Johnny Depp ‘tried to suffocate’ Amber Heard with pillow during fight, court hears

Friend of actress tells court she had ‘many conversations’ about relationship with Hollywood star

Amber Heard said Johnny Depp “tried to suffocate her with a pillow” during a fight when they were married, a friend of the actress has claimed.

Melanie Inglessis, a make-up artist and friend of Ms Heard, told the High Court on Wednesday that the actress said Mr Depp had attempted to suffocate her during an incident in December 2015, the day before she was due to appear on James Corden’s Late Late Show.

Ms Inglessis said Ms Heard told her that “she felt he tried to kill her that night and she said he dragged her by her hair”.

She also told the court that she had “many conversations” with Ms Heard about her relationship with Mr Depp and the 2016 restraining order against her then-husband did not come “out of the blue”.

Ms Inglessis was giving evidence as part of Mr Depp’s libel action against The Sun newspaper over a 2018 article which described him as a “wife beater”.

Earlier in the day, Ms Heard told the court that Mr Depp had thrown bottles “like grenades” in an explosive argument in Australia during a trip which she had previously described as a “three-day hostage situation”.

Mr Depp has denied 14 allegations of violence against Ms Heard and claimed he was the victim of violence in the relationship.

During Wednesday’s proceedings, the court also heard evidence from Joshua Drew, another friend of Ms Heard, who claimed Mr Depp demanded that his then-wife stop doing nudity in films and cut down on intimate scenes in her work.

Mr Drew alleged he had heard Mr Depp had a “particular issue” with fellow actor James Franco and mention of his name would “cause fights” between the couple.

He added that interactions with Ms Heard’s friend Raquel “Rocky” Pennington, Mr Drew’s then-wife, had given him the impression that Mr Depp was “jealous”.

“Rocky told me, based on her conversations with Amber, that Johnny had a particular issue with James Franco because he and Amber had some intimate scenes in a project they were filming, which Johnny did not want her doing,” Mr Drew said.

“His name came up often and it would cause fights between them. They were arguing about it very regularly.”

The trial continues.

Additional reporting by PA