the subject quite amusing,’ to which Mr Murphy said he thought the actor was being ‘sarcastic’.

Mr Murphy was asked if Heard had told him the faeces in the bed was a ‘harmless prank’, and said: ‘She certainly did.’

Yesterday morning, Depp’s previous estate manager, Ben King, gave evidence that Depp and Heard ‘argued like schoolchildren’, with explosive rows starting from ‘banal beginnings’.

He claimed Heard was the ‘antagoniser’ in the relationship, often ‘goading’ and attempting to provoke the actor.

Mr King, who worked for the Hollywood star for three separate periods between 2014 and 2016, said he never saw Depp ‘be violent or unkind towards Heard, or indeed towards anyone else’.

In his first witness statement, Mr King said that in March 2015 he was summoned to the house the couple were renting in Australia, where he found a ‘significant amount of damage’ and discovered the actor’s severed fingertip on the floor of the bar area while cleaning up broken glass and debris.

Depp has been accused of subjecting Heard to a ‘three-day hostage situation’ and trashing the house during the Australia trip, which he denies.

His finger was severed during the stay, which he says was caused by Ms Heard throwing a vodka bottle at him, which she denies. 

Yesterday, the court did not have time to hear from actress Ryder, who was engaged to Mr Depp in the 1990s, or Katherine Kendall, an actress and #MeToo advocate who claims she was ‘misquoted’ in The Sun’s article.

Depp is suing NGN and its executive editor Dan Wootton over the publication of an article headlined: ‘Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be ‘genuinely happy’ casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?’.

His lawyers say the article bore the meaning there was ‘overwhelming evidence’ Depp assaulted Heard on a number of occasions and left her ‘in fear for her life’.

Heard claims that, during an incident in Australia, she was subjected to a ‘three-day hostage situation’ during which Depp drank to excess and took pills.

NGN is defending the article as true, and says Depp was ‘controlling and verbally and physically abusive towards Heard, particularly when he was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs’.