iO Tillett Wright & Amber Heard in New York, 2012.
Artist and LGBTQ activist iO Tillett Wright was on the phone with Amber Heard on Saturday, May 21, when Heard claims that Johnny Depp hurled a phone at her.
In court documents obtained by People magazine, Heard claims her husband hit her with a cell phone, pulled her hair and screamed at her – and that he was abusive to her throughout their 15-month marriage. Heard was granted a temporary restraining order against Depp last Friday.
Depp reportedly “ripped the cell phone from my hand and began screaming profanities and insults at iO, Heard said,
“I heard iO yell at me to get out of the house. Johnny then grabbed the cellphone, wound up his arm like a baseball pitcher and threw the cellphone at me striking my cheek and eye with great force.“
Police were called to investigate the incident, but the LAPD said they saw no evidence of a crime and Heard refused to file a report. According to TMZ, Heard did not tell cops who responded to her home last week that Johnny Depp smashed her face with an iPhone … she said she had a argument with “my husband”.
Heard submitted photos appearing to show a bruised eye as evidence. Depp has not yet directly responded to the abuse allegations but his lawyer responded claiming Heard is,
“attempting to secure a premature financial resolution by alleging abuse.”
“I’m so proud of my baby girl @lilyrose_depp. She decided she wanted to be in @selfevidentproject because she falls somewhere on the vast spectrum, and I couldn’t be happier to welcome her to the family.”
So, who is iO Tillett Wright? She’s a photographer for one. Wright has been documenting thousands of people who fall somewhere on the LGBTQ spectrum in the photography campaign the Self Evident Project. The project aims to amass pictures of 10,000 Americans who don’t define themselves as “100 percent straight.”
Wright plans to present the final collection of photographs in a massive art installation in front of the Washington Monument ahead of the next presidential election in 2016, according to the project’s website. The goal is to help put an end to discrimination against LGBTQ people and “erase the boundaries” within the community.
So far, she has photographed 9,563 faces. Wright included the 17-year-old daughter of Depp and Vanessa Paradis in the project. Lily-Rose Depp was the 9,958th person to be featured.
Wright also costars with Catfish‘s Nev Schulman in the MTV show Suspect which follows people trying to learn the truth about their family members or loved ones.
You’ll find out Wright’s story in her first book, Darling Days: A Memoir, which comes out in September. In it, Wright tells the story of her rebellion and survival while growing up in New York’s Lower East Side in the ’80s and ’90s while surrounded by “punk, poverty, heroin and art.”
The book already has one fan in author Tom Robbins, who says
“Gender-defying iO Wright mixes such a high-octane cocktail of radiant ink, wild anecdotes, bad behavior, and gritty truths – topped off with an unexpected tonic of transcendence – it could stagger Charles Dickens, electrify Maxim Gorky, and cause Jane Austen to walk around in army boots.”
Wow. That’s a book quote!… and an interesting life, to boot!
WE ARE YOU from Self Evident Truths on Vimeo.
(Top photo, Pacific Coast News; via People)
