- Rocky Pennington said she witnessed an altercation between Amber Heard and Johnny Depp in May 2016.
- Pennington testified that she was called to the couple’s apartment, where she saw Depp yelling at Heard.
- Friends of Heard said she protected her and watched Depp destroy property as he left the apartment.
In May 2016, when Heard had a heated fight with Johnny Depp, a friend of Amber Heard testified that she had defended the actress and physically protected her.
A video testimony of Raquel “Rocky” Pennington played in the jury Depp v. Hearing Defamation Trial on Wednesday. In it, Pennington describes witnessing part of the couple’s final fight on May 21, 2016, Caused Hurd to file for divorce And get a restraining order against Depp.
The couple had been separated for about a month at the time, and Pennington said she heard from Heard that Depp would stop by that day to talk or get some of his stuff. Pennington lives in one of five penthouses Depp owns in a Los Angeles apartment building, while Hurd lives in one of the other apartments on the same floor while the couple live apart.
Pennington said she received a text from Hurd asking her to come to her apartment.
When Pennington arrived, she said the door was locked, so she took a master key. When she came in, she said she heard “angry” Depp yelling and heard a “call for help”.
Pennington said Hurd was saying “help me,” which “has never happened before.”
Actor Johnny Depp listens to Raquel Pennington testify in a previously recorded video testimony on May 18, 2022, as a picture of Amber Heard ( Amber Heard during his defamation trial against his ex-wife Amber Heard.
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarck/Pool
Pennington said she walked up to Depp, put her hand on his chest, and told him to “stop” and “just to calm him down.”
She said Depp knocked off her hand, so she walked over to Heard to protect her from him because she was afraid he would hurt her.
“I put my body on her,” Pennington said.
All the while, Pennington said, Depp screamed at Heard, who was crying.
“I don’t remember every word he said, but the one that stood out was yelling at her ‘get up’, ‘get the fuck up’,” Pennington said.
As Depp got closer to them, MMA fighter Pennington said she began to think about what she would do if she was forced to defend herself and Heard.
“I remember there was a big orange ceramic ashtray on the coffee table. I was thinking, if he got any closer, I’d pick up that ashtray and hit him with it,” Pennington said.
Raquel Pennington testified by video in Depp v. Heard defamation case.
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Eventually, she said two of Depp’s security guards entered the apartment and began encouraging him to leave.
“When he turned around, I was worried that he would do worse things”
Depp Hurd has been put on trial for claiming she ruined his reputation and career by suggesting she was a victim of domestic violence in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed.I heard it was litigateand spent several days at the booth describing multiple incidents before and during her marriage to Depp, she said the actor physically and sexually assaulted her.
When Depp left the apartment under Pennington’s intervention, she said he brandished a wine bottle and smashed items from the kitchen island and a bar cart.
Pennington said she heard banging noises in the hallway and later observed other damage she believed Depp had caused, including a spill of alcohol in the hallway and a dent in the front door of his other penthouse, and she Jewelry that had been preparing for the craft fair was thrown to the ground, broken picture frames and broken wine glasses.
A lawyer for Depp had previously accused Hurd and Pennington of fighting in the apartment on May 21, 2016, to make it appear that Depp had vandalized the property, which Pennington has denied. Pennington’s then-fiancé, Joshua Drew, testified in testimony after Pennington that he showed police the damage, including a dent on the door “shaped like the bottom of a wine bottle.”
Raquel Pennington became emotional in a previously recorded video recording on May 18, 2022, when a photo of Amber Heard appeared on the screen.
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarck/Pool
Pennington says she never met Depp physical abuse Heard, but saw Hurd injured several times after the fight with Depp.
Earlier in her testimony, she said she was “afraid of Amber” because Depp would sometimes turn into a “monster,” a term he and other members of his social circle used to describe his violent side. Heard, Pennington said, “There’s not a lot of self-preservation.”
“I was concerned when the physical abuse was more apparent,” Pennington said. “I’m worried about her personal safety. I’m worried that when he turns around, he will do something worse than expected.”
She said Pennington took pictures of Hurd’s injuries that night. On May 23, two days after the quarrel, Hurd filed for divorce.
