With the Depp-Heard trial kicking off on Monday in Virginia, both legal teams have delivered their opening statement, and each party had something to say about the other.
Depp's legal team described Heard as a "compulsive liar", who continues to pile untruths upon fallacies and use them to advance her own career. But Heard's opening statement rolled out an accusation that has never been heard before.
Elaine Bredehoft, Heard's attorney, claimed that Depp penetrated Heard with a liquor bottle - an assertion that had Depp shaking his head in disbelief and rejection of the charge. Later, his legal team issued a statement debunking the allegation, pointing out that this is the first time the claim has been made.
"These fictitious claims were never made at the onset of Amber’s allegations in 2016, and only advantageously surfaced years later once she was sued for defamation after noting in her op-ed that she was a victim of ‘sexual violence.’ Words are key in a defamation case and conveniently, this allegation only came after that," a spokesman for Depp's team told The Independent.
Heard, in her turn, continues to insist that she is a victim of Depp's domestic abuse.
“I didn’t want to do this, I did not want to expose this totality of what really happened to me,” Heard told London’s Royal Courts of Justice. “I didn’t want to talk about everything that happened in our marriage and happened in our relationship.”
Depp and Heard have been locked in a legal battle for several years now, with Depp accusing his ex-wife of defaming him in an op-ed for The Washington Post. Earlier, he lost a libel suit against a British tabloid that dubbed him a "wife-beater" in one of its articles.
In the aftermath of the legal battle, Depp has lost several roles, particularly his gig in 'Fantastic Beasts: Secrets of Dumbledore', in which he was hastily replaced by Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen.