Why did Amber Heard bring up Kate Moss when she was talking about the stair incident, and why did Johnny Depp’s lawyer’s celebrate?

At the Depp vs. Heard defamation trial occurring currently in Fairfax, Virginia, Amber Heard brought up Johnny Depp’s ex Kate Moss in the middle of testimony about the night of the stair incident. When she evoked Kate’s name, Johnny’s lawyers smiled and celebrated. What does this mean and what does Kate Moss have to do with stairs? Will she testify?

Johnny Depp and Kate Moss dated from 1994 to 1998 and were an “It” couple of the types who together helped define the style and mood of this era of American life.

Why did Amber Heard mention Kate Moss?

“I don’t hesitate. I don’t wait. I instantly think of Kate Moss and the stairs, and I swung at him,” Amber Heard said during her testimony about the one time she said she actually hit Johnny Depp. Amber says she hit Johnny because he was attacking her sister on the stairs at the penthouse apartments they all lived in at the time.

“I did strike Johnny that day, in defense of my sister,” Amber said at another point of the trial. “I had heard that he had pushed a former girlfriend, I think it was Kate Moss, down the stairs. And I thought of that at the moment and I reacted in defense of her [sister Whitney].”

One of Johnny’s attorneys Camille Vasquez later asked if Amber struck Johnny because of what she had heard about Kate Moss. “He swung at Whitney and I’d heard a rumor, a vague rumor about that, and so that’s what I thought of,” Amber iterated.

What happened with Kate Moss and stairs?

Kate Moss has never publically accused Johnny Depp of pushing her down the stairs, or any acts of violence. Amber Heard says she heard a rumor about Johnny Depp pushing Kate down the stairs. There was, however, a real documented night of apparent turmoil for Johnny and Kate that ended with Johnny in handcuffs.

The New York Times reported on Sept 16, 1994, that Johnny had smashed up furniture and glass at the Mark Hotel. He was arrested, but the charges were dropped on the basis that he paid almost $10,000 in damages.

Eileen Perez, the police officer who showed up to the call at 5:30 a.m., found Johnny and Kate sitting calmly in the middle of shattered glass and broken table legs.

There was no personal injury or stairs involved in this incident, but it did spark rumors about fights between Kate and Johnny behind the scenes. Kate has never spoken ill of Johnny, however.

Will Kate Moss testify?

When Amber brought up Kate’s name, Johnny’s lawyers smiled and became animated, which led to analyst speculation that Amber had given them a reason to call Kate Moss to the stand in Johnny’s defense. At this point, though, talk of Kate Moss being a witness for Johnny Depp is just chatter.

There is also speculation that Amber bringing up rumors about Kate Moss might open her up to be questioned about when Amber was arrested in 2009 on domestic violence charges for hitting her girlfriend Tasya van Ree at an airport. Charges were dropped, and Tasya has even publicly come to Amber’s defense over the incident, even saying that Amber was “wrongfully accused” in 2016.

It is interesting to note, however, that Amber accused the arresting officer of homophobia and misogyny. This sparked the officer, a gay woman named Beverly Leonard, to speak out in her own defense on Facebook. “I am so not homophobic or mysoginistic [sic]!” she wrote. “The arrest was made because an assault occurred (I witnessed it) and the parties were in a domestic relationship.”