Amber Heard takes stand in Johnny Depp's libel lawsuit

Amber Heard said she knew she should leave Johnny Depp the first time he hit her, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.

"I knew I couldn't just forgive him, right, because that means it will happen again. Like, I've seen the health class videos," Heard told jurors through tears as she took the stand in Depp's libel lawsuit against her. "I was heartbroken."

Ultimately, though, she couldn't bring herself to break up. She walked away after being slapped, but a few days later Depp came back with an apology, a few cases of her favorite wine, and a promise he'd never do it again, Heard testified.

"I wanted to believe him, so I chose to," she said.

Depp, 58, is suing Heard for libel in Virginia's Fairfax County Circuit Court after she wrote a December 2018 op-ed in The Washington Post describing herself as "a public figure representing domestic abuse." The article never mentions Depp by name, but Depp's lawyers say he was defamed nevertheless because it clearly referred to accusations she made in 2016 during their divorce proceedings.

Heard took the stand for the first time Wednesday afternoon in the now four-week trial. She described to jurors how she and Depp met filming a movie and fell in love.

Despite their 22-year age difference, Heard said there was an instant connection when Depp met with her as he considered her for a role in his film "The Rum Diary."

"I was a no-name actor. I was 22. He was twice my age. He's this world famous actor and here we are getting along about obscure books, old blues" music, said Heard, now 36.

While they had chemistry during filming of the movie, she said they didn't begin dating until doing a media tour for the film's release in 2011. At the outset, they kept their relationship a secret.

"We weren't doing normal life stuff. ... We were in this bubble of secrecy, and it felt like a warm glow," she said.