Meet Amber Heard’s sister, Whitney Henriquez – she lived in Johnny Depp’s Los Angeles penthouse and thought of him as a brother, so why did she testify against The Pirates of the Caribbean star?
Henriquez, who said during her testimony that she lived with Heard during the beginning of her relationship with The Pirates of the Caribbean star and thought of him as a brother, begged Heard not to marry him when she noticed bruising and swelling on her sister’s face and body, according to Variety.
Here’s everything you need to know about the 34-year-old, who is married to Gavin Henriquez and has two children – son Hunter Wylde and daughter Harlin Willow.
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She is a former actress and model
Whitney Henriquez was born in Austin, Texas, on September 18, 1987. Per IMDB, she played the role of Ugna in the 2007 comedy Homo Erectus alongside Adam Rifkin, Ali Larter and Hayes MacArthur. She has also appeared in commercials, short films and as Heard’s youngest sister in the 2021 documentary Johnny vs Amber.
Though it was her childhood dream to become an actress, she stayed out of the spotlight and, according to Hollywood Life, now works in the hospitality industry. “Before the pandemic, I worked in hotels doing various food and beverage management jobs, primarily events as well,” she said during the just-ended Depp vs Heard defamation trial.
She conspired to sell Heard’s wedding pics to the press
In 2020, Daily News reported that Henriquez told London’s High Court she was kicked out of Depp’s luxurious penthouse in Los Angeles after she and Heard got into a fight. During her testimony in Depp’s libel case against News Group Newspapers, Henriquez claimed Depp accused her of planning to sell their wedding photos to her journalist friend Sara Kitnick.
“Amber believed him and was devastated. I was upset that she believed Johnny over me, and there was a long period in 2015 when I was estranged from Amber and Johnny because of this,” she said, according to British media.
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She was the first witness to testify that Depp hit Heard
On May 18, Henriquez was the first witness to testify at the six-week-long messy trial that Depp struck her sister in March 2015 – a month after their wedding. The reason? According to USA Today, Henriquez claims Heard caught Depp having an extramarital affair.
“Johnny runs up the stairs. I’m facing Amber; he comes up behind me, strikes me in the back. I hear Amber shout don’t hit my f****** sister. She smacks him, lands one. That’s when Travis (Depp’s security guard) runs up the stairs. Johnny had already grabbed Amber by the hair with one hand and was whacking her with the other,” she stated under oath, admitting the estranged couple nicknamed her their “marriage counsellor” for her frequent efforts to mediate in their physical fights.
She is Heard’s best friend
The siblings allegedly endured physical and emotional abuse at the hands of their father growing up and share a strong bond. When Depp’s legal team cross-examined Henriquez and asked her if they had ever been hit as children, she admitted that their father would hit both sisters. “We would protect each other for sure,” she revealed.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Heard called Henriquez her “best friend, a partner in crime”. Depp’s lawyers claimed the sisters would often re-enact a “fake punch” and practice for Heard to “feign abuse from him”. Did the two conspire to frame Depp? Did they stage a domestic abuse scene or fake injuries?
“She’s got her face out like this to show me, and I’m looking, and I inspect her face. And I don’t see anything. I don’t see a cut, a bruise, swelling, redness,” Depp’s next-door neighbour said of the encounter in May 2016, according to ABC News, expressing doubts over Heard’s allegations that he had hit her.
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Depp alleged Heard treated Henriquez like a punching bag
Days after Henriquez claimed that she was witness to Depp hitting her sister, he took to the stand in court and accused Heard of assaulting Henriquez. In his defence, Depp’s lawyers showed a short clip from a television show in which Henriquez and her friends were discussing Heard’s attack on her.
“It was a kind of a strange combination of loving sister, trusted sister and friend, and then lackey. Then either the punching bag or the dart board or the recipient of some rather demeaning and ugly words. Or she [Whitney Henriquez] would have wine thrown at her face,” he said in his testimony, adding he had witnessed Heard grab her sister, push her around and fight both physically and verbally, according to Los Angeles Times.
- Henriquez is a former actress who starred in the 2007 comedy Homo Erectus alongside Ali Larter as well as the 2021 documentary Johnny vs Amber
- Heard’s sister is her best friend and partner in crime, but according to Depp, Henriquez was also Heard’s ‘lackey’ and ‘punching bag’