The Amber Heard news just keeps getting more tangled. First, there was Amber’s sensational separation from Johnny Depp and the stream of abuse allegations that, according to E! Online , are now “spiraling out of control.” Shortly after the Depp-Heard divorce news broke, people remembered that Heard had been arrested back in 2009 with her own charges of domestic abuse.
Amber Heard was reportedly arrested for domestic violence against her girlfriend in 2009: https://t.co/EziWoSwgj9 pic.twitter.com/xVrBdFVzY4
— E! News (@enews) June 7, 2016
The Mirror reports that Heard was at Seattle/Tacoma International Airport with then-girlfriend Tasya Van Ree when the two “got into an argument” and Amber allegedly grabbed Tanya’s arm and hit her. Heard spent the night in jail after her arrest, but the case was dropped because Tanya and Amber lived in California, not in Seattle. That was right before Amber met Johnny, and got the charges wiped from her record.
Amber Heard — Meets Johnny Depp, Asks Police to Erase Domestic Violence Record via @TMZ https://t.co/bRVGpauMEJ
— Simply_Imperferct11 (@Darlene0809) June 9, 2016
When Amber and Johnny split up amid shocking accusations and photos of bruises and the previous arrest news started to circulate again, Tasya stepped forward. Van Ree insisted that the altercation was nothing more than “a lovers’ spat” and said that the arresting officer was “misogynistic” and “homophobic.” The Inquirer reports that through her spokeswoman, Jodi Gottlieb, Tasya said that the whole “domestic violence” incident with Amber just got “sensationalized” and didn’t really mean anything.
“I recount hints of misogynistic attitudes toward us, which later appeared to be homophobic when they found out we were domestic partners and not just ‘friends.’”
Amber Heard’s ex-girlfriend Tasya van Ree speaks out following domestic abuse allegations: https://t.co/ZDpU7lAkh7 pic.twitter.com/5XnXLqB9YJ
— E! News (@enews) June 8, 2016
Tasya had some really nice things to say about Heard’s character too. She described Amber as “a brilliant, honest and beautiful woman” and said it was “disheartening” that Amber’s story was being questioned. Van Ree also claimed that the incident was “misinterpreted and over-sensationalized by two individuals in a powerful position.”
#Queens #NY #DayCare Tasya van Ree: Amber Heard’s 2009 airport flap ‘misinterpreted’:… https://t.co/XSNRZ1n7Ni https://t.co/kHHw4hC3gU
— DayCare @ Ozone Park (@LearningBeesStu) June 8, 2016
There’s a problem with Van Ree’s story about the homophobic cop, though. It turns out that the cop could not have been influenced by homophobic feelings or beliefs since the arresting officer was herself an “openly gay woman.” When Officer Beverly Leonard showed up at the airport to intervene in the dispute between Amber and Tasya , she had no anti-gay feelings at all.
TMZ broke the news early on June 9, reporting that the cop was a “proud” lesbian. Beverly participated in Pride celebrations, “proudly posted” photos to Facebook of herself and her female partner, and lived openly as a woman in a lesbian relationship. Leonard even helped out and gave support to a Seattle organization whose mandate is to “help women who were victims of domestic violence.”
The cop that Amber Heard’s ex-girlfriend accused of being “homophobic” turns out to be a lesbian. https://t.co/zBIBnnGLq1
— TMZ Live (@TMZLive) June 9, 2016
Now, Officer Leonard is speaking out. As far as she is concerned, she did the job she was hired to do and intervened properly in a case of domestic violence between Tasya and Amber. Van Ree is trying to minimize the negative reflection on Amber now that the actress wants out of her 15-month marriage to Johnny Depp, and to do that, she also tried to minimize the level of violence that led to Amber’s arrest.
Sources close to Beverly, who has since retired from her career as a cop, say that she’s “indignant.” Leonard is clear that it wasn’t non-existent homophobia that motivated her to arrest Amber. She took Amber to jail because Heard was “breaking the law.”
According to Leonard, Van Ree wasn’t eager to forgive Amber at the time of the altercation and didn’t act as if it was a lovers’ spat. Tasya was “extremely upset with Amber” and showed the cops evidence of Amber’s violence. Police records show that there was “property damage,” and Beverly remembers seeing Tasya’s broken pendant.
Once again, I think both sides are lying and telling the truth! https://t.co/0uUqnRguPm
— Perez (@ThePerezHilton) June 9, 2016
The news about Amber Heard and Johnny Depp’s split up just gets worse and worse. What do you think? Who of all the people drawn into the story is telling the truth?
[Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images]