Amber Heard's former friend explains why she took photos of the actress' bruised face after an allegedly violent incident with Johnny Depp

• This story contains graphic images showing alleged domestic abuse.
• Amber Heard's former friend Raquel Pennington testified about an incident that left Heard with injuries.

A former friend of Amber Heard's testified that she came to Heard's residence on a night in December 2015 following a violent incident between Heard and Johnny Depp.

In a deposition recorded in January that was played for the jury in the Depp v. Heard defamation trial on Wednesday, Heard's former friend Raquel "Rocky" Pennington recounted her memory of the night prior to Heard's appearance on "The Late Late Show with James Corden," elaborating on photos she took of Heard's wounded face.

Heard previously described the alleged incident when she appeared as a witness during Depp's libel trial against News Group Newspapers in 2020 for an article in The Sun that referred to him as a "wife beater." In her testimony, she said that the night prior to her appearance on "The Late Late Show" was "one of the worst and most violent nights" of her relationship with Depp, and that he slapped, punched, and headbutted her, Insider previously reported.

At the time, Depp's lawyer said that Heard appeared on "The Late Late Show" the next day without visible injuries, Insider reported. Heard's makeup artist, Melanie Inglessis, testified during the 2020 trial that she concealed Heard's injuries, including a split lip, missing hair, and bruise near her eye, for the show.

Pennington, who noted in the January deposition that she and Heard are no longer close, testified that Heard asked her to come over to inspect her after the incident. Although she didn't actually witness the alleged abuse, Pennington observed that Heard had sustained injuries. Pennington added that she called a private nurse who counseled her to not let Heard sleep and to monitor her speech.

When questioned in a January 21 deposition as to why Pennington told Heard that she was going to go take photos throughout Heard and Depp's penthouses, Pennington replied, "Why wouldn't I?"

Pennington described photos from the night of the December 2015 incident

In the January 21 deposition, Pennington said that she remembered being with Heard after the incident, which occurred the day before she went on "The Late Late Show" show in December 2015. Pennington said that Heard asked her to come over, and was "very upset."

"Her face was red, swollen, the hair had been ripped out of her head," Pennington said.

"I don't think I even slept that night, watching her just to make sure she didn't," Pennington said, trailing off. When questioned as to whether she was concerned that Heard had a concussion, she answered affirmatively.

Pennington was questioned regarding several photos of Heard, taken the night of the incident. Describing the photos, Pennington said that Heard had bruising on her face and swelling on her nose.

"This is Amber's face, turned to profile, showing more of her bottom bloody lip and her right bruised eye," Pennington said of the above photo, saying that it appeared to have been taken the night in December 2015 in a bedroom.

Pennington said that she took "a lot of pictures" that evening. In response to questioning, she said that Heard's lower lip did not look like "chapped" or like Heard "had a cold sore."

Pennington also described the above photo, which she testified showed Heard's nose and mouth, with a swollen, injured lip, bruising on her eye, and a "small mark" underneath Heard's eyelid.

Pennington said that the bruising underneath Heard's eyes or the mark were atypical, and that Heard "sometimes" had injuries on her lip.

Pennington also testified that a photo showing a mark on Heard's hairline was taken either the night of or the morning after the alleged December 2015 incident. She said that it showed her thumb holding back Heard's hair to make the mark visible. Another photo purportedly taken in relation to the same incident showed the hair that had been ripped from Heard's head with Pennington's finger for comparison, the former friend testified.

When asked how she knew the hair belonged to Heard, Pennington said that "hair had been ripped out of her head, this is the color of her hair, it's her home."

Depp's legal team has shown photos of Heard appearing on "The Late Late Show" without visible injuries in court, to support the claim that she hadn't been struck, Vulture reported.

When asked to react to the claim that Heard had no injuries when she appeared on "The Late Late Show" following the alleged incident, Pennington said, "that is a false assessment or statement."

"I saw injuries on her body from the time directly after they happened throughout the next night, the next day, and as they continued to heal," Pennington said.

The photos were revealed in week six of Depp and Heard's defamation trial, being held in a Virginia court. Depp filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against Heard in March 2019, alleging that a 2018 op-ed about domestic abuse that she wrote for the Washington Post "devastated" his career, despite her not naming him in the op-ed. He later alleged that Heard abused him, which she denied.

Heard countersued Depp for $100 million in August 2020.