Moments after Johnny Depp and Amber Heard tied the knot he said, 'We're married now. I can punch her in the face and nobody can do anything about it,' a former friend of Heard's testifies

• A former friend of Amber Heard's said Johnny Depp made a comment about punching her in the face.
• iO Tillett Wright said on Tuesday that Depp made the comment right after the couple got married.

A former friend of Amber Heard's says Johnny Depp made a comment about physically assaulting his new wife immediately after Depp and Heard said "I do" at their 2015 Bahamas wedding.

"I was walking with Johnny and congratulating him that they pulled it off," the author iO Tillett Wright, who served as best man at the ceremony, testified Tuesday, adding that Depp then said: "We're married now. I can punch her in the face and nobody can do anything about it."

Tillett Wright, who said his friendship with Heard ended about a year ago, made the comments in prerecorded testimony played for a Virginia courtroom this week as part of Depp's defamation trial against his ex-wife.

At the center of the case is Heard's 2018 Washington Post op-ed article, in which she described herself as a survivor of domestic and sexual violence. The piece did not name Depp.

Depp has accused Heard of ruining his reputation and career by insinuating that he abused her. An attorney for the actor said in opening statements that the publication "falsely and unfairly characterized Mr. Depp as a villain." Heard has denied Depp's defamation allegations and says in a $100 million counterclaim that he assaulted her before and during their marriage, which ended in divorce in 2016. Depp has denied the claims.

Tillett Wright's testimony was played for the jury after Heard's time on the stand, which lasted four days. In the recording, Tillett Wright said his friendship with Heard began in 2011. He later hit it off with Heard's then-boyfriend Depp in 2013 and even lived in one of Depp's homes for nearly a year.

He said he was sometimes called in to help mediate intense fights between the couple and testified that Depp would get "misogynistic and cruel" under the influence of alcohol and cocaine. Tillett Wright said he witnessed Heard and Depp argue with each other but said he never saw either get physically violent with the other.

Tillett Wright testified that Depp told him he had experienced jealousy and "rage activities" in previous relationships with Winona Ryder, Kate Moss, and Vanessa Paradis.

Tillett Wright also said he had "a lot of discussions" with Depp about his fights with Heard and said the actor confided in him about his childhood and fraught relationship with his mother — and would often compare his mother and Heard.

"He said at one point, something to the effect of: 'I already have a mom who is a bitch to me. I don't need another one in my life,'" Tillett Wright said.

Tillett Wright said Heard and Depp were frequently cruel to each other during their blowouts.

"She called him old and he calls her soon-to-be ugly and talentless, and then they get really ugly with each other," he said.

On the day of Heard and Depp's wedding, Tillett Wright, who helped photograph the nuptials, said he didn't remember Depp drinking before the ceremony.