Johnny Depp's Sister Testifies In Defamation Trial About Amber Heard's Alleged Bullying & Star's Tough Childhood

Johnny Depp‘s sister took the stand in the star’s defamation trial on Tuesday, and testified about his reportedly difficult childhood at home in Kentucky.

Christi Dembrowski was called by Depp’s team to testify in the ongoing defamation trial involving Amber Heard. During Dembrowski’s long testimony, the 61-year-old woman opened up about her and Depp’s upbringing in the South, their allegedly abusive parents, and more regarding the movie star’s life and rearing.

Dembrowski, who acknowledged that she still works closely with her brother, testified as Depp’s lawyer Benjamin Chew asked the questions. When Chew posed a question about Johnny’s family life as a child, Christi explained:

“Father was a kind, patient, loving, gentle man. Our mom was the opposite, very high strung, very nervous, anxiety, angry. … Mom would scream, yell at him, she would hit him, call him names, that kind of thing.”

And when Chew asked whether Dembrowski and Depp’s mother ever physically or verbally abused the children, Christi answered in the affirmative:

“Similarly in how she treated dad. She screamed, she yelled, she hit, she threw things, she called us names. We each had our own set of names. Some we wouldn’t repeat. My name was Violet. Violet was my father’s mother and my mom hated my father’s mother. She had a few [names for Johnny], some to not repeat. ‘One Eye’ was her favorite, because when he was young the doctors thought had a lazy eye, they put a patch on his good eye to strengthen his other eye. Those names were just a way of life. We got used to them.”

Ugh…

When Chew asked whether their mother would ever get “physical” with them as children, the woman responded under oath:

“Yes, she did but I was also very quiet, very shy, I learned early on to step back. I would stay away from trouble. She would hit us, through things, go pick a switch off a tree, that would be what she’d hit us with. One that’s nice and green. If it wasn’t a nice green twig it wouldn’t break.”

So awful.

Dembrowski also testified that Depp would “never” hit his mother back, saying:

“He was a typical little boy, when hurt he would cry. For the most part he just wanted to get away from it. When he was older even if she hit or threw things he never went to that place he would get away, he would leave the area, go to him room.”

Chew then transitioned from questions about Depp’s upbringing to more recent queries about his time with Heard. When he asked Dembrowski if she could recall any times Heard had been unkind to Johnny, the star’s older sister testified that one moment “really stayed” with her.

She said it was a time when Christian Dior called, informing Johnny the brand was interested in working with him. Christi testified:

“Johnny told Amber they were interested in him. Her reaction to that was she was in disbelief and sort of disgust because she said ‘Dior, why would Dior want to do business with you? They’re about class and style and you don’t have style.’ It was insulting, kind of taking away that one moment. That insult is there. I’ve seen the insults, multiple times actually.”

Dembrowski went on to claim that she recalled Heard calling Johnny “an old, fat man.”

The Pirates of the Caribbean star’s older sister also said on the stand that she would “make sure” to book two hotel rooms for the pair whenever they traveled together.

She said:

“When they were traveling I wanted to make sure there was an extra room because it wasn’t unusual for them to have an argument.”

That way, Dembrowski claimed, Johnny would have an out to “leave the room” as he did when he was a child in Kentucky.

She added:

“I saw a repeat happening in life. When we were kids in arguments and fighting would start to happen. Our first thing to do was go and hide and get away from it. I recognized what felt to me a repeat pattern from his childhood. I wanted to make sure there was a place he could do just that.”

According to DailyMail.com, Depp “looked to the floor” at times as his sister spoke, and “appeared to be deeply moved” as she recalled difficult memories from their challenging childhood together.

Here is more on Dembrowski’s testimony from Tuesday: