Amber Heard says Johnny Depp hurt himself during fights by cutting his arms, holding knives to his chest and putting cigarettes out on himself

• Amber Heard took the stand on Monday in her defamation trial against ex-husband Johnny Depp.
• Depp claims Heard defamed him by insinuating she had been the victim of domestic violence.

Amber Heard said Johnny Depp would "often" self-harm during fights, using knives to cut himself and putting lit cigarettes out on himself.

Heard spoke about Depp's alleged self-harm tendencies as she continued direct testimony in Fairfax County, Virginia, court on Monday.

Depp has taken Heard to trial, saying his ex-wife defamed him by insinuating in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed that she had been the victim of domestic violence.

Heard countersued Depp, and has spent her time on the stand so far telling the jury about multiple physical and sexual assaults she says she suffered at the hands of Depp.

Heard said Monday that Depp would regularly self-harm during their arguments "especially as our relationship was ending" in 2016.

"He often in fights would cut his arms or hold a knife to his chest or draw blood, superficially at first," Heard said.

"He also put cigarettes out on himself. He'd flick them at me and once or twice he'd try and put out one on me, but mostly he would do it while screaming at me," Heard added. "He once did it right in front of me, screaming at my face as he put the cigarette out on his cheek."

Heard's testimony Monday morning, continuing direct examination after a weeklong break for the trial, delved into the ways Heard says Depp worked himself into substance-fueled rages where he exhibited erratic behavior and recurrently beat her.

According to Heard, Depp's abuse worsened in 2014, after a weeklong detox trip on his private Bahamas island. After the trip, Heard said, Depp fired the doctors and nurses he used to treat his own addiction issues.

Depp was hallucinating during that period, Heard testified, and she described being fearful of the actor working himself up into paranoid bouts of rage because he believed another man was in the house. She said the phantom person would trigger escalating anger from Depp, leading to assaults on her.

"I was fearful he was going to believe he was angry at me even though we were not fighting," Heard said.

Depp and several of his employees have testified throughout the trial that while he often drank and used cocaine and marijuana, his substance abuse was always under control and he only sought medical attention to deal with an opioid addiction he developed following a leg injury.