LONDON • Actress Amber Heard said Johnny Depp physically assaulted her during their 18-month marriage.
But revelations in an audio-tape - provided to DailyMail.com - seem to raise questions over who the victim really is, with the hashtag #JusticeForJohnnyDepp now trending.
In a 2015 taped two-hour therapy session, Aquaman actress Heard, 33, is heard talking to actor Depp, then her husband, about their strained relationship, admitting that she hit him and had previously thrown pots and pans.
"I don't know what the motion of my actual hand was, but you're fine, I did not hurt you, I did not punch you, I was hitting you," said Heard.
Depp, 56, admitted that he had pushed her. In the tape, he suggested that the two took time out to prevent their relationship from getting more physically tumultuous.
Heard said: "I can't promise that it will all be perfect. I can't promise you I won't get physical again. God, I f***ing sometimes I get so mad I lose it."
Depp replied: "I love you and I want you to be my wife. And I wanna be a good husband. If I haven't been, I'll do everything I can to find out how to be a good husband."
The couple married in February 2015, but split up less than two years later when Heard had a restraining order slapped on Depp over allegations that he threw a cellphone in her face at their Los Angeles home.
They agreed to a US$7 million divorce settlement in August 2016.
But the ill feelings cropped up again after she wrote in a 2018 article: "I became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our culture's wrath for women who speak out."
Depp, who was not mentioned in the article, took offence, saying the article dented his reputation and caused him to lose his prized role of Captain Jack Sparrow in a Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise.
He has filed a defamation lawsuit against Heard and it is set to be heard this year.
His suit says she "hit, punched and kicked me. She also repeatedly and frequently threw objects at my body and head, including heavy bottles, soda cans, burning candles, television remote controls and paint thinner cans, which severely injured me".
Heard has submitted a court filing that includes photographs of bruises and scars as well as pictures of smashed-up furniture to show the violence she was allegedly subjected to after she hooked up with Depp in 2011.
