Content warning: This article includes an alleged account of sexual assault, which some may find distressing.
A spokesperson for actor Johnny Depp has responded to the accusation by Amber Heard's legal team that he sexually assaulted his ex-wife with a liquor bottle.
The high-profile trial, which commenced on Tuesday, seeks to ascertain whether 35-year-old Heard's 2018 op-ed for the Washington Post, in which she claimed to be a victim of domestic violence, was libelous.
Despite not being named in the op-ed, Depp, 58, is suing the Aquaman star for $50 million as he maintains that her claims in the op-ed imply that he abused her during their short-lived marriage.
On day one of the trial, Heard's legal team accused the Pirates of the Caribbean alum of "penetrating" his ex-wife with a "liquor bottle" during a trip the pair took to Australia.
In the Twitter video below, Bredehoft recounts how Depp allegedly "penetrated" Heard "with a liquor bottle":
Speaking in court, a lawyer for Heard, Elaine Bredehoft, told the jury: "As you go through those three days of Australia, some pretty horrendous things happened to her. He rips off her nightgown.
"He has her jammed up against the bar. He has hurled bottles and bottles at her. He has dragged her across the floor on the broken bottles. He has punched her.
"He has kicked her. He has told her he's going to f****** kill her and he f****** hates her. He's pounding at her, pounding at her. And then, he penetrates her with a liquor bottle."
According to Rolling Stone, the actress' head attorney, Ben Rottenborn, described their Australian trip as "a three-day blackout in which he abused and sexually assaulted Amber."
"You will hear in the most graphic and horrifying terms about the [sexual] violence that she suffered. You’ll hear that straight from her," he added.
Depp has consistently denied Heard's allegations of abuse, including this new claim that he sexually assaulted her with a liquor bottle.
A spokesperson for Depp vehemently denied the claim, telling People: "These fictitious claims were never made at the onset of Amber's allegations in 2016, and only advantageously surfaced years later once she was sued for defamation after noting in her op-ed that she was a victim of 'sexual violence.'
"Words are key in a defamation case and conveniently, this allegation only came after that. This follows a pattern of her elaborate, erroneous claims which have continued to change and evolve over time for the purpose of Hollywood shock value of which Amber has mastered and used to exploit a serious social movement."
If you or anyone you know has suffered sexual assault, you can contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE.