In court, Amber Heard confirmed her “close” friend James Franco was with her the night before she filed for divorce from Johnny Depp.
Amber Heard shared her take on the video footage showing her and James Franco in an elevator together the night before she filed for divorce from Johnny Depp in May 2016.
During the on-going defamation trial between the actress and her ex, Heard explained that she was “close” pals with Franco, whom she appeared in two movies with, and felt supported by the actor amid her rocky, and allegedly violent, romance with Depp.
"He was my friend and he lived next door," she recalled of her relationship with Franco, while testifying on May 17. "And I had, frankly, exhausted my support network with my usual friends. I was happy to welcome as much friendship at that time that I could possibly get."
Elevator surveillance footage, time-stamped May 22, 2016 around 11 p.m. was shared with the Virginia courtroom, showing Heard, 36, and Franco standing together as they made their way to the actress' penthouse. At one point in the video, the actor lays his head on Heard's shoulder and she appears to place her head on his head. They then exit the elevator together.
In court, the star testified that Franco "kinda touched the side of my face and responded to what he saw."
When Depp's attorney asked if she was aware her husband would be out of town that night, Heard said she was unsure of his schedule.
Heard shared that she felt like she was "falling apart" and was having difficulty sleeping because of panic attacks over her fear of Depp, now 58.
"I wanted to change my locks. I wanted a good night's sleep," she said on the stand . "I was scared and very conflicted because the person I was scared of was also the person I was in love with."
On May 23, 2016, Heard filed for divorce from the Pirates of the Caribbean star citing irreconcilable differences. Four days later, she filed a domestic violence restraining order against her ex.
"I knew I wouldn't survive it if I didn't, so I filed for divorce," Amber previously testified. "I knew if I didn't, I'd likely not literally survive."
Although Heard insisted her relationship with Franco, 44, was strictly platonic, she previously recalled the "nightmare" of arguments she and Depp would get into over his suspicions that the actress was having an affair with her Adderall Diaries co-star.
"He hated James Franco," Heard said earlier this month," "and was already accusing me of having a relationship with him in the past because we already did Pineapple Express together. It went from asking me about how the kissing scene went or how the sex scene went to asking me what James Franco had done in the scene and being really explicit about my body."
Earlier in the trial, Depp—who has denied all allegations of abuse—confirmed that they had argued about Franco and said he believed Heard was cheating on him.
Heard and Depp—who met on the set of 2011's The Rum Diary—wed in 2015. Their divorce was finalized in January 2017. The following year, Heard claimed she had been abused in an op-ed piece written for The Washington Post. Although the article never mentioned Depp by name, the actor is now suing Heard for defamation, and Heard is countersuing him for $100 million.
