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FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. - A former personal assistant to Amber Heard said she never saw the actress suffer any physical abuse at the hands of then-husband Johnny Depp — but she said Heard once spit in her face when she asked for a higher salary.
Heard descended into screaming fits of blind rage, sent incoherent text messages at 4 a.m. and was often drunk and high on illegal drugs, Kate James testified in a video deposition that was played in court Thursday during the trial for Depp’s libel suit against Heard.
Depp, on the other hand, was very calm, almost shy, "like a total Southern gentleman," James said.
Johnny Depp Trial: Witness testimony, allegations of abuse as trial moves forward
The "Pirates of the Caribbean" actor has accused Heard of indirectly defaming him in a 2018 opinion piece that she wrote for The Washington Post. Heard refers to herself in the article as a "public figure representing domestic abuse." The piece doesn’t name Depp. But his attorneys argue that it clearly references a restraining order that Heard sought in May 2016, right after Depp told her he wanted a divorce.
Depp denies abusing Heard, but Heard’s lawyers say evidence will prove that he did. The actor’s denials, they argue, lack credibility because he frequently drank and used drugs to the point of blacking out and failing to remember anything he did.
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Witnesses began to take the stand in the Johnny Depp trial in Fairfax County on Wednesday. The trial is expected to continue Thursday and last about six weeks.
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The video testimony from James offered an inverse view: Depp was the peaceful one, she said, while Heard was frequently intoxicated and verbally abusive, including to her own mother and sister.
"Her poor sister was treated like a dog that you kicked, basically," James said.
James, who worked for Heard from 2012 to 2015, said she was paid "very poorly." She said she was hired with an initial salary of $25 an hour and that her duties ranged from picking up Heard’s dry cleaning to talking with the actress’ Hollywood agents.
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Jury hears opening statements in Johnny Depp defamation trial
Johnny Depp's legal team is saying his ex-wife Amber Heard is lying about the allegations and the abuse. And her lies, they said, have devastated his career.
James said she also was tasked with picking up two copies of any magazine that featured Heard and storing them in the garage to prevent Depp from seeing them. Heard went into a "blind rage" when James failed to place the magazines in the garage, James said.
Regarding Heard and Depp’s time together, James said Heard was a "very dramatic person" who was deeply insecure in the relationship. Heard often called James to cry and complain about Depp, she said.
"I remember one time she called me when she was alone in New York City, and she was crying and walking around the streets," James said. She said she told Heard to go inside: "I was worried that the paparazzi might take a photo of her."
Some of the deposition focused on a text message that Depp had sent to James after he and Heard split up. Depp’s text read: "Come over for a spot of purple and we’ll fix her flabby ass nice and good."
A lawyer asked if "spot of purple" meant wine and whether "her" meant Heard. James said she didn’t want to speculate.
"This is the way he writes," James said of Depp. "It’s very random and you don’t sort of question it. ... He writes in a very abstract way."
Both Depp and Heard are expected to testify at the trial in Fairfax County Circuit Court, scheduled for six weeks, along with actors Paul Bettany and James Franco and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.