Heard's Former Assistant: Depp Was a 'Total Gentleman'

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 4am, 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, per the AP. Lawyers also presented a video deposition of Laurel Anderson, a couple’s therapist who worked with Heard and Depp in 2015, who testified they were engaged in “mutual abuse" and that Heard “would strike" Depp to keep him from leaving.

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. 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's Hollywood agents.

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." (Click for more, including an enigmatic text message from Depp to James.)