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Amber Heard’s Former Best Friend Testifies in Depp Trial

“I was scared for Amber,” Raquel Pennington said in a video deposition played for the jury today in the ongoing defamation suit between Amber Heard and Johnny Depp. Pennington, who is Heard’s former best friend, is one of the witnesses called by Heard’s team this week. A second witness, podcaster/producer iO Tillett Wright also gave evidence. Pennington and he both testified that they witnessed or heard Heard and Depp engage in violent behavior during their turbulent relationship, which ended May 2016.

Depp sued Heard to recover $50 million in defamation for her 2018 Washington State speech Post op-ed, in which she identified herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” Heard has countersued and introduced testimony to attempt to show she was abused by Depp. Now, the trial has entered its fifth week.

Continue reading: How to Learn About The Defamation Trial Between Johnny Depp And Amber Heard As It Resumes

Raquel Pennington testifies

During her video deposition, Pennington became emotional when she was asked to describe photos documenting Heard’s injuries from alleged assaults by Depp. Pennington teared up as she described Heard with “a bruise on her eye, swelling on her nose,” per NBC News. Pennington also testified that Heard “often had to cover bruises and injuries to her face with makeup.” According to the New York Post, Pennington said that Heard showed the bruises to her make-up artist before she appeared on December 15, 2015. James Corden on The Late Late Show.

Pennington denied allegations from Depp’s legal team that she and Heard staged damage to the couple’s Los Angeles penthouse in May 2016. Instead, she described an intoxicated Depp swinging a wine bottle and damaging the couple’s home. During her testimony, Pennington admitted that she never witnessed Depp hit Heard, but described seeing a “bloody patch” on Heard’s head with missing hair, and “deep cuts on the backs of her forearms,” allegedly from altercations with Depp.

“I was scared for Amber, and I was sad for Johnny, because he was my friend too,” Pennington said, according to NBC News. “I was worried for her physical safety. I was worried that when he turned he might accidentally do something that was worse than he ever intended.”

Josh Drew testifies

Josh Drew, the husband of Pennington’s former wife, lived in the same Los Angeles apartment as Depp or Heard. He testified to having an encounter with Depp in May 2015, during which Depp was “screaming, cursing, spitting” in his face and yelling “gibberish.” Drew recounted that after that encounter, he found Pennington and Heard nearby, and they told him about an alleged physical confrontation with Depp. “Amber was like catatonic, like a thousand-yard stare and she was like done,” Drew said, per NBC News. “Like a ghost.”

Continue reading: Why You’re Seeing So Many Johnny Depp Defenders on TikTok

Drew also testified that Depp showed up hours late for Heard’s 30th birthday party. “He came very obviously intoxicated and put on a show for everybody,” Drew said in a video deposition played for the jury.

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