Amber Heard says Johnny Depp choked her against a wall on their honeymoon Orient Express train trip

Warning: This article contains allegations of physical and sexual violence that some readers may find distressing

Amber Heard on Monday (16 May) testified that Johnny Depp forcefully choked her while they were on their honeymoon in 2015.

The actor’s statement was part of her direct testimony in the trial between Mr Depp and Ms Heard, which began on 11 April, after the Pirates of the Carribbean actor sued his ex-wife for $50m over a December 2018 op-ed published in The Washington Post. Ms Heard had claimed: “I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change”.

While Mr Depp isn’t named in the piece, his legal team argues that the op-ed falsely implies that “Mr Depp is a domestic abuser” and has impacted his ability to work in Hollywood.

Ms Heard returned to the stand on Monday after the trial resumed following a week-long hiatus, and described how Mr Depp allegedly choked her while they were on the Orient Express train, going from Bangkok to Singapore, for their honeymooon.

Ms Heard’s counsel Elaine Bredehoft began her questioning by showing the jury a picture of the former couple on-board the train.

“When he wrapped up Pirates of the Caribbean 5, the plan was for us to do this honeymoon. I was walking a bit on eggshells because I knew a pattern but I was not wanting to accept that we had gone back to a pattern at all,” Ms Heard, 35, replied.

“On the last night we were on the train, after this [photo] was taken, Johnny and I got into an argument about him wanting to be allowed... Meaning him wanting me to agree to him drinking liquor and being okay with it,” she continued.

“An argument followed that, in our sleeping car. Johnny slapped me across the face, and got a hold of my neck and pushed me up against the wall of the car,” Ms Heard alleged, adding that Mr Depp was “squeezing my neck for what felt like a very long time”.

A photo of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard during their honeymoon on the Orient Express from Bangkok to Singapore (Court documents)

“And I remember thinking that he could not even mean to kill me, you know, I remember being scared that he wouldn’t even mean to do it,” Ms Heard told the court.

She also testified that Mr Depp “ripped the top of my shirt” at one point and “I remember that I had a breast exposed”.

“At some point, I pull at the lapel of his shirt and he rips the shirt off and wraps it against my neck,” she said, also adding: “That’s how I woke up the next morning. I woke up with it still around my neck.”

Mr Depp’s security guard Malcom Connelly spoke of the honeymoon on the Orient Express when he testified at the couple’s defamation trial on behalf of the actor via video link from his home in Essex, UK.

Mr Connelly testified that he took the photo that Ms Heard mentioned in her testimony on Monday, noting that Mr Depp had swelling under his eye.

“He’s walked into a door, or a door’s walked into him,” he said at the time.

Following her direct testimony, Ms Heard was cross-examined by Mr Depp’s attorney Camille Vasquez. It is expected that Ms Heard will return to the stand for further questions from Mr Depp’s lawyers on Tuesday (17 May).

Find all updates from the live trial here.