Amber Heard 'Did What She Did to Protect Herself'

Tension between the couple started even before they wed, with a source telling PEOPLE that Heard expressed hesitation about settling down with the actor 22 years her senior at their engagement party in March 2014, two months after their engagement.

“Before Amber met Johnny she was just a regular super cool hipster chick living with roommates who dated girls,” a source tells PEOPLE. “At their engagement party she kind of got cold feet … she was just like what is this scene and what am I doing here? She kind of couldn’t believe it was her life now.”

In December 2014, a source told PEOPLE there “is turmoil in the relationship” and wasn’t sure if and when they would wed.

The couple eventually tied the knot in February of last year. Depp, 52, was not present when she rang in her 30th birthday this past April in Palm Springs.

Heard’s filing came just three days after the death of Depp’s beloved mother, Betty Sue Palmer, at 83.

Although the couple never spoke publicly about any discord, Heard acknowledged rumors about the state of their union while speaking with Marie Claire last November.

“”I try not to react to the horrible misrepresentation of our lives,” she said. “But it is strange and hard.”

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