Amber Heard testifies that Johnny Depp carried out a ‘cave search’ on her after he accused her of dishonest in a cocaine-fuelled rage

• Dawn Hughes, a clinical psychologist, said Johnny Depp inflicted “sexual violence” on Amber Heard.
• Heard on Wednesday described a specific incident in which she said Depp conducted a “void search.”

Amber Heard testified Wednesday that Johnny Depp performed a “cave search” on her while under the influence of drugs, part of what she claims is a pattern of sexual abuse by her ex-husband.

The alleged assault, she said in court, happened sometime in 2013. Depp falsely accused her of infidelity and smashed up the trailer the two were in and generally “made no sense,” Heard said.

Heard moved to another room and Depp appeared to be looking for more cocaine, Heard testified. Then, she said, he accused her of “hiding it” and tore off her dress and underwear during a “search.”

“He’s grabbing my chest, he’s touching my thighs, he’s ripping off my underwear,” Heard said through tears. “And then he does a cavity search.”

Heard testified that she was against using cocaine and was trying to sober up Depp at the time, so the allegations “made no sense.” But, she said, Depp attacked her.

“He told me, ‘We’re doing a cavity search, shall we?’ She said, “Just shoved his fingers inside me. I just stood there staring at the stupid light. I didn’t know what to do. I just stood there while he did that. He just twisted his fingers around.”

Dawn Hughes, a clinical and forensic psychologist, also testified Tuesday about the event at the booth. She included it in a list of “incidents of sexual violence,” along with the time Heard claims Depp entered her with a bottle, as the basis for a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder.

As Insider previously reported, Hughes – who is in the ex-couple’s defamation trial, which is taking place in a Fairfax County court in Virginia – said Depp displays “obsessive jealousy” and is the real culprit in the couple’s relationship.

Hughes referenced specific violent incidents, which she said demonstrated Depp’s paranoia and the control he had over Heard, which she said he enforced through violence. On one occasion, Hughes said Depp accused a woman of flirting with Heard and took the actress to a trailer to conduct a cavity search. Hughes said Depp was looking for drugs.

“Mr. Depp conducted a cavity search and allegedly was looking for drugs and found it acceptable to rip off her nightgown and stick his fingers in her vagina to look for cocaine,” she said on the witness stand.

Heard said Wednesday that she froze after the incident and didn’t remember falling asleep or talking to Depp about it the next day.

“I hope it’s not the broken one”

Hughes said the incidents of sexual violence often happened when Depp was on a “drug rage.” She went on to say that the “most serious instances of sexual violence Ms Heard has endured” occurred during a fight with Depp in Australia, during which the actor entered Heard with a vodka bottle.

“He grabbed a bottle that was on the bar and he entered her with that bottle,” Hughes said. “And Ms. Heard told me that she has distanced herself and left her body.”

Hughes said Depp punched and choked Heard and told her he was “going to f*ck kill you” as he reached for the bottle.

“The only thing she thought was, ‘Oh god, I hope it’s not the broken one,'” continued Hughes in the stands on Tuesday.

Amber Heard speaks with one of her attorneys in Fairfax County Circuit Court on April 28, 2022.MICHAEL REYNOLDS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Hughes is the first witness presented by Heard’s legal team in the ongoing defamation case. Depp first sued Heard in 2019, alleging that she defamed him when she described herself as a victim of domestic violence in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed.

The two began dating in 2011 and married in 2015 before ending their tumultuous marriage in 2016.

While Heard was filing for divorce around the same time she was seeking a restraining order and said Depp hurt her face, Depp claimed that Heard was the real culprit in the relationship and physically and verbally abused him throughout their marriage. Heard has denied and sued the claims, alleging that Depp often physically assaulted her while they were together, on occasions when he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Depp has also claimed in court that Heard was violent during their marriage

Actor Johnny Depp shows off the middle finger on his hand, which was injured while he and ex-wife Amber Heard were in Australia in 2015.REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/Pool

On the witness stand early in the trial, Depp said Heard threw a bottle at the actor in 2015 and “it made contact and broke it all over.”

“Then I looked down and realized the tip of my finger had been severed and I was looking straight at my protruding bones and the fleshy part of the inside of your finger,” he added on the stand.

Depp also told the court that Heard was responsible for feces found on their shared bed after an argument in which he said he was leaving her.

In court, Hughes said all the evidence she analyzed, based on Heard’s health records and interviews with her former therapists, led her to believe Heard’s recollection of her relationship with Depp as abusive. Hughes said she diagnosed Heard with PTSD based on “intimate partner violence” suffered at Depp’s hands.

Hughes’ testimony refutes the testimony of Shannon Curry, a clinical psychologist hired by Depp’s attorneys, who also evaluated Heard. Curry said Heard exaggerated her PTSD symptoms and had personality disorders related to violence and “storymaking.”

This article has been updated with Amber Heard’s statement.