Warning: Graphic Descriptions of Sexual Violence Appear in the Article Below
Amber Heard has post-traumatic stress disorder, a clinical and forensic psychologist testified to a Virginia jury today in Johnny Depp‘s $50 million defamation lawsuit against the Aquaman actor for her 2018 Washington Post op-ed on domestic violence. Dr. Dawn Hughes also claimed that Heard was repeatedly subjected to sexual assault by Depp, according to the psychologist’s potentially damaging testimony.
“There are a number of incidents of sexual violence reported in this relationship,” Hughes testified. “Those are documented early on … where when Mr. Depp was drunk or high. He threw her on the bed, ripped off her nightgown and tried to have sex with her,” she specified. Hughes graphically exclaimed that when Depp was “not able to perform” during such instances, he would become even further “enraged.”
“There were times when he forced her to give him oral sex when he was angry — these weren’t loving moments, these were angry moments,” the New York-based doctor additionally emphasized for Judge Penny Azcarte and the jurors, detailing other body penetration in a drug-fueled rage.
“Moments of dominance, moments of him trying to get control over her,” Hughes asserted.
In her statement, the psychologist highlighted a certain alleged assault when the couple was in Australia for filming of the fifth Pirates of the Caribbean movie, after which Depp yelled “I will kill you” as he put a bottle inside Heard’s body.
In a quiet tone, Hughes testified that when Heard said she was assaulted later that night, all she could think about was whether or not the bottle Depp was pushing into her “wasn’t the broken one.”
Johnny Depp and his lawyers have always denied any sexual abuse in the pair’s relationship.
“The intimate partner violence by Mr. Depp was the cause of Heard’s PTSD condition,” Hughes testified on Tuesday in her opening testimony for Heard’s defense.
Heard has said that her relationship with the Pirates star was marred by sexual, mental, emotional, and verbal abuse since before their high-profile marriage came to an end in 2016.
Depp “pushed Heard, he shoved her, he slapped her with the front of his hand and the back of his hand, he choked her, he slammed her into the wall, he pushed her, and when she fell down he kicked her in the back,” Hughes testified this afternoon in the fourth week of what is designated as a five-week trial.
She also said that Depp’s controlling nature had a negative influence on both Heard and the couple’s professional and personal lives. Along with “whore” and anatomy-defining language, “ambitious” became an “derogatory” term from blockbuster leading man to Heard, Hughes said Tuesday.
Often consulting her notes, and often having that process objected to by Depp’s side, Hughes told the court that she conducted a forensic evaluation of Heard, who has “never been a client” of the Manhattan-based psychologist.
Board-certified Hughes informed the court that she saw Heard over 21.5 hours in NYC and in-person follow ups in January 2021 and one over Zoom in December 2021.
Curtly disagreeing with previous Depp witness Dr. Shannon Curry — who evaluated the actress for 12 hours in 2021 — that Heard exaggerated her response and “feigned” trauma, Hughes also noted “I always approach a forensic evaluation with a healthy dose of skepticism.”
Even with that caveat, Hughes informed Heard main lawyer Elaine Bredehoft that her “main opinion is that Ms. Heard’s report of intimate partner violence and the records I reviewed is consistent with what we know in the field about intimate partner violence, characterized by physical violence, psychological aggression, sexual violence, coercive control and surveillance behaviors.”
Acknowledging later that there was some “mild violence” by Heard to Depp, Hughes added, “the second main opinion was that Ms. Heard demonstrated very clear psychological and traumatic effects … from those statements that Mr. Depp made through his attorney.”
The core of Heard’s $100 million countersuit, which she filed in summer 2020, are the numerous claims made to the media and on the internet by Depp buddy Adam Waldman.
Going to the end of yesterday’s session, Hughes will face what is sure to be a sharp-elbowed cross examination on Wednesday. Heard is anticipated to take the stand later Wednesday too. Heard’s testimony for sure will go to the end of the week and pick up on May 16 after the court goes dark for a scheduled one-week pause.
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