"He was my friend": Amber Heard opens up about viral James Franco elevator video 

Amber Heard claims that she and James Franco were just friends and neighbors. (Image via Getty Images/Larry Busacca/Jim Lo Scalzo)
Amber Heard claims that she and James Franco were just friends and neighbors. (Image via Getty Images/Larry Busacca/Jim Lo Scalzo)

Actress Amber Heard was grilled during a cross-examination by Johnny Depp's legal team over a late-night visit from James Franco. The incident occurred after she filed a temporary restraining order against Depp in 2016.

On May 17, while taking the witness stand for the fourth day, Heard was questioned by Depp's attorney, Camille Vasquez, in a way that seemed to suggest that the costars of 2008's Pineapple Express and 2015's The Adderall Diaries were in a romantic relationship.

Vasquez showed elevator surveillance footage of James Franco arriving at Heard's penthouse. She asked:

"You changed the lock to the penthouses on May 22, 2016."

Referencing her previous claims about changing locks after fighting with Depp, Heard responded:

"I attempted to."

Vasquez then asked:

"That's why you felt comfortable having James Franco over the evening of May 22, 2016?"

When Amber Heard testified that she couldn't remember when her former costar visited her, Vasquez showed her footage from May 21, 2016, "after 11 p.m.," when she had known that Depp was out of town.

Heard said:

"I don't know what I knew of his schedule at the time."

What did Amber Heard say about James Franco?

Later, during cross-examination by her counsel, Heard insisted that she and Franco were merely friends and neighbors when she was asked why the Why Him? actor was at her place.

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"Because he was my friend and he lived next door, quite literally next door. And I quite literally exhausted my support network with my usual friends and I was happy to welcome as much friendship at that time as I could possibly get."

Heard was then questioned about a video from that night in which Franco is seen resting his head on her shoulder and what interaction may have resulted.

"After seeing my face, he put his head on my shoulder. He touched the side of my face and responded to what he saw."

Depp, according to Heard, suspected the two costars were having an affair. In her last week's testimony, she revealed that Johnny "hated" Franco.

"He was accusing me of secretly having a thing with him in the past since we had done Pineapple Express together."

Both Franco and Elon Musk, whom Amber Heard dated briefly in 2017, are on her witness list, although neither is slated to testify. However, Heard's sister and actress Ellen Barkin are set to testify in her favor this week.

Johnny Depp is suing Heard for $50 million in retaliation for a Washington Post op-ed she wrote in 2018 on her experiences as a domestic abuse survivor. Though Heard never referenced Depp by name in the essay, his attorneys believe that connections to their clients are apparent and have harmed Depp's career and image.

Amber Heard has filed a countersuit for $100 million, claiming that Depp and his legal team defamed her by declaring her charges fake.

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Edited by Suchitra
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