A court camera has captured an awkward interaction between Amber Heard and Johnny Depp, as she appeared to recoil in terror when he walked toward her.
The celebrity exes are currently fighting it out in a $50 million defamation trial, in which both are claiming to have been the real victim in their volatile marriage.
Depp is suing Heard over a 2018 Washington Post op-ed she wrote where she alleged to be a survivor of domestic abuse, and which Depp says ruined his career. Heard, meanwhile, is countersuing her former husband for $100 million and citing multiple occasions during their relationship when he assaulted her.
While the two have generally avoided making eye contact across the busy courtroom in Fairfax County, Virginia, yesterday they came face to face in a tense moment that is being widely shared on social media.
Heard, 36, had just finished describing to jurors how Depp allegedly sexually assaulted her with a liquor bottle and threatened to kill her during a particularly violent spat in March 2015 while they were in Australia. The Aquaman star broke down crying while recalling the alleged incident.
As she stepped down from the witness stand, her ex-husband - who is partially sighted - stood up and moved towards her on his way out of the courtroom.
When she saw him coming her way, Heard tensed up immediately and seemed to physically shudder, before backing away in fear. Court officials jumped to her aid, holding their hands up and warning him to stay away.
Realizing what was happening, Depp appeared to shrug and smile as he turned away and walked back in the opposite direction. His ex-wife was led away by court officials.
For the majority of Heard's time on the witness stand, Depp has sat hunched over a notepad, doodling, writing, and avoiding her eye. His team has since hit out at Heard's testimony, calling it "the performance of her life".
"As Mr. Depp's counsel correctly predicted in their opening statements last month, Ms. Heard did indeed deliver 'the performance of her life' in her direct examination," a spokesperson for Depp said.
"The upcoming cross examination from Mr. Depp's team will be most telling, and will certainly highlight the many fallacies Ms. Heard has now attempted to pass off as fact throughout her convoluted testimony," they added.