By Patrick Sawer
London: Amber Heard denied doctoring photos of injuries allegedly caused by Johnny Depp which had to be covered up later by her make-up artist so she could appear on James Corden's show, a British court heard on Wednesday.
The actress says heavy make-up had to be applied to the bruises before her appearance on The Late Late Show, the day after her former husband is said to have attacked her.
Amber Heard arrives at the High Court in London on Wednesday.Credit: AP
Hollywood make-up artist Melanie Inglessis said Heard told her that Depp had tried to suffocate her with a pillow, dragged her by her hair and "tried to kill" her at the couple's Los Angeles penthouse in December 2015.
Inglessis told Britain's High Court that she had to apply concealer and lipstick to Heard's face to cover the bruising so she could go on Corden's prime-time talk show.
Giving evidence via video link from Los Angeles, Inglessis said: "She said, 'Johnny and I had a fight.' She said he tried to suffocate her with a pillow, she felt he tried to kill her that night and dragged her by her hair."
Describing Heard's appearance the day after the alleged attack Inglessis told the court: "She had minimal discolouration by her nose, her left eye a little more bruised than her right eye, the bridge of her nose swollen and I remember a scab to the right of her lip."
Actor Johnny Depp arrives at court on Wednesday.Credit: Getty Images Europe
Her evidence came during Depp's libel case against the publisher of The Sun newspaper for labelling him a "wife beater".
As part of the newspaper's defence Heard, 34, has accused him of both verbal and physical abuse throughout their relationship - allegedly punching, slapping, kicking, headbutting and choking her during frequent drink and drug fuelled rages.
Depp's barrister, Eleanor Laws, QC, asked whether Heard had altered photographs taken of her without make-up before her appearance on The Late, Late Show. Heard has described the incident as "one of the worst and most violent nights of our relationship".
The court was shown a set of photographs appearing to show Heard's bruised face and the actress was asked: "Have you played around with these images in any way?"
Heard replied: "I don't know how to, no."
Laws put it to Heard the photograph of her with bruises on her face was "completely set up", which she denied. Heard said nobody other than Inglessis had noticed the bruises because she had applied make-up to cover them up.
Earlier in the hearing, Heard said Depp threw "30 or so bottles" at her as if they were "grenades or bombs" while they were in Australia in March 2015.
Heard also alleged in court that Depp accidentally severed part of his finger during the assault.
Heard has described her stay in Australia with Depp as akin to a "three-day hostage situation", during which Depp was "completely out of his mind and out of control".
She has said that she feared for her life while at their rented property on the Gold Coast.
Depp's lawyer said Heard had worked herself "into a rage" during her stay in Australia, where Depp was filming the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie.
Heard said she got "angry at times but not into a rage that would cause me to throw anything at him".
She did concede that she did break one bottle in their second evening together in Australia as they argued about the scale of his drinking.
"I regret I did that," said Heard, who also claimed that Depp would often credit her for saving him by trying to get him clean and sober.
After she smashed the bottle, Heard alleges that Depp, fuelled by drink and drugs, started throwing bottles, full enough that they broke a window behind her.
"He threw all the bottles that were in reach, all except for one which was a celebratory magnum-sized bottle of wine," she said.
Heard also denied severing the tip of Depp's finger during the bottle-throwing frenzy and that she put out a cigarette on his cheek during the incident. She said it was something that Depp used to do to himself.
"Johnny did it right in front of me, he often did things like that," she said.
Heard's testimony is expected to last into Thursday, British time.
For help in a crisis call triple zero. If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732), Lifeline 131 114, or Beyond Blue 1300 224 636.
The Telegraph, London, with AP
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