New documents have revealed Amber Heard previously considered herself married to her former partner Tasya Van Ree, before she ever tied the knot with Johnny Depp, who she has now filed for divorce from.
While gay marriage was not legal at the time, former couple did everything that would make them as legally close to married as possible, according to The Mirror.
The newspaper reports it has seen legal documents that show the two women viewed themselves as a married couple even if on paper the word was not available to them eight years ago.
The now 30-year-old actress went as far as changing her last name to match her photographer love’s name.
On March in 2008 in California, the star legally changed her name to Amber Van Ree and stated the reason to do so as they were in a ‘domestic partnership’.
Three months later, California started issuing marriage licences to gay couples but that was halted later that year, with gay marriage not legal in California again until 2013 and across the US until 2015.A source told the Mirror that the couple went on to have a private ceremony in 2011 in New York, when same-sex marriage was legalized there but did not make it legally official.
The couple asked the special few who attended the wedding to keep the wedding a secret, the source said.
Amber, The Mirror reports, did not need to divorce her partner because of their legal status but did petition to change her name back in 2013 and it was granted the following year three months after she and Johnny got engaged.
Bruises: Amber claims the 52-year-old actor attacked her while drunk and high over last weekend - and it was not the first time that he had done so
It was Amber’s continued friendship with her former wife that reportedly led to Johnny’s alleged explosive anger at the star.
Vanessa Paradis breaks silence on Johnny Depp domestic abuse allegations
More people close to Johnny Depp are publicly speaking out in defense of the actor.
Vanessa Paradis , Depp’s ex and the mother of his two children, reportedly wrote a letter defending her former partner of 14 years.
“Johnny Depp is the father of my two children, he is a sensitive, loving and loved person,” Paradis allegedly wrote in a paper.
The handwritten letter continues, “I believe with all my heart that these recent allegations made are outrageous, in all the years I have known Johnny he has never been physically abusive with me and this looks nothing like the man I lived with for 14 wonderful years.”
Lily-Rose Depp took to Instagram to give her father support and weigh in on the domestic abuse allegations made by Johnny’s soon-to-be ex-wife, Amber Heard.
“My dad is the sweetest most loving person I know,” she wrote alongside a throwback photo of her dad holding her as a toddler. “He’s been nothing but a wonderful father to my little brother and I, and everyone who knows him would say the same.”
