Johnny Depp, Amber Heard's Marriage Counselor Testifies Of 'Mutual Abuse' In Tumultuous Relationship

The defamation trial of actor Johnny Depp against his ex-wife Amber Heard continues, with a psychotherapist they were seeing describing the two’s relationship as one of “mutual abuse” on Thursday, April 14, as the trial continues to move forward with no foregone conclusion at hand.

Dr. Laurel Anderson, the marriage counselor of the couple before their divorce, testified on Thursday that, during her sessions with them, both Depp and Heard appeared to have engaged in mutually-abusive behavior against one another, according to the Daily Beast.

“They engaged in, what I saw as, mutual abuse,” she said. “I know she led on more than one occasion, and started it ... Abandonment and having him leave was her worst nightmare. And I think he may have initiated it on occasions—but that I am less sure of.”

Anderson describes incidents where Heard would reportedly initiate fights and violent interactions when she felt disrespected, and that Heard often talked over Depp during their own marriage counseling sessions, the BBC reported.

“It was a point of pride to her, if she felt disrespected, to initiate a fight,” she said. “If he was going to leave her to de-escalate from the fight, she would strike him to keep him there, she would rather be in a fight than have him leave.”

In an attempt to contextualize their attitudes, Anderson stated that both Depp and Heard were victims of abusive parents growing up, with Depp getting beaten by his mother while Heard was beaten by her father. Depp, whom Anderson describes as “well controlled” before his marriage with Heard, was reportedly triggered by her during their relationship.

“He hits her. No closed fist. She hits back and starts it for pride because her father hit her,” one of her notes said. “She says she hits back out of pride…a lot of things trigger her. If she is triggered she would hit him first.”

Celebrity divorce attorney Christopher C. Melcher said that while this evidence does seem to show the jury that Depp wasn’t the only physically abusive one, this appears to not help his case at all as it does not prove that what Heard wrote about in her op-ed piece at The Washington Post was false or defamatory.

“There are different levels of definitions of abuse. This marriage counselor saying they were mutually abusive kind of proves that point. This supports the truth of Amber’s statement she was the victim of an abusive relationship since the defense of nuance is so nuanced,” Melcher said.

“The jury isn’t being asked if this was a good or healthy relationship but they’re being asked if Amber’s statement was truthful and if it was made maliciously,” he continued.

The case is being live-streamed to the public and is expected to call upon other high-profile celebrities as witnesses, including actors James Franco and Paul Bettany, and Tesla owner and billionaire Elon Musk.