Johnny Depp and ex-wife Amber Heard arrive at London's High Court for legal showdown. Video / AP
Amber Heard has denied doctoring photos of injuries allegedly caused by Johnny Depp which had to be covered up later by her make-up artist so she could appear on the James Corden show, a court heard yesterday.
The actress says heavy make-up had to be applied to the bruises before her appearance on The Late Late Show, the day after her husband allegedly attacked her.
Hollywood make up artist Melanie Inglessis said Heard told her Depp had tried to suffocate her with a pillow, dragged her by her hair and "tried to kill" her at the couple's LA penthouse in December 2015.
Inglessis told the High Court that she had to apply concealer and lipstick to Heard's face to cover the bruising so she could go on James Corden's prime-time talk show.
US Actress Amber Heard arrives at the High Court in London in London, Wednesday, July 22, 2020. Photo / AP
Giving evidence via video link from LA, Inglessis said: "She said 'Johnny and I had a fight', she said he tried to suffocate her with a pillow, she felt he tried to kill her that night and dragged her by her hair."
Describing Heard's appearance the day after the alleged attack Inglessis told the High Court: "She had minimal discolouration by her nose, her left eye a little more bruised than her right eye, the bridge of her nose swollen and I remember a scab to the right of her lip."
Amber Heard's face is seen bruised after an alleged attack from Johnny Depp. Photo / Supplied
She added: "I tried to conceal some of the bruises with full face of makeup. We had no other choice but to do a bright red lip [stick] to cover the injury on her lip."
Inglessis had to be compelled to testify in the case as she feared that doing so would destroy her career in the film industry.
Her evidence came during Depp's libel case against the publisher of The Sun newspaper for labelling him a "wife beater".
As part of the newspaper's defence Heard, 34, has accused him of both verbal and physical abuse throughout their relationship – allegedly punching, slapping, kicking, headbutting and choking her during frequent drink- and drug-fuelled rages.
Depp's barrister Eleanor Laws QC asked whether Heard had altered photographs taken of her without make-up before her appearance on The Late Late Show.
Heard has described the incident as "one of the worst and most violent nights of our relationship".
Amber Heard's lip is seen bleeding after an alleged attack from Johnny Depp. Photo / Supplied
In a dramatic moment, the court was shown a set of photographs appearing to show Heard's bruised face and the 34-year-old actress was asked: "Have you played around with these images in any way?"
Heard replied: "I don't know how to, no."
Laws asked: "You don't know how to change colouring or anything of that nature?"
The Aquaman actress responded: "No, I don't know how to do that."
Laws put it to Heard the photograph of her with bruises on her face was "completely set up", which she denied.
Heard said nobody other than Inglessis had noticed the bruises because she had applied makeup to cover them up.
She had earlier described how Depp pelted her with around 30 bottles during what she claims was a three-day "hostage situation" in Australia in March 2015, leaving her in fear of her safety.
Giving evidence for the third day, Heard described how the incident began when she took a bottle of liquor from him and smashed it on the floor because she did not want him to drink anymore.
She said this prompted a furious response from her husband, claiming: "He reached for a bottle and started throwing them like grenades, bombs, one after the other in my direction.
"I felt glass breaking behind me. I retreated into the bar and he didn't stop. I was so scared to look behind me."
US Actor Johnny Depp arrives at the High Court in London in London, Wednesday, July 22, 2020. Photo / AP
During cross examination Laws accused her of cutting his finger by throwing a bottle at him which smashed on a hard surface and of later stubbing a cigarette out on his cheek.
Heard replied: "Johnny did that. Johnny did that right in front of me. He often did things like that."
Her friend Joshua Drew gave evidence to confirm that Heard had sustained injuries following a violent row with Depp in May 2016, saying he had seen that she "had bruising around both eyes which extended down the bridge of her nose and her forehead was red".
Depp maintains he was never violent towards Heard, claiming it she was violent to him on several occasions.
