Camille Vasquez, an attorney for Johnny Depp, reminded the jury in a Virginia courtroom on Friday that Amber Heard’s own acting coach testified that the actress had trouble producing tears “acting-wise.” Vasquez tied the remarks to dramatic testimony from Heard, whom Vasquez claimed was “sobbing without tears.”
Depp is suing Heard, his ex-wife, for $50 million over an op-ed she penned about domestic violence at The Washington Post in 2018. The “Aquaman” actress has countersued for $100 million.
“She gave the performance of her life,” Camille Vasquez told the jury, bolstering Team Depp’s claim that Heard has perpetrated a #MeToo hoax against her ex-husband.
“She came into this courtroom prepared to give the performance of her life, and she gave it,” Vasquez continued. “Ms. Heard’s acting coach, Kristina Sexton, testified that Ms. Heard has difficulty crying when she is acting. You saw it, Ms. Heard sobbing without tears while spinning elaborate, exaggerated, fantastical accounts of abuse.”
Cameras in the courtroom panned to Heard, appearing angry and shaking her head at Vasquez’s argument.
“It was a performance,” Vasquez continued. “She told you what she thinks you need to hear to convict this man as a domestic abuser and a rapist. She wants you to believe she was abused countless times. Countless times over the entire course of their relationship. But as Mr. [Ben] Chew and I promised you, the evidence just does not bear that out.”
Earlier this month, the jury viewed taped deposition from Heard acting coach Kristina Sexton, who said her client had trouble producing real tears, “acting-wise,” explaining that she knew when Heard was genuinely crying about her relationship with Depp.
“As [their] relationship progressed and the fighting got heavier, I would have to build in time because she’d be sobbing at the beginning of sessions, and we couldn’t work until we got her together,” Sexton recalled, adding, I would say that last year they were together, probably 80 to 90% of our sessions began with her crying.”
“Ironically, she has a little difficulty crying acting-wise,” the acting coach said of Heard.
In closing arguments for Heard’s team, attorney Ben Rottenborn argued that the jury has to find that Depp abused Heard just one time, in any capacity, to come to a verdict for his client.
Following closing arguments and rebuttal from both Depp and Heard’s legal teams on Friday, the jury was released for deliberation. After over two hours, the jury was sent home for the long holiday week. They are expected back on Tuesday at 9 a.m. to continue deliberations.
Related: Heard Slammed Over ‘Different Versions Of Same Picture’ Used As Evidence For Two Different Incidents