WARNING: This article contains allegations of physical and sexual violence that some readers may find distressing.
Court proceedings in the defamation trial opposing Johnny Depp and Amber Heard will be on hiatus this week. Judge Penney Azcarate is attending a conference and informed both parties and the jury of the break at the start of the trial.
Heard is being sued by Depp for $50m for implying he abused her in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed. Although she didn’t name him, he claims her allegations impacted his ability to work.
At the end of last week, both sides issued statements of confidence in how proceedings are going.
Heard will continue giving testimony on 16 May. She has already spoken extensively about her troubled relationship with Depp and detailed alleged physical fights. The court heard a harrowing account of an alleged sexual assault on Heard during a brutal and bloody altercation in Australia in 2015.
Earlier she described an “unusual and remarkable” first meeting with Depp and a blossoming relationship as she fell “head over heels in love”. However, her testimony took a darker turn as she recalled the first time he allegedly hit her, his jealousy, and his drug and alcohol use.
