A former personal assistant to Amber Heard testified in court Thursday that the actress was verbally abusive and underpaid her while she worked for Heard from 2012-2015. The ex-employee also told the court she never witnessed Heard’s ex, movie star Johnny Depp, abuse the actress, calling him a “gentleman.”
The video testimony was part of Depp’s $50 million deflation case against Heard, whom Depp claims publicly defamed him via a Washington Post op-ed, subsequently derailing his acting career.
Kate James claimed Heard verbally abused her on the phone and once in person.
“Between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m., the barrage would start,” James said, referring to text messages Heard would allegedly frequently send. “That’s what I would wake up to. All incoherent, not really making sense. Just someone to lash out at.”
One time, the former assistant said, Heard got in James’ face over a salary dispute.
“She leapt up out of her chair, put her face approximately 4 inches from my face — she was spitting in my face, telling me, ‘How dare you ask me for the salary you’re asking for?’” James recalled.
“She paid me $25 an hour to start off with,” she recalled. “And she finally agreed after screaming abuse at me that she would pay me $50,000 a year once I went to full-time. And this was after me working for well over ten years as a personal assistant.”
The ex-assistant also reportedly claimed Heard was “dramatic” and the actress’ own mother and sister were “terrified” of her.
When it came to Depp, James said she never witnessed any abuse or signs of abuse during her years working for Heard, praising the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star as a “gentleman.”
A alleged source with knowledge of the defense told Fox News that James is a disgruntled assistant who cannot be trusted.
Before the trial commenced this week, Heard took to Instagram with a message expressing her “love” for Depp and suggesting the explosive op-ed she penned at the Post wasn’t about her ex-husband after all.
“Johnny is suing me for an op-ed I wrote in The Washington Post, in which I recounted my experience of violence and domestic abuse,” the actress wrote. “I never named him, rather I wrote about the price women pay for speaking out against men in power.”
“I continue to pay that price,” Heard claimed, “but hopefully when this case concludes, I can move on and so can Johnny. I have always maintained a love for Johnny and it brings me great pain to have to live out the details of our past life together in front of the world.”
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