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Today, the woman at the centre of the decades most salacious libel trial takes to the witness stand and the world will be watching Amber Heard. For the Hollywood actress whose career includes The Danish Girl and box office record-breaker Aquaman, this week will be her greatest starring role to date.

Heard has arrived at the High Court wearing a red bandana as a face mask, and has been smiling but silent, surrounded by a support squad of powerful women. She and her entourage of female allies, nicknamed Ambers angels by the media, have spent day and night together in the last few weeks, visiting members club Oswalds in Mayfair, and broadcaster Sandi Toksvig and her wife Debbie were among guests at a party thrown in Heards honour by author Kathy Lette, who is friends with Heards barrister Jen Robinson, Amal Clooneys best lawyer pal.

So who is the woman behind the red scarf?

Heard, 34, and her sister Whitney, 31, were raised in Texas, about 40 miles outside of the state capital Austin. It was a conservative area, a very monotone presentation of society, and she still recalls the first time she saw a Muslim woman in a hijab. I was electricified.

Amber Heard at the Cannes Film Festival in2018 (Getty Images)

Their mother Patricia worked in telecommunications for the state and their father David ran a small construction firm. A keen hunter and horse broker, he liked to treat middle daughter Amber as the son he never had. They were fishing, camping and hunting companions (hunting is their bonding activity to this day), and Heard, t hough a self-described girly-girl, was raised to be tenacious. Her father taught her to ride horses aggressively and drive pick-up trucks, and scared off potential suitors with his penchant for shotguns. I was always into older men as a teenager, Heard once said, before going on to marry Depp, 22 years her senior. I never dated in my school. That was a ridiculous idea to me.

At 16, Heards best friend died in a car crash, and it had a profound effect. Raised a Roman Catholic, she declared herself an atheist, and began reading books by Ayn Rand, Ray Bradbury and George Orwell. At that time she started sending headshots to modelling agencies (shed taken part in beauty pageants as a child) and at 17 dropped out of high school to move to New York, which thrilled her from the moment she began visiting it to meet agents. I thought I had died and gone to heaven, she says of the Big Apple.

Cara Delevingne (L) and Amber Heard at the Cannes Film Festivalin 2014 (Dave Benett)

Heard insists she had no interest in modelling. After completing a home-study diploma in New York she moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting and, despite her lack of contacts and her parents scepticism, began to be cast in film and TV roles. Within two years she was in American football drama Friday Night Lights and played the younger version of Charlize Therons character in North Country, a film about sexual harassment, discrimination and social justice. Her big break came with two box-office hits in 2008: martial arts drama Never Back Down and stoner comedy Pineapple Express, playing Seth Rogans high-school girlfriend. That year, she won a breakthrough award at the Hollywood Film Festival.

Among other 2008 appearances was horror film All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, picked for distribution by Harvey Weinstein but then dropped. Its director Jonathan Levine said hed chosen Heard for the lead because there was a certain type of beauty and a certain type of innate intelligence that is not something you find every day. Certainly, not something you would find in somebody her age.

In 2011 she met Depp on the set of comedy-drama The Rum Diary. Heard reportedly beat Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley to the role of Chenault and was personally selected by Depp. The pairs insane chemistry was spotted from the start, but Depp was with his partner of 14 years, Vanessa Paradis. When they amicably separated the following year, he and Heard quietly dated were first seen holding hands at a Rolling Stones concert in April 2013.

Heard with Depp in The Rum Diary (GK Films)

Since then, her film credits have also included Magic Mike XXL and catastrophic film adaptation London Fields the producers sued her for 8 million for breach of contract. Heard countersued, accusing them of using a body double to make it appear shed starred in sex scenes she hadnt consented to. The case was eventually settled.

Heards activism stems from an early age. Her fathers company employed mostly Hispanic migrants, which instilled in her a sense of injustice of the plight of those on the Mexican side of the border. At school Heard appealed against the decision to deny a same-sex couple entry to prom, and fought against the uniform policy so she could wear a shorter skirt and remove her jacket. It seemed inherently unfair to be told I had to dress a certain way, she later explained. Why is it my burden what a boy might be distracted?

She credits her teenage experience working at a soup kitchen for intensifying her altruistic drive, and has undertaken duties for the UN, American Civil Liberties Union, Syrian American Medical Society, Amnesty International and Planned Parenthood. She and girlfriend Bianca Butti were spotted at the Womens Day march in LA this year. Heard has spoken out about the gender pay gap, victim-blaming, trans rights and abortion. I would rather go down for being who I am than to be popular for something I am not. Wouldnt you? she told young voters at a conference in New York last summer.

Amber Heard with Nicole Kidman at the premiere of Aquaman in LA in 2018(Getty Images)

Heards Instagram grid presents a familiar Hollywood showreel: award ceremony selfies with Elisabeth Moss and Aquaman co-star Nicole Kidman; laughing on the sofa with James Corden; posing on the red carpet with Arianna Huffington, Camila Cabello and Helen Mirren. Cara Delevingne appears regularly, as do transgender activists Corey Rae and iO Tillett Wright, who Heard was seen laughing with on a yacht on a recent holiday. Heard took Rae as her date to the 2019 Golden Globes, and bestie Wright, an LGBT rights campaigner and author, recently made the headlines when a 2016 blog resurfaced, describing living with Depp and Heard in their guest house and claiming to have seen Depps alleged domestic abuse.

Another witness to Depp and Heards relationship was the actresss spiritual BFF Raquel Pennington, a yoga fanatic and jewellery designer whos been pictured alongside Heard at every stage of her divorce proceedings. It was Pennington, as her next-door neighbour and friend of 18-plus years, who reportedly threw herself between the couple in 2016 when Depp was drunk and high, and Pennington who was pictured collecting a tearful Heard from an LA courtroom after the actress filed a restraining order.

Front and centre of Heards inner circle and High Court support squad is Whitney, who lives with partner Gavin Henriquez in LA. The sisters lost their mother in May and have spent lockdown together in the family home.

Amber Heard on the James Corden show in 2015 (PA)

There is a list of famous exes. Heard came out as bisexual in 2010, midway through a four-year relationship with female photographer Tasya van Ree, having dated a stream of male actors during her early years in LA. She said: I dont label myself one way or another and has called out publicists who warned her against speaking out. In 2009 she was arrested for domestic violence after allegedly grabbing van Ree and hitting her arm. The charges were dropped and the photographer has since defended her ex, saying the incident had been over-sensationalised and calling the arresting officers homophobic.

Heard moved in with Depp in LA in 2012 and saw his children Lily-Rose and Jack most weekends, taking Lily-Rose shopping. They married in 2015 at Depps home before a small second wedding on a private island in the Bahamas with Depps son Jack as best man.

Heard with Elon Musk (instagram.com)

After filing for divorce in May 2016, following the domestic abuse allegations - which are now the centre of the legal trial, with Depp insisting the claims are untrue - Heard began dating billionaire SpaceX founder Elon Musk. The pair were together for almost a year (there were hotly denied rumours of a three-way with Delevingne) but split in 2017 blaming long-distance pressures. They remain close friends, with Heard saying their beautiful relationship is now a beautiful friendship.

Heard was first spotted kissing her film-maker new girlfriend Butti in Palm Springs in January and theyve spent lockdown together in LA, flower shopping and walking Buttis dog, Birdie.

Last weeks hearing was told how a broke Depp handed his ex-wife a 5.5 million divorce settlement, which she donated to a childrens hospital and domestic abuse charity. CelebrityNetWorth.com puts her fortune at about 7 million, mostly from acting, modelling, product endorsement and work as an ambassador for LOreal. Shes produced two films: And Soon the Darkness in 2010 and Syrup in 2013.

Heard in Aquaman (AP)

Shes also a petrolhead. I spend all my money on classic cars. Ive had loads, she said in 2015, referencing her 1968 red Mustang which she had for 12 years and was stolen three times. According to divorce settlement expense documents from 2016, Heard also racks up 30,000 a month on basic expenses, including holidays in Hawaii and Italy, 1,600 a month on clothing and pet care for her Yorkshire terriers.

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How Amber Heard went from a small town in Texas to centre stage in Hollywood's most explosive trial yet - Evening Standard