Amber Heard’s former makeup artist Melanie Inglessis explained how she helped the actress cover-up bruises and other injuries that she allegedly received after physical altercations with her ex-husband Johnny Depp. In particular, she detailed how she helped Amber conceal bruising before she appeared on The Late Late Show With James Corden, in a deposition for the defamation trial between the two actors.
Amber’s lawyers showed photos of Amber, showing the injuries that the actress had ahead of the appearance on James Corden’s show. She said that the photos did reflect the injuries that she witnessed on Amber before appearing on the show on December 16, 2015. She explained that it seemed like Amber had been “head-butted lightly,” and Melanie said, “She had discoloration around her eyes, on her nose,” as well as a “slit lip.” She later explained the injuries in more detail when questioned by Johnny’s lawyers. Johnny has denied head-butting Amber during the December 2015 incident.
During the deposition, Melanie explained what she did for Amber to hide the bruises, including using a different type of concealer. “I just did makeup but just a little heavier when needed. So we covered the discoloration or the bruises with a little, slightly heavier concealer. One that has a little more of a peach undertone, which I would normally don’t use on Amber, but the peach [does] cancel blue. So I did that under the eyes, and although Amber always has a red lip as one of the signature looks, I remember clearly talking that we had no other option that night, but then to use a red-blood—like a really red—to make sure we could cover up the injuries on the lip.”
Amber’s lawyers asked what the actress’s mood was like before appearing on the show, and she described her as “Angry, sad, [and] a little erratic.”
When Johnny’s lawyers questioned Melanie, they asked if she’d ever seen Johnny be abusive towards Amber, and she said that she had not, and that any allegations of abuse against the Pirates of the Caribbean star had come from Amber. “It was always some conflict, some fights: some physical fights, some verbal fights, some kind of problems,” she said, before describing the friendship as “consuming.” She did say that she didn’t witness any fights between Amber and Johnny. The lawyer also made a point to ask that she didn’t know how the injuries were caused, which the makeup artist said was correct.
The pre-recorded deposition (taken on February 2, 2021) was shown to the court on Wednesday, May 18. Throughout the questioning, Melanie explained her relationship with Amber, saying that the two got close while she was working with her, but she also said that eventually, she broke off the relationship both as a friend and makeup artist, but that she wished her “well.”