Amber Heard testified yet again on Monday, this time addressing the disparity in eye contact between herself and her ex-husband Johnny Depp. When questioned by Depp’s lawyer, Camille Vasquez, Heard admitted that Depp does not seem to have looked at her throughout the trial while she has looked at Depp many times. Both sides seemed to think that this fact worked in favor of their case.
“Mr. Depp hasn’t looked at you once this entire trial, has he?” Vasquez asked during the cross-examination, which was live-streamed like the rest of the trial. When Heard agreed, Vasquez continued: “You’ve looked at him many times, haven’t you?” When Heard agreed again, she said: “You know exactly why Mr. Depp won’t look back at you, don’t you? …He promised you you would never see his eyes again, is that true?”
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“I don’t recall if he said that,” Heard answered. In response, Vasquez played an audio recording from the last time Depp and Heard had seen each other in 2016. It was taken while Heard had a restraining order against Depp for alleged abuse, but Depp testified that she had “summoned” him to a hotel to meet anyway. He said that he went to the meeting hoping to convince Heard to “retract her lies.” The recording included an apparently tearful Heard asking Depp to hug her goodbye when they parted. Depp said: “We won’t have to see each other again… You will not see my eyes again.”
“He kept that promise, hasn’t he?” Vasquez asked Heard on Monday. The actress answered: “As far as I know, he cannot look at me.” Vasquez pressed this question by rephrasing: “He won’t look at you, right Ms. Heard?” But Heard firmly repeated: “He can’t.”
Heard also explained her rationale for that apparently friendly meeting with someone she had accused of violence. She said: “I wanted to minimize the animosity, I wanted to reconcile in that way. I didn’t want to get back together with him.”
Heard’s legal team has previously tried to frame the disparity in eye contact as a sign of Depp’s guilt. In a statement published by PEOPLE, they said: “Small wonder Mr. Depp does not have the fortitude or courage to even look at Ms. Heard at all throughout the proceedings – as he could not in the U.K. trial – and, instead he doodles and snickers.”
The trial of Depp’s defamation lawsuit against Heard is currently scheduled to continue through May 27, at which point the jury will go into deliberations. There is no telling yet which side they will favor. Depp is seeking $50 million in damages.
