What should you know about the Depp heard trial?
In Fairfax, Virginia, on April 12, a high-profile trial involving the actor’s Johnny Depp, 58, and his ex-wife Amber Heard, 36, got underway. And since then, there have been a lot of controversies regarding the Johnny Depp Amber Heard case. The trial centers on a defamation claim Depp brought against Heard in 2019 regarding an opinion piece she authored in 2018 on domestic violence. Depp claims that the article destroyed his career.
Heard began testifying on May 4 after Depp’s legal team rested its case on May 3 following 13 days of testimony.
The trial, scheduled to last six weeks, has already made news for everything from Depp’s threatening texts to audio recordings of their exchanges. Following a trial in the United Kingdom in 2020, this is the second lawsuit containing abuse claims related to Depp and Heard’s relationship.
Why is Johnny Depp suing Amber Heard?
In March 2019, Depp filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against Heard after she had written an opinion piece for the Washington Post the year before. In the essay, heard identified herself as a “public person representing domestic abuse” and spoke about how women are treated in sexual assault cases. However, she avoided mentioning Depp by name. Depp alleges that the piece hurt his career and led to his termination from Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean franchise just days after it was published. Following the couple’s well-publicized separation and the rampant abuse charges between them, Depp’s career was already in trouble.
The lengthy Depp Heard trial was delayed after Depp’s unsuccessful libel lawsuit against News Group Newspapers, the publisher of the tabloid The Sun in the U.K., in 2020.
Why is Amber Heard suing Johnny Depp?
After Depp lost the U.K. case, Heard’s attorneys attempted to have Depp’s defamation action dismissed. Still, the judge rejected their request, citing the distinctions between U.K. and U.S. defamation statutes and that Heard was not a defendant in the case against The Sun. Heard subsequently filed a $100 million countersuit against Depp, alleging that he had defamed her by calling her allegations of sexual assault “false” and “a fraud.” The trial is in Fairfax, Virginia, since Heard’s op-ed was carried in the Washington Post, where the newspaper is printed.
What to know about The Sun lawsuit
During a 16-day trial in the U.K. in the summer of 2020, when Depp sued The Sun’s publisher for libel over a headline labeling him a “wife-beater,” some of the accusations made in the trial were previously heard. In her testimony at the trial, Heard accused Depp of 14 forms of abuse. All of them were rejected by Depp, but a court determined that 12 of them had been “proven to the civil standard” and that The Sun’s headline was “essentially factual.”
The timeline of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s relationship
On the set of The Rum Diary in 2009, when Heard played Depp’s character’s love interest, Depp and Heard became friends. Depp spoke about his first interaction with Heard during his evidence in Fairfax when the two were filming a scene in which their characters were supposed to kiss in the bathtub.
“That moment was, it was, it felt like something, it felt like something I should not be feeling,” Depp said, adding that they were both in relationships at the time. “I think something in the kiss in the shower was real.”
Two years later, they reconnected to promote the movie, but they didn’t start dating until Depp ended his relationship with Vanessa Paradis, with whom he had two children. In 2015, Depp and Heard wed. After obtaining a temporary restraining order against Depp, who she said was abusive to her, Heard filed for divorce 15 months later. Heard was charged with “alleging abuse” by Depp’s legal team to “obtain a premature financial resolution,” which Depp vigorously rejected. After Heard withdrew a demand for spousal support of $50,000 per month, the couple reached an out-of-court settlement, with Heard collecting $7 million. Heard claimed that she gave the money to a good cause.
When their divorce was finalized, the couple issued a joint statement: “Our relationship was passionately passionate and at times tumultuous, but always bound by love.”
What Johnny Depp said in his testimony
Depp spoke about his childhood experiences of verbal and physical abuse, his initial meetings with Heard, and how the popularity of the Pirates of the Caribbean film series changed his life over several days of testimony that started on April 19.
Amber Heard and Johnny Depp accuse the other of using physical abuse, but both deny the other’s allegations. “Never did I reach the point of striking Ms Heard in any way, nor have I ever struck any woman in my life,” Depp claimed in his deposition. He detailed one incident in which his finger was severely hurt after Heard allegedly threw a vodka bottle at him, alleging that Heard was abusive toward him.
Depp was questioned about texts he sent to friends detailing his drug and alcohol use and discussing possible violent acts against Heard during cross-examination by Heard’s team. In one of the texts, he referred to Heard as a “rotting corpse,” Depp claimed they were just a reflection of his dark humor. He added, “There is no specific place you must stay in if you’re writing; you may roam.” And occasionally, humor—incredibly, really dark humor—must be used to cope with pain.
The actor also spoke about how Heard’s op-ed caused him to lose his role in the sixth Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Whether Ms. Heard used my name or not, Depp remarked, “I would be a genuine simpleton not to assume that there was an influence on my career based on Ms. Heard’s statements.”
What Amber Heard said in her testimony
Heard testified about physical abuse in her relationship that she claims were caused by Depp’s drug and alcohol usage on May 4 when she entered the witness stand for the first time. Heard opened her statement by saying, “I find it difficult to describe how awful this is. “This is undoubtedly the most painful and challenging thing I’ve ever experienced.”
She discussed the beginning of their relationship in secret when she claims Depp showered her with extravagant presents during the press tour for The Rum Diary and its violent turn in 2012 when she alleges Depp started drinking again after quitting due to a health issue. Heard recalled the first claimed incident of Depp hitting her, saying, “I will never forget it. My life was altered by it. She claimed Depp often took narcotics, including cocaine and ecstasy, and frequently accused her of infidelity.
‘Hundreds of death threats
Ms. Heard gave emotional evidence on the last day of the trial about the harassment she claimed to have experienced after divorcing Mr. Depp.
“I frequently, if not daily, receive hundreds of death threats. Since the beginning of the trial, thousands. Those who mock me and my tale of being abused, “She spoke. “I have to relive the trauma every single day.”
She described the legal proceeding as “awful” and “humiliating.”
She remarked that I am human, and maybe it’s easy to forget. “I am unable to have a career as I am right now. I can’t even allow anyone to associate with me due to the dangers and attacks they will face “.
Conclusion
Anyhow the case of Johnny Depp Amber Heard was one of the prolonged cases. But in the end, it was Johny Depp to win it.
