No, Amber Heard didn’t quote lines from ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ during testimony

UPDATE, 6/1/2022: A jury has awarded Johnny Depp more than $10 million in his libel lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard, the Associated Press reports. It vindicates his stance that Heard fabricated claims that she was abused by Depp before and during their brief marriage. The jury also found in favor of Heard, who said she was defamed by Depp’s lawyer when he called her abuse allegations a hoax. Jury members decided Heard should receive $2 million. 

Actress Amber Heard took the stand on May 4 to testify against actor Johnny Depp, who is her ex-husband, in response to a libel lawsuit he filed against her. 

Depp says Heard’s 2018 op-ed article in the Washington Post defamed him when she described herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.” Both Heard and Depp have publicly accused each other of domestic violence. 

Some people have accused Heard of acting during her testimony by quoting lines from movies and books. One popular claim circulating on social media says she used lines from the 1999 movie “The Talented Mr. Ripley” during her first day of testimony. 

THE QUESTION

Did Amber Heard quote lines from “The Talented Mr. Ripley” in her testimony? 

THE SOURCES

• Transcript of Amber Heard’s testimony streamed live on YouTube
• IMDb

THE ANSWER

No, Amber Heard did not quote lines from “The Talented Mr. Ripley” in her testimony. 

WHAT WE FOUND

Social media users are claiming that Heard said, “The thing with [Johnny], it’s like the sun shines on you, and it’s glorious. And then he forgets you and it’s very, very cold. When you have his attention, you feel like you’re the only person in the world. That’s why everybody loves him so much.”

This would be almost identical to lines that the character Marge Sherwood, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, says in “The Talented Mr Ripley.” The lines from the movie are as follows:

Marge Sherwood: The thing with Dickie... it's like the sun shines on you, and it's glorious. And then he forgets you and it's very, very cold.

Tom Ripley: So I'm learning.

Marge Sherwood: When you have his attention, you feel like you're the only person in the world, that's why everybody loves him so much.

But Heard didn’t say these lines during her testimony. 

VERIFY analyzed a transcript of Heard’s testimony that was streamed live on YouTube by our Washington, D.C. sister station WUSA9. The livestream was missing about five minutes of Heard’s testimony, so VERIFY listened to that first portion streamed by Court TV.

The video from Court TV and the transcript of Heard’s testimony do not include any instances of her saying lines that match those from “The Talented Mr. Ripley.”

Here’s what Heard did say at one point while recounting her relationship with Depp: “When I was around Johnny, I felt like the most beautiful person in the whole world – you know, [he] made me feel seen, made me feel like a million dollars.” She said later that Depp sometimes “disappeared,” and she would have no way to contact him. 

Some social media users have also claimed that Heard mimicked lines from other movies, including “Notting Hill” starring Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant. People mentioned that Heard took a line about drinking tea from the film. 

“Johnny told me that he had a health issue, something with his liver, and that’s why he was not drinking. He was drinking a lot of tea – like a lot of tea,” Heard said during her testimony.

There are several lines about drinking tea in the movie, but none that are similar to what Heard said on the stand.