Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s Marriage Counselor Says the Former Couple Engaged in ‘Mutual’ Abuse

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s therapist from 2015 said that the former couple was abusive to each other.

Laurel Avis Anderson testified via video in front of jurors this week for Depp’s $50 million defamation suit in Fairfax, Virginia. According to Variety, Anderson saw the two actors between October and December 2015, and that the sessions were turbulent, with Heard claiming that Depp was being abusive towards her.

“I thought he had been well controlled,” Anderson said. “With Ms. Heard, he was triggered. They engaged in what I saw as mutual abuse.”

Anderson said that Depp contradicted Heard’s allegations of violence, and that Heard would sometimes be the first one to hit Depp. “Ms. Heard had a jackhammer style of talking. She was very amped up,” she said. “He had trouble talking at a similar pace.”

While they loved each other, their relationship was toxic and they had “terrible” communication skills. “She loved him. He loved her,” Anderson testified. “She believed that she wasn’t stupid. She knew what they were doing wasn’t healthy.”

Anderson testified that on Dec. 17, 2015, she saw Heard with bruises under her eyes. Months later, in June 2016, Depp called the relationship “chaotic” and “violent,” adding that the actress “gave as good as she got.”

“She initiated fights,” Anderson said of Heard’s behavior. “She started violence. She rose to the challenge if he started first. In my opinion that had been established throughout the relationship — that she fought as hard as he did. And he tried to deescalate far more than I think she did.”

Heard has continually accused Depp of physical and sexual violence, even writing an op-ed in 2018 where she suggested just as much. Depp’s defamation suit followed. The pair have been divorced since 2016.

Depp has also returned the accusations, saying that Heard would also assault him. She later countersued Depp for $100 million in another defamation suit.