As Johnny Depp’s libel trial came to a close on Tuesday, a judgment is pending in September. During the hearings, several witnesses came forward to record their statements. An ex-employer of Amber Heard’s sister, Jennifer Howell, made yet another contradictory and shocking revelation in court earlier this week. According to her, Whitney Henriquez (Heard’s sister) once told her that she thought Heard “was going to kill” Depp when an altercation blew up between the two exes. Howell claimed that Henriquez said Heard was “extremely violent” and couldn’t understand why Depp “was putting up with Amber’s abuse”. She made the claims in the US libel trial Depp has brought against Heard.
Henriquez, however revealed that she was staying at Depp and Heard’s home when the former nearly pushed her down the stairs at his LA home back in 2015 after she intervened in a dispute between the couple. She said Heard responded “don’t hit my sister” and hit him. Henriquez mentioned Depp allegedly “went for Amber” and “I saw him punch her hard in the head”. Henriquez then went on to stay that she left instantly and went to her boss’s residence where she had to sleep on the floor.
But Howell states otherwise. According to her, “Whitney testified about a violent incident in 2015. Whitney said she had to go live with her employer, where she had to sleep on their floor. I am that employer. This is not what I was told to be true. Whitney came to live in the guest room, not on my floor. Whitney told me she tried to stop Amber from attacking Johnny. Whitney said when she tried to intervene, Amber nearly pushed Whitney down the stairs. She told me she was worried Amber ‘was going to kill Johnny’.” Responding to the allegations, Henriquez shared, “This is complete fiction. Jennifer Howell’s statements do not bear any relationship to the truth and I have no idea why she is saying this.”
The Pirates of the Caribbean star’s fans have gathered daily outside the high court in London for the proceedings. Following the end of the trial, Heard said, “It has been incredibly painful to relive the breakup of my relationship, have my motives and my truth questioned, and the most traumatic and intimate details of my life with Johnny shared in court and broadcast around the entire world.” She added, “Heartfelt thanks for the tremendous outpouring of support and the many messages I have received from around the world. You have given me so much strength and I send it back to you.”
Depp’s lawyer, David Sherborne, had no qualms in calling Heard a liar. He said, “From the big points to the small points, Ms Heard has proved herself to be a wholly unreliable witness and, frankly, a compulsive liar, and I don’t say that lightly.” Summing up the case in a nutshell, Sherborne stated, “What is important to Mr Depp is clearing his name of these appalling allegations, expanded on as it has been over the last four years, as a result of which he has lost nothing less than everything, he would say. When I say he has lost everything, to him obviously everything is his reputation. This is not about money; this is vindicating him.”
He said a recording made between Depp and Heard, in which she refers to hitting her husband, showed her violent tendencies. “At its very core, we say it demonstrates that she is the abuser, not Mr Depp. He is no wife beater,” he told the judge, Mr Justice Nicol. Sherborne mentioned, “If it was a man who had said what Ms Heard said, and who had admitted to what she admitted to, if this was Mr Depp, for example, and it was the other way around, can you imagine what consternation there would be?” He then highlighted a text message sent by Heard, in which she wrote, “This is Amber and I get what I want.” Sherborne concluded, “Doctors were lying, nurses were lying, police officers are lying, only Ms Heard – who was at pains to repeat the well-rehearsed mantra that she was not here to call anyone a liar – only Ms Heard was correct at all times no matter what.”
