Johnny Depp Reveals The Real Reason Why He Didn’t Look at Amber Heard During Her Testimony

Amber Heard and Johnny Depp’s defamation trial has resumed after a weeklong hiatus, with the 36-year-old Aquaman actress taking the stand on Monday.

While the trial continues to be watched by people across the country, having been live-streamed since it began in Fairfax, Virginia in April, those paying close attention to the day-to-day workings of the courtroom have likely noticed that Depp, 58, refuses to look at his ex-wife.

“Mr. Depp hasn’t looked at you once this entire trial, has he?” Camille Vasquez, one of the Pirates of the Caribbean actor’s attorneys, asked the actress while cross-examining her, to which she replied: “Not that I’ve noticed, no.”

“You’ve looked at him many times, haven’t you?” Vasquez continued, with Heard telling the attorney, “Yes, I have.”

Vasquez then followed with, “You know exactly why Mr. Depp won’t look back at you, don’t you?” which The Stand actress confirmed with, “I do.”

“He promised you you would never see his eyes again, is that true?” Vasquez asked while Heard told the court, “I don’t recall if he said that.”

Depp’s attorney then played audio of one of the last times the estranged couple had seen each other, in which Heard begs the actor to hug him to say goodbye.

Despite having filed for a restraining order against him at the time, Heard “summoned” Depp to meet at a hotel in San Francisco in 2016, a meeting Depp previously testified he attended in hopes “she would retract her lies” about him, his attorney said.

“He’s kept that promise, hasn’t he?” Vasquez asked, referring to Depp refusing to look at Heard, to which she responded, “As far as I know, he cannot look at me.”

“He won’t look at you, right Ms. Heard?” said Vasquez, with Heard replying, “He can’t.”

A spokesperson for Heard previously issued a statement about how the Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas alum appeared to be conducting himself in court, saying the actor “does not have the courage to even look at Ms. Heard.”

“If Mr. Depp was truly innocent, why has he repeatedly apologized to Ms. Heard and promised to put the ‘monster away for good,’ ” Heard’s spokesperson told PEOPLE earlier in May, adding that one of Heard’s “disappointments” is the actor’s “inability to distinguish fact from fiction — a malady which appears to have spread to his legal team.”

“That same team is so panicked they are fighting tooth and nail to prevent compelling evidence and photos from being introduced,” said Heard’s spokesperson. “Small wonder Mr. Depp does not have the fortitude or courage to even look at Ms. Heard at all throughout the proceedings — as he could not in the U.K. trial — and, instead he doodles and snickers.”

Depp is suing Heard for defamation over a 2018 op-ed she wrote for The Washington Post about surviving domestic violence, though she never mentioned Depp by name in the article. Depp originally filed the $50 million lawsuit in March 2019.

He testified that his “goal is the truth” as he seeks to clear his name in the trial, which is being televised live via various outlets. Ahead of the trial, Heard said in a statement that “hopefully when this case concludes, I can move on and so can Johnny. I have always maintained a love for Johnny and it brings me great pain to have to live out the details of our past life together in front of the world.”