Amber Heard's legal representative has branded Johnny Depp an "obsessed ex-husband hell-bent on revenge" as the pair faced each other in a Virginia court.
In the lawsuit, taking place at the Fairfax County District Courthouse, Johnny Depp is seeking £38.2 million in damages.
Depp, 58, decided to take action against Heard, 35, after she wrote an opinion piece in 2018, detailing her experiences with domestic abuse.
Lawyers for Johnny Depp claimed that the article published by the Washington Post falsely implied that Amber was physically and sexually abused by Johnny during their marriage.
While the article doesn't mention Depp, Heard's lawyers claim that it is covered by the first amendment of the United States constitution, protecting the freedom of speech.
Amber's lawyer, Benjamin Rottenborn said she had suffered "sexual violence" at the hands of Depp, before saying he was "an obsessed ex-husband, hellbent on revenge," while Amber sat at the back of the courtroom.
As the case got underway, he said: "You are being asked to decide a very simple question: were the words used by Amber in the 2018 opinion piece that was published in The Washington Post protected free speech under the first amendment or not?
"The question is whether the words were protected by the first amendment, and the answer is very clearly yes."
Rottenborn added: "The evidence for Mr Depp isn't pretty, you're going to see who the real Johnny Depp is behind the fame, behind the pirate costumes.
"We're going to focus on those words, whether you look at them individually or in the context of the piece doesn't really matter, because they're true."
He went on to say that Johnny Depp had planned to turn the defamation trial into a "soap opera", adding: "Amber Heard never wanted to offer up to the public who Johnny Depp was, but that is going to come out.
"He wanted to make her life hard, he wanted to ruin her life, he wanted to destroy her ad that is what he did.
"I wish I could say that it's surprising, it's disturbing but not surprising."
Elaine Bredehoft who is also representing Amber claimed that several abusive incidents had been triggered by "crushing" drug and alcohol problems.
These are believed to include a "drug binge" with his "good friend" Marilyn Manson and a "blackout" in Australia, which the court was told Heard had previously described as a "three-day hostage situation".
However, lawyers argued that the allegations by Amber were false and the actress was "preparing to give the performance of a lifetime" during the proceedings.
Camille Vasquez, representing Depp, said the actor would "go to his grave knowing that whatever he does there will always be people who believe he abused a woman".
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