The world has been overtaken by the Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard defamation trial. It started on April 12th, after Depp filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against Heard in 2019 about an op-ed she wrote in 2018 about domestic abuse. Heard described herself in the article as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.” Although she didn’t mention Johnny Depp by name, it had irreparable damage to his career, being dropped from his role in Pirates of the Caribbean just days after the article came out.
Depp and Heard met on the cast of The Rum Diary in 2009, and the pair was dating by early 2012. This was around the time that Johnny Depp separated from Paradis after 14 years of dating. They were engaged in 2014 and married privately in 2015. Just one year later, in 2016, Heard filed for divorce and obtained a temporary restraining order against Depp, claiming that he had abused her during the relationship.
Depp claimed in 2019 that Amber Heard “is not a victim of domestic abuse, she is a perpetrator.” He denied that he had ever abused her, and believed that the allegations were part of an “elaborate hoax to generate positive publicity.” In 2020, phone recordings were released, in which Heard admitted to hitting Depp, saying “I don’t know what the motion of my actual hand was, but you’re fine, I did not hurt you, I did not punch you, I was hitting you.” During the recordings she is also heard saying, “I can’t promise you I won’t get physical again.”
Later in 2020, Depp sued the News Group Newspapers, who is the publisher of The Sun, as well as The Sun’s executive editor Dan Wootton for Libel. The trial lasted for three weeks, with allegations that include Heard punching him, defecating in his bed, and having affairs with other celebrities. Heard denied all of these allegations, and accused Depp of abusing her physically, including throwing a phone at her face and threatening to kill her. The court ruled that The Sun was correct in reporting that Depp was violent toward Amber Heard. Johnny Depp and his legal team were unable to appeal the judgment, being refused by the judge.
This leads us to where we are now. The $100 million libel lawsuit is currently underway, with Depp’s legal team resting their case on May 3rd and Amber Heard taking the stand for the first time on May 4th. Closing arguments will take place on the 27th of May, and the verdict will be reached at some point soon after that.