Amber Heard calls Johnny Depp a 'sellout' and 'washed up piece of s---' in audio recording of a vicious fight played at defamation trial
- Audio of a brutal fight between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard was played at their trial Tuesday.
- Heard calls Depp "a washed-up piece of shit" and regrets believing she could have kids with him.
Lawyers for Johnny Depp played an audio recording at his trial against Amber Heard on Tuesday, giving the jury a glimpse of a vicious fight between the couple.
In the audio recording, the two hurl insults at each other and Heard expresses a mocking fury at Depp, laughing and calling him "a sellout" and a "washed-up piece of shit."
The fight appeared to have taken place sometime in 2015, in the middle of the couple's 15-month marriage. Depp criticizes Heard's wardrobe choices, suggesting "stripping" as a career option for her, and calls her a "spoiled fucking brat."
"I wish I fucking hadn't bought into any of your fucking lies. Your bullshit. Your sober, fucking presence, your fucking goodness, your sweetness, all the lies," Heard says. "I wish I hadn't bought into the months of you being you. I wish I hadn't bought promises. I wish I hadn't fucking thought I could have kids with you. You are a fucking kid yourself. I wish I hadn't bought into any of the lies you sold. Talk about fake bill and goods."
"Suck my dick, suck my dick," Heard continued.
Depp brought the lawsuit against Heard in March 2019, alleging she defamed him by describing herself as a victim of domestic violence in a December 2018 Washington Post op-ed. Heard filed a restraining order against Depp in May 2016, around the same time she filed for a divorce. But Depp claimed that Heard was the true abuser in the relationship and had frequently mocked him for his age and beat him.
Heard has denied the allegations and filed a countersuit. She says Depp physically assaulted her numerous times before and during their marriage while he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. In testimony earlier in the trial, she described how Depp exerted control over her life by shaming her for wearing outfits he considered too revealing, screening the movie roles she took for sex scenes, and keeping tabs on male co-stars.
Heard also testified that Depp physically assaulted her on occasions while accusing her of infidelity with men she worked with, including actors James Franco and Eddie Redmayne, and director Tom Hooper.
In the audio recording, Depp questions Heard's career choices, calling her roles "dreck" while Heard calls him a "sellout." Heard was in her 20s during much of their relationship, and Depp in his 50s.
"I've been doing this a lot longer than you," Depp says in the recording. "Figure out what you have to offer as opposed to going and getting your tits out."
Heard responds by suggesting that Depp's role in the 1980s TV series "21 Jump Street," which established his status as a teen idol, was no different than the types of roles she took.
"Hey, at least I can do like a TV show where I was a heartthrob in my twenties," Heard said sarcastically in the recording. "God, that would be like embarrassing. If only I was with someone in their fifties who could point that out to me."
Heard then calls Depp a "fucking washed-up piece of shit."
"Your jealousy is so tragic," Depp said in response.
Camille Vasquez, Depp's lawyer who presented the audio recording as an exhibit in the trial, didn't offer a date for the fight, but it appeared to take place in the summer or fall of 2015. Heard previously testified in the trial that, around May of 2015, she saw text messages on Depp's iPad that led her to believe Depp was unfaithful and had been seeing one of his previous partners during their marriage. Heard makes a reference to that woman during the argument.
Laurel Anderson, a therapist who oversaw marriage counseling sessions with both Depp and Heard, offered testimony shown to jurors earlier in the trial that Depp and Heard partook in "mutual abuse." According to Anderson, Heard overwhelmed Depp with a verbal barrage during fights and, if he tried to withdraw, escalated the arguments so that he'd stay.
"If he was going to leave her to de-escalate the fight, she was going to strike him," Anderson said. "She would rather escalate the fight than have him leave."
That strategy appears to be on display in the audio recording, as Heard challenges Depp for wanting to step away from the argument.
"There's no other place for you to run? In your 15 other houses, to go run?" Heard says in a mocking tone. "Come on, go be a real married man. Go deal with your shit the way that every man does. Go run to the next house."
Vasquez, questioning Heard as part of cross-examination in the Fairfax County, Virginia, courthouse, asked about the recording.
"You told Mr. Depp to suck your dick multiple times, didn't you?" Vasquez asked.
In the audio recording, Depp can also be heard saying "Aquaman" in an apparently mocking tone toward the end of the argument. Vasquez suggested that Depp got Heard her role in the Warner Bros. DC Universe movie series.
"No, Ms. Vasquez," Heard replied. "I got that role by auditioning."