Amber Heard accuses Johnny Depp of abuse during relationship

LONDON (AP) — Amber Heard has accused ex-husband Johnny Depp of abusing her both physically and verbally and that at various times during their tempestuous relationship she feared for her life.

On the first day of her testimony at Britain’s High Court in London on Monday in Depp's libel trial against The Sun newspaper over an April 2018 article that labelled him a “wife beater,” Heard also denied accusations she was a heavy drug-taker and drinker as well as being controlling and abusive herself.

“I was never violent towards him,” she said in court. “When I felt my life was threatened, I tried to defend myself.”

Depp, 57, is suing The Sun's publisher, News Group Newspapers, and the paper’s executive editor, Dan Wootton, over the article. The Hollywood star, who strongly denies abusing Heard, was at the court to hear his ex-wife's evidence. Heard's testimony is due to last for three days.

She also described an incident in January 2015 in a hotel room in Tokyo over a prenuptial agreement between herself and Depp, and suggested there was an argument about it.

“There was an argument in a hotel room in Tokyo that resulted in Johnny kneeling on my back and hitting me on the back of the head,” she said.

In written testimony released as she took to the witness box, Heard said she worried Depp would kill her at various times during their relationship that saw her enduring “punching, slapping, kicking, head-butting and choking.” She also said “some incidents were so severe that I was afraid he was going to kill me, either intentionally or just by losing control and going too far.”

According to the 34-year-old Heard, Depp “explicitly threatened to kill me many times, especially later in our relationship” and that he blamed his actions on “a...