A friend who witnessed Amber Heard and Johnny Depp's last fight said she shielded the actress with her body as he screamed at Heard and smashed things

• Rocky Pennington said she witnessed a fight between Amber Heard and Johnny Depp in May 2016.
• Pennington testified she was called to the couple's apartment, where she saw Depp yelling at Heard.

One of Amber Heard's friends testified about coming to the actress' defense and shielding her with her body when Heard was involved in a heated fight with Johnny Depp in May 2016.

A video deposition from Raquel "Rocky" Pennington was played for the jury in the Depp v. Heard defamation trial on Wednesday. In it, Pennington described witnessing part of the couple's last fight on May 21, 2016, which led to Heard filing for divorce and getting a restraining order against Depp.

The couple had been living apart for about a month at the time, and Pennington said she heard from Heard that Depp would be stopping by that day to talk or pick up a few of his things. Pennington lived in one of the five penthouses that Depp owned in a Los Angeles apartment building, and Heard was living in one of the other apartments on the same floor while the couple was separated.

Pennington said she received a text message from Heard, asking for her to come over to her apartment.

When Pennington arrived, she said the door was locked so she fetched a master key. When she got in, she said she heard an "irate" Depp yelling and Heard "calling for help."

Pennington said Heard was saying "help me," which "had never happened before."

Pennington said she went up to Depp and put her hands on his chest, telling him to "stop" and "just trying to calm him down."

She said Depp hit her hands away, so she went over to Heard to shield her from him because she was afraid he would hurt her.

"I put my body over her," Pennington said.

All the while, Pennington said, Depp kept screaming at Heard, who was crying.

"I don't remember everything that he said but the thing that sticks out the most was just yelling at her to 'get up,' to 'get the fuck up,'" Pennington said.

As Depp got closer and closer to them, Pennington, a mixed martial arts fighter, said she started thinking of what she would have to do if forced to defend herself and Heard.

"I remember there was this big orange ceramic ashtray on the coffee table. I was thinking if he gets any closer, I'm just going to pick up that ashtray and hit him with it," Pennington said.

Eventually, she said two of Depp's security guards entered the apartment, and started encouraging him to leave.

'I was worried when he turned, he would do something worse'

Depp has taken Heard to trial, alleging she ruined his reputation and career by insinuating in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed that she had been the victim of domestic violence. Heard is fighting the lawsuit, and spent several days on the stand describing multiple incidents before and during her marriage to Depp where she said the actor physically and sexually assaulted her.

As Depp left the apartment following Pennington's interference, she said he smashed items off the kitchen island and a bar cart, wielding a wine bottle.

Pennington said she heard banging sounds from the hallway and later observed other damage she believed Depp caused, including wine splashed in the hallway, a dent in the front door of one of his other penthouses, jewelry she had been preparing for a craft fair thrown to the ground, smashed photo frames, and broken drinking glasses.

One of Depp's lawyers has previously accused Heard and Pennington of staging a fight at the apartment on May 21, 2016, to make it look like Depp had destroyed property, which Pennington denied. Joshua Drew, Pennington's fiancé at the time, testified in a deposition shown after Pennington's that he had shown police officers the damage, including a dent in the door "shaped like the bottom of a wine bottle."

Pennington said she never saw Depp physically abuse Heard, but saw Heard injured on multiple occasions after fights with Depp.

Earlier in her testimony, she said she was "scared for Amber" because Depp would sometimes turn into "the monster," a term he and other members of his social circle used to describe his violent side. Heard, Pennington said, "didn't have a lot of self-preservation."

"When the physical abuse was more evident, I was worried," Pennington said. "I was worried for her physical safety. I was worried when he turned, he would do something worse than was ever intended."

Pennington took photos of the injuries on Heard's face that night, she said. On May 23, two days after the fight, Heard filed for divorce.