At various times during their tempestuous relationship she feared for her life, claimed Amber, reports AP.

On the first day of her testimony Monday at Britain’s High Court in London, Heard also denied accusations she was a heavy drug-taker and drinker as well as a controlling and abusive person.

The court is examining Depp’s libel suit against The Sun newspaper over an April 2018 article that labelled him a “wife beater” for allegedly abusing Heard.

“When I felt my life was threatened, I tried to defend myself and that started to happen years into the relationship, years into the violence,” she told the court. “Before that, I didn’t even try to defend myself, I just checked out.”

Depp’s lawyer Eleanor Laws played a recording of an argument between the pair in which Depp accuses Heard of throwing pots and other items at him the night before. Heard said she had hit — but not punched — Depp and that she had only thrown things “to escape him.”

The Hollywood star, who strongly denies abusing Heard, was at the court to hear his ex-wife’s evidence. Heard’s testimony is due to last for three days.

According to the 34-year-old Heard, Depp “explicitly threatened to kill me many times, especially later in our relationship.” She said he blamed his actions on “a self-created third party” that he referred to as “the monster.”

Depp and Heard met in 2009 on the set of the film “The Rum Diary,” which was released two years later. They married in Los Angeles in February 2015. Heard filed for divorce the following year, and the divorce was finalized in 2017.