The Johnny Depp-Amber Heard Trial Saw Video Of Her With James Franco Just Before The Split
Footage shows them getting close in the elevator.
Amber Heard in court. Right: James Franco.
Amber Heard faced some heavy questioning about her relationship with close friend James Franco, as Johnny Depp's lawyer grilled her over his suspicions that she'd been unfaithful to him.
Depp's lawyer, Camille Vasquez, hammered Heard on the stand Tuesday about her relationship with Franco, and even showed surveillance footage of the actress with Franco in an elevator on the night before she filed for divorce.
The video shows Heard and the actor walking into an elevator and then riding up to the actress's penthouse apartment in Los Angeles at 10:50 p.m. on May 22, 2016.
The Aquaman actress filed for divorce from Depp the next day, and on May 27, she filed for a domestic violence restraining order against him, reports The Independent.
"You changed the locks to the penthouses on May 22, 2016," said Vasquez, referring to the homes she shared with Depp.
"I attempted to," responded Heard.
Then Vasquez asked if that was why Heard felt "comfortable having James Franco over" on that same evening.
"I do not know when James came over," Heard replied.
Vasquez then played the time-stamped video of Franco stopping by. The clip shows them walking into the elevator, and at one moment they rest their heads on one another before walking out together.
Franco is shown with a backpack when he arrives at her penthouse.
Heard explained that she was "falling apart" as she considered divorce from Depp, and that she had trouble sleeping because she feared that he would enter her home.
"He was my friend. And he lived next door, quite literally next door," she said. "And I, frankly, had exhausted my support network with my usual friends and was happy to welcome as much friendship at that time as I could possibly get."
Heard first worked with Franco in the 2008 film Pineapple Express, and she previously told the court that Depp hated him and suspected they'd had a thing together.
She alleges that Depp's suspicions drove him to attack and kick her during a flight from Boston to Los Angeles in 2014, while she was working on another film with Franco.
Heard and Depp got married in 2015 and split up in 2016. They have since accused one another of abuse and are suing each other for defamation in Virginia. Depp is seeking $50 million while Heard is counter-suing for $100 million.
The trial is expected to wrap up at the end of the month.
