Amber Heard kicked off her damning testimony against Johnny Depp last week and faces cross-examination when the court reconvenes later this month following a week-and-a-half-long break.
Her 58-year-old former husband is suing her for $50 million, saying she defamed him when she wrote an op-ed in December 2018 for the Washington Post about being a survivor of domestic abuse. The trial, which began on April 12, seeks to determine whether the Aquaman star's op-ed was indeed libelous.
Last month, Kate James - a former assistant for Heard testified in the defamation trial - claimed the 36-year-old actress verbally abused her on multiple occasions.
Via a prerecorded video deposition, James, who worked as Heard's personal assistant for three years, between 2012 and 2015, said she saw no evidence of domestic violence in that time.
James told Depp's attorneys that she had originally taken on the position for $25 per hour because it was flexible enough for her to be able to pick up her child after school. But around a half a year into the job, James said, it had become a full-time position.
Yet, according to her, Heard screamed at her when said she wanted more than the $50,000 salary Heard was offering, which she noted was around half the amount she would typically earn.
"She leapt out of her chair and put her face approximately four inches from my face, spitting in my face, how dare I ask for the salary I'm asking for," James recalled, per Insider.
James also alleged that Heard often screamed at her over the phone and would send "a barrage of abusive text messages" to her, often very early in the morning.
"Between 2 and 4 AM, the barrage would start, all incoherent, not really making sense," James said. She said that Heard "often appeared intoxicated."
James also said she had once accidentally left a magazine out and Heard went "absolutely ballistic" at her, "screaming" and "yelling abuse."
Meanwhile, James was nothing but positive about Depp, describing him as "a total Southern gentleman."
She said Depp as "peaceful, almost shy" and said he was "completely passive" to her recollection. James also recalled how sweet he'd been to her son, sometimes playing with him and giving him presents.
James had a decade of experience working as a personal assistant to the who's who of Hollywood when she first starting working for the Aquaman star. According to her deposition in court, she usually worked for around $50 an hour, which equates to around $100,000 per year.
Her day-to-day entailed talking to agents, but also everyday errands such as picking up Heard's dry cleaning, arranging for the dogs to be groomed, doing her shopping and keeping everything running smoothly.
James claims she was very abruptly sacked from the position in 2015 after the Pineapple Express star apparently told her she couldn't afford to continue paying her because her "mother was sick." James said she was "blindsided" when she was dismissed.