Witness: Amber Heard Threw Punches, Bottles

Johnny Depp's security chief is backing the actor's claims that ex-wife Amber Heard abused him, as opposed to the other way around. In a witness statement released Thursday as he appeared at UK High Court, Sean Bett, a former Los Angeles sheriff's deputy who's worked for Depp for a decade, noted "Heard was verbally and physically abusive" throughout their relationship. He wrote that he'd seen Heard "throwing bottles, glasses and other objects" at Depp, per the Guardian. She "often behaved in this way when she had been drinking," he wrote, adding Depp would typically "remove himself from the situation" and never responded in kind. Depp is suing News Group Newspapers, publisher of the Sun, and the paper's executive editor over a 2018 article that called him a "wife-beater." The Sun is relying on Heard's 14 claims of abuse from 2013 to 2016.

Bett submitted a March 23, 2015, photo showing Depp with a bruised cheek. The Sun's lawyer, Sasha Wass, admitted Heard caused it, but said she only "punched Mr. Depp in defence of her sister." When Bett noted he'd never seen any bruises on Heard, Wass suggested he was lying to cover for his boss. "Ma'am you can call me a liar 100 times. I'm not a liar," he said, per the AP. Depp's former partners Vanessa Paradis and Winona Ryder were expected to appear this week. But Depp's lawyer, David Sherborne, said Thursday that they were no longer needed as the Sun doesn't dispute the claim that Depp wasn't violent with them. On Wednesday, Heard's former assistant Kate James testified that the actress had stolen details of James' own rape to include in a witness statement. "She twisted it into her own story," James said, per the AP. Heard has yet to testify. (More Johnny Depp stories.)