Amber Heard and Johnny Depp. Image Source: Vanity Fair
Amber Heard wants to move on.
Amber Heard, the actress, announced on social media that she will be taking a break from social media to focus on preparing for her ex-husband, Johnny Depp's, defamation case in court. She said in her post that Johnny Depp is suing her for defamation over her 2018 Washington Post op-ed about how she managed to survive domestic violence and her experience.
Amber added that even though she never named anyone in her 2018 post, she wrote about the price women have to pay for speaking up against the men in power. The actress added the price she continues to pay and hopes that the result of the case can help Johnny and her move on. Amber Heard added that she has always tried to maintain her "love for Johnny Depp" and looking at how their relationship has escalated brings her an immense amount of pain, especially when they have to give out the details about their past life to the public.
The Aquaman actress added that at this time, she has seen the support she has managed to receive and the coming weeks are going to be when she’ll need the love and support the most. The defamation case trial Amber Heard mentioned in her post has started in Fairfax, Virginia, after being postponed multiple times since March 2019.
Both actors were brought into the courthouse in secrecy after Judge Penney Azcarate ordered the deputies to control the media. The judge has ordered both the actors to refrain from signing for the fans or even fraternizing until the result of the case is announced.
It was previously reported that celebrities including James Franco, Elon Musk, Jason Momoa, and Ellen Barkin will be testifying as witnesses for Amber Heard, while Paul Bettany is going to do the same for Johnny Depp. The case trial is being held in Virginia rather than California because the Washington Post’s online editions are published through servers that are located in Fairfax County. It has also been said that one of the reasons why Johnny Depp chose to file the lawsuit in Virginia is because of the Anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) law which is apparently much stronger in California.
The actor has already lost a similar defamation case in the United Kingdom against the publisher of the newspaper "The Sun" in 2018. Then executive editor Dan Wootton referred to Johnny Depp as a "wife-beater" in one of his articles, and after a 16-day trial, the judge ruled out that the content of the articles was substantially true in July 2021, and the actor was denied permission to appeal the decision. Amber Heard testified to back up the overturn of the decision, which was overruled.
The actors met on the sets of "The Rum Diary" in 2009 and were married in 2015, but after a fifteen months, they decided to go their separate ways, citing bad behavior from both ends as the reason. In 2016, it was reported that Amber Heard alleged that Johnny Depp bruised her face after hurling a phone at her in their Los Angeles apartment. Johnny Depp denied the allegations, and the couple later went ahead to settle their divorce case and released a joint statement that stated that their relationship was intense and at times volatile, but always bound by love.
In 2018, Amber Heard wrote an opinion essay for the Washington Post on her survival and her experience of domestic violence. In her essay, the actress mentioned that just because she raised her voice against sexual violence, she had to face the consequences. She cited that she was dropped by two global fashion brands after she shot a two-year campaign. Amber also wrote about how her friends and "advisers" had mentioned to her that her career as an actress was over and she’d be blacklisted because she spoke against something like sexual violence.
The judge has ordered both actors to refrain themselves from connecting with fans. Image Source: NBC News
The following year, Johnny Depp filed a $50 million defamation suit against the actress, which the actress tried to get dismissed, but it was later denied, and the actress went ahead to file a $100 million defamation countersuit against Johnny Depp in 2020, which started on Monday.
In Amber Heard’s filing, she has mentioned that whenever Johnny Depp used drugs or alcohol, she used to get worried for both of them because the Pirates of the Caribbean actor would be something he was not: delusional and violent. The court documents state that Amber Heard claims that Johnny Depp yelled at her, shoved her, pulled out chunks of her hair, and strangled her.
Johnny Depp’s suit claims that Amber Heard’s opinion had the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise drop him from the upcoming movies because it was pretty much clear that the ex she mentioned was him. The actor also claimed the actress had presented the world with a "hoax" account of the situation and had faked the injuries. Johnny Depp went head to head with stating that Amber Heard was the actual "perpetrator" of the violent bouts between them that eventually led to their divorce.
If Amber Heard wins the case, Johnny Depp, a three-time Academy Award-nominated actor who has been a part of more than 50 movies grossing $10 billion, could end up losing his entire fortune along with his reputation.
