Amber Heard pushes back at Johnny Depp lawyer’s claim she failed to support his sobriety

Amber Heard was questioned about why she drank wine and took drugs on two occasions in Johnny Depp’s presence

Amber Heard appears in court as cross-examination continues on Tuesday (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Amber Heard has pushed back on claims made by Johnny Depp’s legal team that she failed to support her ex-husband’s sobriety by sometimes drinking and taking drugs in his company.

The court in Fairfax, Virginia, on Tuesday morning listened to an intense back and forth between the Aquaman actress and attorney Camille Vasquez as Mr Depp’s team sought to tear holes in Ms Heard’s testimony.

Ms Vasquez questioned why Ms Heard did not stop drinking wine or taking drugs in front of her husband who she has claimed was an addict.

“You’ve testified repeatedly that you were concerned ahout Mr Depp’s substance abuse during your relationship?” the attorney said.

When Ms Heard responded yes, Ms Vasquez scoffed: “But you weren’t concerned enough to stop using drugs and alcohol yourself.”

Ms Heard testified that she only took drugs twice in Mr Depp’s company early on in their relationship in 2013 and has already testified about that to the court.

“So you never changed your own behaviour to support Mr Depp aand support his sobriety?” Ms Vasquez continued.

Ms Heard said that she did not stop drinking wine around him but supported him in many other ways to try to help him with his sobriety.

“I did a lot of changing to support his sobriety. I tried everything I could possibly think of,” she said.

The court was shown a draft schedule for the couple’s wedding weekend in the Bahamas, which included a plan to have a party with drugs.

The draft read “7pm rehearsal dinner” followed by “after: dance party and drugs and music”.

“So you planned to have drugs at your wedding to someone who you characterised as a drug addict?” questioned the attorney.

Ms Heard responded saying that “the schedule ended up changing”.

“So your original idea was to do drugs on an island after your rehearsal dinner to the drug-fueled monster that you were about to marry?” asked Ms Vasquez.

Ms Heard said that there was going to be weed on the island and that there had been magic mushrooms at her bridal party on the island before the wedding.

She admitted that she sometimes liked to take drugs on special occasions.

Mr Depp is suing his ex-wife for defamation over a 2018 op-ed she penned for The Washington Post where she described herself as a “a public figure representing domestic abuse”.

The Pirates of the Caribbean actor is not named in the article, which is titled “I spoke up against sexual violence – and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change”.

However Mr Depp claims that it falsely implies that he is a domestic abuser – something that he strongly denies – and that it has left him struggling to land roles in Hollywood. He is suing for $50m.

Ms Heard is countersuing for $100m, accusing Mr Depp of orchestrating a “smear campaign” against her and describing his lawsuit as a continuation of “abuse and harassment”.