Johnny Depp’s Lawsuit Against Amber Heard for Defamation Begins
Jury selection began Monday in the high-profile defamation lawsuit Johnny Depp has brought against his ex-wife, actress Amber Heard, whom he accuses of falsely portraying him as a domestic abuser.
Depp sued Heard over an op-ed he wrote for The Washington Post in 2018 in which Heard referred to herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.” The article doesn’t mention Depp by name, but says it clearly refers to allegations Heard has made on other forums that she suffered physical abuse at his hands. Depp denies the accusations.
The suit brought a bit of Hollywood to a court that has a long history of dealing with high-profile crimes, but not those involving movie stars.
More than a dozen women, some waving signs reading “Justice for Johnny,” joined other fans waving pirate flags in recognition of Depp’s signature role in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies, waiting outside the courthouse an hour before of the audience.
The courtroom in the city of Fairfax was closed to the public Monday, with closed-circuit access limited in an overflow courtroom. There were people who lined up before 7 am to receive the wristbands that grant access. The trial, however, can be followed in streaming through the Court TV website.
The judge in charge of the trial, Penney Azcarate, has imposed a series of access rules to try to maintain decorum in court. Most significantly, neither Depp nor Heard are allowed to pose for photos or sign autographs in the courthouse or on the grounds occupied by the courts.
Depp fans have expressed their support, saying that he has been falsely accused. Raylyn Otie, a Depp fan from Bluefield, Virginia, drove five hours to see the movie star. She was disappointed when Depp did not personally greet fans, as sheriff’s deputies carefully limited fan access.
“I’m very disappointed. I came to give you flowers to show you some support,” she said with the bouquet in her hand.
In a separate lawsuit Depp filed against a British newspaper, a judge dismissed the case, finding that Depp assaulted Heard on a dozen occasions and made her fear for her life on multiple occasions.
Heard has filed a countersuit against Depp accusing her lawyers of defaming her at her direction.
Heard’s attorneys unsuccessfully tried to have the case moved to California, where the actors reside. A Fairfax judge ruled that Depp was entitled to bring the case here because the Post’s online editions are published through servers located in Fairfax County. Depp’s lawyers have said they filed the case in Virginia in part because the laws here are more favorable to his case.
The trial is expected to last more than a month.
Three years after Johnny Depp filed a defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife Amber Heard, the case will go to trial Monday in Fairfax County Circuit Court in Virginia.
We tell you what you need to know below.
What happened
Depp and Amber met on the set of “The Rum Diary” in 2009, married in 2015 and went on to be mired in a contentious split for months, with allegations of misbehavior on both sides.
In 2016, Heard alleged that Depp had injured her face after throwing a phone at her home in Los Angeles. Depp denied this and was not charged with any crime.
The couple settled their divorce months later , releasing a joint statement that read in part: “Our relationship was intensely passionate and sometimes volatile, but always bound up in love.”
In December 2018, Heard wrote an opinion piece for The Washington Post titled “I spoke out against sexual violence, and I faced the wrath of our culture. That has to change” in which she wrote “I became a figure depiction of domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our culture’s anger at women speaking out.
“Friends and advisers told me I would never work as an actress again, that I would be blacklisted. A movie I was in gave another actress my part,” Heard wrote. “I had just shot a two-year campaign as the face of a global fashion brand, and the company fired me.”
Depp’s name is not mentioned in the article.
The demand
The following year, Depp filed a $50 million libel lawsuit against Heard.
Their lawsuit contends that, while the actor is not named, “the op-ed clearly dealt with (and was consistently characterized as such by other media outlets) the alleged victimization of Ms. Heard after she publicly accused her ex-husband, Johnny Depp. (Mr Depp), of domestic abuse in 2016, when she appeared in court with an apparently battered face and obtained a temporary restraining order against Mr Depp on May 27, 2016.”
Depp’s lawsuit also claims Heard’s allegations caused him financial losses, including being cut from future “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies after being the face of the franchise for 15 years.
Depp has maintained his innocence over the years and in 2021 he complained in an interview with The Sun that Hollywood is boycotting him.
“A man, an actor in a nasty, messy situation, for the last number of years…” he said “But, you know, I’m moving to where I have to go to do all of that… To get things out to the light”.
Heard’s response to the lawsuit
In 2019 the actress tried to have the lawsuit dismissed.
In an affidavit included in Heard’s motion to dismiss the case against her, she said that within a year of their relationship she began witnessing the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star abuse drugs and alcohol.
“Every time he used, I worried about both of us,” Heard said in the filing. “He became a totally different person, often delusional and violent. We called that version of Johnny ‘the Monster.'”
Court documents detail multiple cases of alleged abuse in which Heard claims Depp hit her, threw bottles at her, yelled at her, pushed her, pulled out her hair and at one point strangled her.
In response to the accusations, Depp’s lawyer, Adam Waldman, told CNN: “A hoax faced with the reality of the evidence requires new lies to sustain itself.”
The motion to dismiss was denied.
Heard filed a $100 million defamation countersuit against Depp in 2020 that is ongoing.
The last
Over the weekend Heard posted a note about the upcoming trial on his verified social media accounts, writing: “I never named [Depp], rather I wrote about the price women pay for speaking out against men in power. I’m still paying that price, but I hope that when this case is over, I can move on and so can Johnny.”
“I have always held a love for Johnny and it pains me to have to relive the details of our past life together in front of the world,” she wrote. “At this time, I acknowledge the continued support I have been fortunate to receive over the years, and in these next few weeks I will lean on him more than ever.”
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings