More statements from Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s inner circle are being gathered by their legal teams for their ongoing legal war, and these latest claims from Heard’s former assistant do not bode well for the actress.
In a declaration obtained by The Blast, Kate James says she was the Aquaman actress’ personal assistant from 2012 through 2015, during which time she claims she was mentally and verbally abused by the 33-year-old.
Related: Amber Gets Emotional Over Johnny Split In Newly Released Texts
James’ document also notes how she was in on many of the private interactions between the former couple, including the actress’ first take on the Oscar nominated actor. She wrote:
“Amber was already dating Johnny when I started working for her. At first, Amber didn’t tell me who Johnny was, and would speak in disparaging terms about him. She would say that she was ‘dating this old man’ and suchlike. She then disclosed that it was Johnny Depp, and I met him shortly after that. My first impression of him was how softly spoken and peaceful he was, almost a bit shy. He was very pleasant and courteous upon meeting me.”
James, who is a seasoned vet in the entertainment industry and has been a “personal assistant to high profile people,” went on to claim that Heard completely changed herself while dating Depp and started exhibiting “bizarre” behavior that didn’t fit her normal lifestyle.
She explained:
“When I first visited Johnny’s home, I couldn’t believe how similar it was to what Amber was in the process of trying to create. It was almost identical… She went on and had Laura purchase an old-fashioned typewriter after she saw that Johnny had one. She threw away all paperback books and began curating an extensive collection of First Edition hardcover books (which I believe Johnny purchased for her at great expense). I found all this behavior to be quite bizarre. When I first met Amber, her clothing style was what I would call preppy. Very soon afterwards, that also drastically changed, almost overnight, as she tried to morph into a bohemian way of dressing, wearing more and more silver jewelry, eventually adding a repertoire of hats, which also appeared to me to be mimicking Johnny’s style.”
James went on to claim that “Amber relished the fame that came with dating Johnny” — which apparently included asking for “free designer clothing on the basis that she was his girlfriend.”
Related: Amber Taunts Johnny On New Tape: ‘See How Many People Believe You’
The assistant said her duties eventually began to change as Heard allegedly realized she could take advantage of the perks that came with dating Depp, sharing:
“A large part of my job was contacting various brands with her requests for free clothing. She would spend hours handpicking the requests she would then send to me so I could reach out. If the brand offered a discount rather than completely for free, she would refuse.”
But the worst part of the job, according to James, was that Amber soon started to become mentally and physically abusive towards her. She alleged:
“Amber was regularly verbally and mentally abusive and would often scream at me in that way, over the smallest things. She would fly into blind rages where no-one could reason with her, and even if I was trying to offer an explanation, I didn’t think that she could hear me as she was so angry. It was like she thought regular things that can go wrong in any person’s life on any given day didn’t apply to her. Everything that went wrong was always my fault. I remember one occasion where she missed a connection on a flight on or around Christmas Day in 2012. My aunt was visiting from Australia at that time. She was screaming abuse at me for literally hours as though I had made it snow and caused the disruptions to the flight.”
Heard also allegedly felt a certain way about James having communication of any kind with Depp. The assistant added:
“Amber hated me talking to Johnny, even if it was just polite small-talk, she would give me the evil eye if she found me having a conversation with him. She was very controlling and paranoid about anyone else being in his space and also about being observed by his security.”
James believes this allegedly abusive behavior came from the hallucinogenic drugs she claims Heard regularly took and bragged about, noting:
“Amber often took other drugs during the time of my employment, such as mushrooms and MDMA. She was open about it, almost to the point of bragging. The assortment of drugs and a great deal of wine would mean that when I woke up in the morning, there would almost always be a barrage of incoherent abuse sent to me from Amber by text between around 2am and 4am. I discovered later that she had gone ahead and deleted all evidence of abusive texts from that ICloud account.”
Yuck. So toxic!
While James’ opinion of Heard is less than high, she had nothing but wonderful things to say about Depp, noting:
“In contrast, Johnny was calm and quite shy in all of my experiences of him. He was always thoughtful and kind, and a genuinely decent person. I remember on more than one occasion where I had to bring my son back to work with me after picking him up from school. Johnny would be there and would hang out with him, teaching him how to play the guitar. He would be patient and kind with him. I would never have left my son with Johnny while I was working if I had any concerns about him whatsoever.”
James says the stress from working for Heard eventually took a toll on her body, leaving her family extremely worried about her well-being. She noted:
“My friends and family would often ask me why I wouldn’t just quit, when they could see how much Amber’s treatment of me was affecting my mental and physical health. I ultimately became emaciated due to the extreme stress and the fact I had no time to eat with the crazy workload she bombarded me with constantly.”
As for Heard’s abuse allegations, James says she never witnessed a violent altercation between the couple in the time she worked for the actress, adding:
“In the three years that I worked for Amber, I would go to her house almost every day, including on weekends. I would not announce when I was going to attend the apartment to drop things off or pick things up, so it would regularly be without notice. I never saw any sign of an altercation, or even the aftermath of a serious and messy fight in the way that Amber describes in her statements.”
She continued:
”I never saw any physical violence by either Amber or Johnny. I saw Amber much more frequently than Johnny, almost every day for three years apart from when she was out of town. I understand that the period of my employment overlaps with the majority of incidents in which Amber has alleged that Johnny was violent towards her. I never once saw any bruising, swelling, or any evidence of what could have resulted from violence. I would often see her naked, or semi-naked, when she was getting dressed or at fittings. I was around her a lot, often 7 days a week.”
Wow.
James concluded that she is “permanently scarred” by her working relationship with Heard, whom she called a “classic bully,” explaining:
”With the benefit of hindsight, I now recognise Amber’s behaviour towards me as mental abuse. It still makes me extremely emotional to speak of my experience of working for her. I feel that I am permanently scarred by the experience. It was an exercise in daily humiliation. I felt constantly embarrassed that someone so much younger than me could make me feel so worthless. Amber was a classic bully. She enjoyed making me feel stupid.”
A rep for Heard called James’ allegations “ridiculous,” telling the outlet:
“This is a statement from a disgruntled former employee who was fired for poor performance and clearly has an agenda and an axe to grind. These ridiculous allegations have no basis in fact and no relevance to these proceedings.“
The proceedings, of course, involve the legal battle going on between Heard and Depp — one in the UK where he’s suing The Sun, and another in Virginia where he’s suing Heard.
What do U think about these new claims, Perezcious readers?
[Image via WENN]
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