Ex-therapist says Johnny Depp, Amber Heard engaged in 'mutual abuse'

April 14 (UPI) -- A former marriage counselor for Johnny Depp and Amber Heard said the actors engaged in "mutual abuse" in a taped deposition that was played Thursday in a Fairfax, Va., courtroom as part of a defamation trial.

Dr. Laurel Anderson, whose deposition was recorded in February, served as the couple's counselor in 2015.

The Los Angeles-based therapist was asked during the deposition if there was "violence from Mr. Depp toward Amber," replying "Yes, you're right. He had been well controlled, I think, for almost, I don't know, 20, 30 years. Both were victims of abuse in their homes, but I thought he had been well controlled for decades. And then with Ms. Heard he was triggered, and they engaged in what I saw as mutual abuse."

Depp is seeking $50 million from Heard in the defamation trial, a response to her 2018 op-ed in The Washington Post in which she said she was a victim of domestic violence. Heard countersued for $100 million.

Heard didn't explicitly name her The Rum Diary co-star in the article, but Depp said it's clear she was referring to him after she obtained a temporary restraining order against him during their 2016 divorce proceedings.

The two met on the set of the 2011 film The Rum Diary, married in February 2015 and were officially divorced by January 2017.

Earlier in the trial, a friend of Johnny Depp's who lived in the same apartment building as the actor when he was married to Heard, testified that even though the actress told him Depp struck her, he never saw any evidence of abuse.

On Tuesday, Depp's sister, Christi Dembrowski, testified that their mother was abusive toward them.

Depp originally filed the lawsuit in 2019 but the trial has been delayed due to the COVID-19. The judge expects the trial to last six weeks.

There has been speculation that actor James Franco and Tesla CEO Elon Musk will testify at some point.