His exwife said he never acted like that in their 14 years together . I think it ' s pretty likely that Depp did hit Heard , or at least threw things at her . I also think it ' s pretty likely she hit him and was mentally abusive towards him too . His bodyguards reported that usually they were pulling her off of him and she was being incredibly petty and disrespectful towards his kids while his mother was dying , which is supposedly what sparked the fight the phone was thrown during . I don ' t think it ' s really fair to paint him as an abuser or her as a liar , I think they abused each other and neither were fully honest about it . They were just a horrible couple who brought out the worst in each other . Edit Rereading this I think I ' m letting him off too easy . I ' m still not comfortable labeling him as an abuser or wife beater , but his mother dying and how she was acting about it can only be a reason , not an excuse , it absolutely doesn ' t justify anything he did . They were terrible for each other , but at least she eventually realized that and got out . I think he ' d have kept spiraling down to the point where I would feel comfortable with those labels if she hadn ' t .