Amber Heard’s lawyers called the actress’s sister Whitney Henriquez to the witness stand during the defamation trial against Amber’s ex-husband Johnny Depp on Wednesday, May 18. During many of the alleged incidents of abuse from both Amber, 36, and Johnny, 58, they’ve both mentioned occasions where Whitney’s been present. Find out everything you need to know about Whitney, 34, here.
1. Whitney has claimed that she’s seen bruises on her sister during the marriage to Johnny
Prior to taking the stand in the defamation trial, Whitney was called as a witness in the 2020 lawsuit that Johnny filed against The Sun. In the libel trial, she alleged that she saw bruises on her sister and believed that they came from her husband. “I saw that her face was swollen and she had a mark under her eye,” she said in the trial, per Newsweek. “I said: ‘What the f*** is happening? You have to talk to me. I’m not stupid, I can see he is hitting you.’ She admitted to me that he had hit her, but at that time she was constantly putting it on herself or blaming herself.”
2. She said that she’s seen Amber have panic attacks
Amber’s lawyers asked about three statements by Adam Waldman about Amber’s allegations of abuse and how they impacted the actress. “Amber has worked so hard to overcome everything that she went through in the duration of their relationship. She has really really tried her best to move past it,” she explained, before explaining how they’d “devastated” Amber. “She started having panic attacks randomly. She was not sleeping.”
Whitney said that Adam’s claims “weren’t true” and hurt the actress. “She would just periodically break into tears,” she said, saying that it was similar to how Amber had been during the time she was planning on leaving Johnny. “She stopped sleeping again. She was super anxious. She couldn’t relax. She couldn’t sit still.”
3. Amber has said that the two are very close
Being sisters, both the women share a very special bond. Amber explained how close the two were in a 2018 interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “She’s my best friend. She’s my partner in crime,” she said. During the trial, it’s been clear that the two spend a lot of time together, and Whitney even lived with her big sister as she was meeting Johnny. During the cross-examination in the defamation trial, Johnny’s lawyers asked Whitney if her and Amber’s father hit them as children, and she said that he did. When asked if Amber tried to protect to her at times, she responded, “We would protect each other for sure.”
4. She worked in the hotel industry
Unlike Amber, Whitney has mostly stayed out of the spotlight. During her testimony, she said that she worked in hospitality. “Before the pandemic, I worked in hotels doing various food and beverage management jobs, primarily events as well,” she said. Besides hospitality, she has also dabbled in entertainment. She played Ugna in the 2007 comedy Homo Erectus, per IMDb.
5. She’s married with two kids
During her testimony, Amber’s attorney asked Whitney if she’s married and has kids, and she responded that she has two little ones. Her husband is Gavin Henriquez. Amber showed a photo of her sister posing with her dog, while she was pregnant with her first child during the 2018 Hollywood Reporter profile.