Shropshire Star

Amber Heard became ‘nervous wreck’ about film roles, acting coach claims

Kristina Sexton is giving evidence in Johnny Depp’s libel trial against News Group Newspapers.

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Actress Amber Heard at the High Court in London

Amber Heard became a “nervous wreck” about choosing film roles because she was “so worried” about Johnny Depp’s reaction, her acting coach has claimed.

Kristina Sexton alleged the Pirates Of The Caribbean star “dictated” his ex-wife’s work and told her not to take certain jobs because he did not want her doing “whore parts”.

In a written witness statement submitted in Mr Depp’s libel action against The Sun, Ms Sexton also claimed the actor did not want Ms Heard modelling, saying it made her look like a “cheap whore”.

She said she first met the actress in 2009 and the pair became friends “quite quickly”, bonding about books and “the fact we are both nerds”.

Actor Johnny Depp at the High Court in London
Actor Johnny Depp at the High Court in London (Aaron Chown/PA)

Ms Sexton claimed: “The best I can describe it is that she (Ms Heard) became very nervous about her acting – whether it was for a part he wanted her to do or for one he didn’t want her to do, her work was dictated by Johnny.

“For example, she auditioned for the role of Queenie in Fantastic Beasts.

“It was strange to me that she was interested in doing a Harry Potter film because it was not the sort of film that had previously been of interest to her. She was very nervous about it, over-thinking it in ways I had not seen her do before, and kept saying ‘no, we have to get this right’.

“It wasn’t until later that I figured out why she was so worried about getting it right: because he (Mr Depp) was in it and she later told me that he wanted her to be in it.

“I could usually tell if it was something he wanted her to be involved in because she became a nervous wreck about getting it right.

“But if he didn’t want her to be involved, she was a nervous wreck for a different reason: because she was so worried about his reaction.”

Ms Sexton claimed she and Ms Heard would put an audition on tape for roles and Mr Depp would “put a stop to it if he didn’t deem it worthy”.

“I remember her telling me that they had ‘confrontations’ about her choice of parts, after which she would decide not to submit her tape,” Ms Sexton alleged.

Actress Amber Heard at the High Court in London
Actress Amber Heard at the High Court (Aaron Chown/PA)

“She told me he was particularly concerned about her taking roles involving sexuality and/or sex scenes.”

She went on to claim that Mr Depp did not want Ms Heard doing “any role that was overtly sexual”.

Her statement says: “When we would discuss upcoming opportunities and possible roles, she started saying things like, ‘he doesn’t want his woman doing this film’ and he doesn’t want ‘his woman doing sex scenes’.”

Ms Sexton alleged: “She started telling me that he was accusing everyone of being in love with her and accusing her of wielding her sexuality all the time.

“She also told me that he was constantly upset about her ex-partners. She told me he was worried about her having affairs with co-stars.

“She started telling me that she couldn’t do certain roles because he didn’t want her doing ‘whore parts’.”

Ms Sexton said that at one point, Ms Heard was on billboards as the face of a Guess campaign, alleging Ms Heard had told her Mr Depp had said she (Ms Heard) “shouldn’t be doing stuff like that anymore because it made her look like a ‘cheap whore’”.

The acting coach claimed Ms Heard stopped modelling after this, turning down the next Guess campaign “even though it was a lot of money for her”.

Ms Sexton went on to say that Ms Heard had “previously been very comfortable with her sexuality and how she looked”, but when she and the actress first looked at doing a film called London Fields in 2013, Ms Heard “seemed stressed about the nudity in the film”.

“It became impossible for us to work on this at home together – Johnny was angry about her doing this part and so it was always ‘we can’t do it now’ or she would call me crying about him shouting at her about it,” Ms Sexton alleged.

In her statement, Ms Sexton also said she saw Ms Heard becoming “stressed on set about figuring out ways to avoid upsetting Johnny” and that the actress wanted her on set during sex scenes with actor Liam Hemsworth for the 2013 film Paranoia “so that she (Ms Heard) had a witness for Johnny to be able to confirm that nothing went on other than strict work”.

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