Johnny Depp’s legal team has tried to discredit Amber Heard by questioning the veracity of her claim that the actor sexually assaulted her with a liquor bottle.

Cross-examining Heard in court in Fairfax County, Virginia, his lawyer Camille Vasquez suggested it was actually her who had attacked Depp with a bottle.

Depp, 58, is suing his ex-wife for $50m (£40m), saying she defamed him when she claimed in a newspaper article she was a victim of domestic abuse.

Heard, 36, has countersued for $100m, arguing that he smeared her by calling her a liar.

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The questioning on Tuesday was particularly heated over a fight the couple had in Australia in March 2015, shortly after they tied the knot, while Depp was filming the fifth Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

It was during that incident that Heard says she was sexually assaulted.

Depp himself has insisted he was the victim and he lost the tip of his middle finger when Heard threw a vodka bottle at him.

Ms Vasquez questioned why Heard never tried to get medical attention, even though she said her feet were cut by broken glass and she was bleeding after the attack.

“You’re the one who assaulted someone with a bottle in Australia, isn’t that right, Ms Heard?” Ms Vasquez asked.

Heard responded: “I didn’t assault Johnny in Australia. I didn’t assault Johnny ever.”

Heard said she did not cause the finger injury.

Also during the former couple’s defamation trial on Tuesday, Depp’s lawyers read entries from a journal that Heard said the pair kept to share love notes.

Vasquez questioned why Heard wrote a series of affectionate notes to Depp in the months after she said she was assaulted.

Heard has said she believed Depp had hit rock bottom after the Australia fight and was committed to sobriety.

She wrote in May 2015, two months after Depp’s finger injury, that: “True love isn’t about just the madness of passion or instead picking the safety of peace. No, it’s about both.”

“I still, perhaps more than ever, want to rip you apart, devour you and savour the taste,” she added.

In another excerpt after their July 2015 honeymoon aboard the Orient Express train, Heard said she “couldn’t imagine a more gorgeous honeymoon”, and added: “I love you more and more every passing day.”

Audio recordings played in court

The court was also played an audio recording in which Heard can be heard telling Depp she hit him, but didn’t punch him. She said: “I didn’t punch you babe.” They then argue about the bathroom door, which Depp says he was hit in the head with.

Ms Vasquez asked Heard: “You said on that recording you hit Mr Depp?”

Heard replied: “Yes.”

Ms Vasquez said: “You accused him of being a baby?”

Heard said yes, she called him a baby after he hit her and pushed past her while she was barricading the door.

Another audio clip was played that seems to be from later in the couple’s argument about the bathroom door. Ms Vasquez said: “You punched the door into his head didn’t you?”

Heard said she did not, but that Depp had pushed the door into her toes, hurting her, and she responded on instinct.

Heard bought Depp a knife as a gift

Ms Vasquez also showed jurors a knife Heard bought Depp as a gift in 2012.

Heard, best known for her role in the Aquaman movie, said Depp had already turned violent by then and often lashed out at her when he was drunk or using drugs.

“This is the knife you gave to the man who would get drunk and violent toward you?” Ms Vasquez said to Heard, who responded that she did not think he would stab her with it.

The trial continues.