Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. Image Source: EW 

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard have been in a defamation lawsuit battle at the Fairfax County Court, Virginia since April 11th, 2022. The actor sued his ex-wife over an op-ed she wrote for The Washington Post in 2018 where she described herself as a survivor of domestic violence and abuse.

Johnny Depp sued Amber Heard claiming that the accusations and allegations against him were untrue and after the op-ed was published, it went on to tarnish his reputation and career opportunities. Hence, he wants to clear his name and wants the audience and everyone to know the truth, which is that in their relationship, Johnny Depp was the one who was the victim of domestic abuse and violence and not Amber Heard. Amber Heard is still on the stand, telling her side of the story and she said that it's the most hardest thing she has to do till today. 

Amber Heard, while describing a fight between Johnny Depp and her, said that while they were fighting and arguing, her sister Whitney Heard had to intervene to stop Johnny Depp from hurting Amber Heard, but Johnny, according to Amber Heard, took a swing at her. 

Amber Heard said that when she witnessed that Johnny Depp had swung at her sister, she said that she instantly recalled Kate Moss and the stairs, and she swung at Johnny Depp. Amber Heard added that in their entire relationship, this was the first time she struck Johnny Depp to protect her sister from falling down the stairs. She added that he did not push Whitney Heard down the stairs. 

As soon as Amber Heard mentioned Kate Moss, Johnny Depp’s lawyer, Benjamin Chew, was seen fist-pumping at his colleague and whispering excitedly in Johnny Depp’s ears. If you're wondering what the connection is, Kate Moss and Johnny Depp were together from 1994 to 1997, and there were rumors at the time that Johnny Depp pushed Kate Moss down the stairs during their time together, but neither Kate Moss nor Johnny Depp ever explained or spoke about the incident. It was believed that those were just rumors and nothing sort of it ever happened between the former couple since nothing was reported. 

It is not exactly clear why Benjamin Chew was so excited after listening to that description, but a lot of people on the internet and experts who are watching the trial very closely mentioned that Amber Heard’s inclusion of Kate Moss’ name in her testimony appears as if she has broken a key rule, as she had never mentioned Kate Moss’ name or the incident she described on the stand on Thursday in her testimony before and it is believed that one cannot drop a rumor at the last minute out of spite.

The Law and Crime Network experts have also shared their thoughts on the matter, saying that Amber Heard because one cannot simply bring in something that a plaintiff or defendant did before the incident to establish that they tend to do so in a civil action, they have opened the door for earlier bad conduct. It's discriminatory according to the experts. 

Experts speculate that Kate Moss could be called in to testify for Johnny Depp. Image Source: The Daily Beast

The experts have also found out that there have been domestic abuse allegations against Amber Heard too from her previous relationship, so maybe her using Kate Moss’ incident could open a door for Johnny Depp’s lawyers to cross-question her or present her previous bad acts of her. They also speculated that she may have paved the way for Johnny Depp's lawyers to call his model ex-girlfriend in as a rebuttal witness, which may not have been possible before. They stated that they had acquired information indicating that Johnny Depp and Kate Moss remained close friends.

Amber Heard who had testified in Johnny Depp's other defamation trial in the UK in 2020 against a publication that described him as a 'wife-beater', first stated the Kate Moss staircase accusation while describing the same incident. Amber Heard told the British court at the time that she remembers two people telling her about an incident where they heard that Johnny Depp had pushed his former girlfriend off the stairs and that girlfriend was Kate Moss. She added that the rumor was fresh in her mind. 

Speaking of Kate Moss, she stated in a Vanity Fair 2012 interview that there is no one compared to how Johnny Depp was to her. Kate added that nobody took care of her the way Johnny did, maybe for a while, but he did and she believed him when he would tell her things. She said that she misses that gauge of somebody she could trust, before adding that their breakup was hard on her.

Johnny Depp and Kate Moss dated from 1994 to 1997. Image Source: Page Six 

The former couple who were describe that couldn't keep hands off each other were was once spotted shouting at each other in public. During their time together, Johnny Depp and Kate Moss' relationship was surrounded by controversies and tabloids and one such incident is the actor being arrested for criminal mischief at New York’s Mark Hotel for allegedly trashing his hotel room with Kate Moss. Johnny Depp was found intoxicated but Kate Moss was unharmed. A criminal court judge dismissed the complaint against Johnny Depp on the condition that he remain out of jail for six months and pay Mark Hotel over $10,000 in total, including more than $2,000 in damages and the balance of his reservation.

Johnny Depp opened up about his breakup with Kate Moss in an interview previously where he mentioned that he has never been emotional over a woman before and called himself stupid because they had so much going on in their relationship. The actor took responsibility for the breakup because he said he is difficult to deal with and he let his work get in the way of it and did not pay attention to her as much as he should have.

Johnny Depp went on to suggest that his work and his passion for his career got in the way of his relationship with Kate Moss and said that he should have cared about his movies but when he's home he should have left the work behind and be with her. The actor added that he failed to make a balance between professional and personal life which is why his relationship suffered and he mentioned that he is horrific to live with because he is a total moron at times. But it is to be noted that there were no accusations of Johnny Depp being physical or abusive with Kate Moss in their entire time being together. 

 Judge Penney Azcarate instructed both the parties and jury to not research anything about the trial online while on break. The court returns on May 16th.