Amber Heard once wrote I 'want to rip you apart, devour you and savor the taste' in a private letter to Johnny Depp

• Amber Heard's private letters to Johnny Depp were read aloud in court.
• In one letter, Heard apologized for "her part" in hurting Depp.

Private letters that Amber Heard wrote to Johnny Depp were read out loud in court on Tuesday, as Heard continued to face cross-examination from Depp's lawyers as part of their ongoing defamation trial.

Depp's lawyers presented two private letters that Heard wrote Depp, alongside an image of the pair on holiday in Australia, from what they described as a series of "love journals" that Heard had complied and shared with Depp.

In the first letter, Heard writes passionately about her thoughts on love, as well as her relationship with Depp.

"True love isn't about just the madness of passion or instead picking the safety of peace. No, it's about having both," Heard wrote in the letter, according to the evidence.

"Falling madly in love with your friend. That is what has surprised me perhaps the most, that I have seen in you the true bones of friendship and respect. But I still, of course, more than ever, want to rip you apart, devour you, and savor the taste. Fret not."

After Depp's lawyer finished reading the letter she asked Heard whether she had recited her words correctly, to which Heard said: "Yes, it's a love note."

Depp's lawyer moved on to the second letter which features Heard speaking directly to Depp about conflicts in their relationship.

"I'm sorry I can get crazy. I'm sorry I hurt you. Like you, I can get wicked when I am hurt. When I feel provoked. Shattered. And last night I was," Heard wrote in the letter to Depp. "I felt abandoned by the Lily-Rose thing. I felt absolutely bewildered by you not coming home on my last night here. And I was heartbroken and angry after many attempts in vain on my part to rectify the situation and make amends on the last of what was an otherwise gorgeous trip with you."

Later in the letter, Heard apologized to Depp for what she described as "her part" in hurting the actor.

"There's never a reason good enough to hurt you. You are the last thing in the whole world that deserves it. The last person in the world who deserves it," she wrote. "I love you, Steve, I'm forever yours, Slim."

Steve and Slim are nicknames Heard and Depp used during their relationship.

This is the fifth week Heard and Depp have appeared at Fairfax County Circuit Court in Virginia as part of their defamation trial. Depp first filed the lawsuit against Heard in March 2019, accusing her of defaming him in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed in which she described herself as a victim of domestic violence.

Depp alleged that in reality Heard instead physically and verbally attacked him throughout their relationship, culminating with the fight following a dinner party for Heard's 30th birthday on April 21, 2016, in one of their shared penthouse apartments in Los Angeles.

Heard has denied the allegations and countersued, laying out in court filings at least 10 instances in which she says Depp physically abused her, often in what she described were alcohol- or drug-fueled rages.