Kate James, former personal assistant of Amber Heard, has accused the actress of creating an abusive work environment, Fox News reports.
According to the media outlet, James delivered her accusations in a videotaped deposition that was played this week at Johnny Depp’s ongoing libel trial against Heard.
In her deposition, James claimed that Heard would subject her to a "barrage" of text messages at night, "between 2 am and 4 am".
"That's what I would wake up to. All incoherent, not really making sense," she said. "Just someone to lash out at."
Heard also allegedly would scream at James, over the phone multiple times and once in person.
"She paid me $25 an hour to start off with. And she finally agreed after screaming abuse at me that she would pay me $50,000 a year once I went to full-time. And this was after me working for well over ten years as a personal assistant," James complained.
Having noted that she was fired later because Heard said she couldn’t afford her services anymore, James described the actress as “dramatic” and said she never witnessed Depp abusing his ex-wife, the media outlet notes.
"Just never had any evidence of it at all. I was there almost daily at both her place, then eventually at his place, and ultimately at the Lofts downtown," the former staffer said. "It was a daily basis experience morning, noon, night, all days of the week. So, you know, I mean I never once saw any evidence of anything."
A source familiar with the defence, however, reportedly said that James "appeared to be a disgruntled employee as a result of her being fired by Miss Heard," and that “her credibility is called into question, as she admitted asking Mr. Depp to be put on his payroll after her termination.”
At the same time, the media outlet points out, a source close to Depp said that James "testified under oath her experience working in a troubling, under-paid and abusive work environment during her employment with Ms. Heard, stating she never once saw or heard anything related to allegations of physical violence between the two and in fact, suffered her own various forms of abuse at the hands of Amber".
Johnny Depp is currently suing his former wife Amber Heard for $50 million, alleging that she defamed him in an opinion column she published in The Washington Post (printed in Fairfax County) in December 2018.
In said publication, Heard claimed to have been a victim of domestic abuse, while never directly naming Depp.