Depp has denied that he ever hit Heard and argued that she was the abuser in their relationship. He said she threw a vodka bottle at him in early 2015, severing the top of his right middle finger.

Digital Desk: Here's what happened in the trials last week: 

Attorneys for Johnny Depp have attempted to discredit Amber Heard’s abuse claims in the former couple’s defamation trial on Tuesday, introducing a knife she gave as a gift to the "Pirates of the Caribbean" star and affectionate notes she wrote to him.

At the start of Tuesday’s proceedings, lawyer Camille Vasquez asked jurors to examine the knife Heard bought for Depp in 2012. Heard had testified that Depp had already become violent toward her by that time.

"This is the knife you gave to the man who would get drunk and violent toward you?" the lawyer asked. "This is the knife I gave him as a present, yes," she said, adding that she did not think he would stab her with it.

Depp has denied that he ever hit Heard and argued that she was the abuser in their relationship. He said she threw a vodka bottle at him in early 2015, severing the top of his right middle finger.

Heard said she did not cause the finger injury and said she only hit him to defend herself or her sister.

The trial continued.

 

Today, arguments concluded in Amber Heard’s defamation trial in the case brought against her by her ex-husband, Johnny Depp. The jury is now deliberating on the six weeks of testimony and has been sent home for the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

Heard is being sued by Depp for $50m for implying he abused her in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed. Although she didn’t name him, he claims her allegations impacted his ability to work. She is pursuing a counterclaim of $100 million.

In Depp’s closing argument, his lawyers asked jurors to "give him his life back" after he claimed it was "ruined" by Heard’s allegations of domestic abuse. They claimed Heard would rather fight than let the actor leave, that her claims were an act of profound cruelty to true survivors, and that she gave the best performance of her life on the stand.

Heard's lawyer said a ruling in favour of Depp would make jurors "accomplices" to his abuse and to his "campaign of global humiliation", and called out the actor for "laughing" and "snide comments" during closing, adding he engaged in "victim-blaming at its most disgusting".

The bizarre parasocial fans of the Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard trial

Within hours of a makeup company posting about the trial on TikTok, a Johnny Depp fan showed up at the courthouse in Virginia to hand-deliver "evidence" to Depp’s lawyers. Another posted videos online suggesting a secret relationship between Depp and his lawyer, Camille Vasquez.

Heard's lawyer says she should win the case even if she cuts Depp’s finger off with an axe.

Amber Heard’s lawyer raised eyebrows in his closing argument as he sought to downplay the importance of a fight in which Johnny Depp’s finger was severed.

Hours of testimony in the defamation trial opposing the Hollywood stars centred around a violent incident in Australia in 2015, during which the tip of Mr Depp’s finger was cut off. (Megan Sheets reports)