Johnny Depp’s childhood pal told a court how Amber Heard told him the actor hit her, but that he saw no marks on her face. He later saw a picture on the internet of her bruised face.
Isaac Baruch today took to the stand on the second day of evidence in the bitter defamation case between the two Hollywood stars.
Recalling an incident in May 2016, Mr Baruch described arriving back on the penthouse floor of the couple’s Californian home where he too had an apartment.
Once there, he found shattered glass and wine splashed on the walls and pooled on the floor.
A friend of Heard’s, Josh Drew, opened the door to him saying it had been a “rough night”.
The following morning, Mr Baruch told the court in Fairfax, Virginia, that he was with Heard, Drew, and a man in black.
Asking what had happened, Heard replies: “Johnny came by last night, and he got violent. So I’m changing the locks on [penthouses] 1, 3 and 5.”
Locksmiths were working on one of the doors at the time.
Later, when he asked the actress what happened, she replied: “Johnny came by last night, and he got violent.
"So I’m changing the locks on [penthouses] 1, 3 and 5.”
Mr Baruch was asked how the lighting was in the hallway when he saw her and he replied it was bright.
He then testified he saw no bruises, redness, or swelling on Heard, and she was not wearing make-up.
He told the court: “I say to Amber, 'He hit you?' And she says, 'Yeah, he threw a phone at me, and hit me.' And I go, 'Where?' And she puts her head out, to show me the right eye of her face.
"I inspect her face. I don't see anything.
“I don't see a cut, a bruise, swelling, redness. It's just Amber's face.
"It sounds nuts.”
Mr Baruch said he then kissed Heard on the face, noting she did not flinch or have a response.
The following week, he said he saw Heard, who he was close to, again but no bruises had appeared.
He said later he saw on the internet a photo of her with injuries on her cheek.
“What the hell is this?” he recalled thinking at the time before then learning the couple had filed for divorce.
At their next meeting, he said he told Heard: “Me and you are not going to talk anymore. After everything I’ve seen over the past week and change. I’m confused and frustrated and angry by everything I’ve seen.”
She replied: “I’m sorry you feel that way.”
Soon after, he saw a security video of Heard, 35, and her sister in which her sibling threw a fake punch at the actress, causing them both laugh.
The former couple’s latest trial, in which Depp, 58, will give evidence, stems from a complaint he filed in 2019.
He alleges Heard defamed him in an op-ed piece she wrote for The Washington Post in 2018.
The actress, 35, described herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse” in the article, although she did not name him by name.
He has asked for £38.4 million in damages.
Heard filed a counterclaim, accusing Depp of allegedly orchestrating a “smear campaign” against her and describing his lawsuit as a continuation of “abuse and harassment.”
She has asked for £76.7 million in damages and immunity from Depp’s claims.
The trial comes after Depp lost a libel case in which he sued News Group Newspapers, publisher of the Sun, for publishing a 2018 story with the headline “Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be ‘genuinely happy’ casting wife-beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?”
