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Amber Heard tells court the dog did it

Published:Tuesday | May 17, 2022 | 12:07 AM
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Actor Johnny Depp looks toward the courtroom gallery at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse in Fairfax, Vancouver, on Monday. Depp sued his ex-wife Amber Heard for libel in Fairfax County Circuit Court after she wrote an op-ed piece in The Washington Pos
AP
Actor Johnny Depp looks toward the courtroom gallery at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse in Fairfax, Vancouver, on Monday. Depp sued his ex-wife Amber Heard for libel in Fairfax County Circuit Court after she wrote an op-ed piece in The Washington Post in 2018 referring to herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse”.
Amber Heard testifies in the courtroom at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse in Fairfax, Vancouver, on Monday.
AP
Amber Heard testifies in the courtroom at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse in Fairfax, Vancouver, on Monday.
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Amber Heard has denied leaving faeces in her marital bed.

The Aquaman actress is being sued for defamation by her ex-husband over an op-ed she wrote in 2018 about being a victim of domestic abuse. And as their ongoing trial resumed on Monday, the 36-year-old actress, who is countersuing the Pirates of the Caribbean actor, was quizzed about a shocking incident that had been discussed earlier in the procedings.

Johnny previously claimed he had been shown a photo of “faecal matter on the bed” after Amber left to go to Coachella with friends in April 2016, but she “tried to blame it on the dogs,” which he insisted was impossible.

During her time on the stand, Amber insisted that one of their dogs had “bowel control issues” and sometimes had accidents on the bed, one of which may have been overlooked while she and her friend were packing for the festival.

Asked if she had tried to pull a prank - which the Black Mass actor’s security guard and chauffeur, Starling Jekins III, had previously testified she had admitted to - she told her lawyer: “Absolutely not.

“First of all, I don’t think that’s funny. I don’t know what grown woman does.

“I was not also in a pranking mood; my life was falling apart. I was at a crossroads in my life. I was really serious.

“And I had just been attacked on my 30th birthday by my violent husband, with whom I was desperately in love, and knew I needed to leave.

“It was not really a jovial time, and I don’t think that’s funny. Period. That’s disgusting.”

Amber claimed Johnny had accused her of having one of her friends leave the faeces in the bed as a prank.

She added: “I tried to point out how that didn’t make any sense. ... My friends wouldn’t do that. That’s not something a bunch of 30-year-old women think is funny. What is he talking about?”

The Danish Girl actress went on to blast her former spouse for “going on and on” about the incident when she wanted to “move on and talk about the issues” in their marriage.

During the trial, Johnny was previously shown a picture of the faeces and admitted that he could only laugh about what had happened.

The 58-year-old actor said: “I had gone gone to Mr [security guard Sean] Bett and said, ‘She’s at Coachella. I think it’s a good time to go downtown, so that I can get some of my things and get them out of there,’ especially things that were precious to me.

“And he said, ‘I don’t think now’s a good time to go.’ And I thought, ‘It’s the perfect time. She’s not going to be home for two days.’”

Johnny continued: “Then he showed me a photograph on his telephone of … it was a photograph of our bed, and on my side of the bed was human faecal matter.

“I mean ... I laughed. It was so outside. It was so bizarre and so grotesque that I could only laugh. So I did not go down there that day.”

His employee, Starling, later told the court Amber had told him it was a “horrible practical joke gone wrong”, but during her testimony on Monday, the actress denied having had the conversation.