Johnny Depp vs Amber Heard Case

Johnny Depp vs Amber Heard Case | The Full Story | Dhruv Rathee

Hello, friends! The court trial of the Hollywood celebrities Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, was perhaps the most popular court trial in the world. Surprisingly, it wasn't even a criminal trial. 

                It didn't have a direct impact on people's lives. Still, people all around the world were very interested in the personal lives of these celebrities. During this trial, fan bases were developed. "I support Johnny Depp." "I support Amber Heard." Some people say it is an injustice against women. There were references to #MenToo as well. How men are falsely accused in such cases.

                                                   let's find out what actually happened. And what it reveals about our society. I'm curious if you expand a little bit on the Amber Heard-Johnny Depp verdict. I'm here because I stand with Amber Heard. What did Miss Heard say about the defecation in Mr Depp's bed? What have you lost as a result of Miss Heard making these allegations against you? Nothing less than everything. All of you would be familiar with Johnny Depp. He's a popular Hollywood actor. He is known for the eccentric characters he has played in films. His most famous character has been Captain Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. On the other hand, Amber Heard is also a Hollywood actor.                

But isn't as popular as Johnny Depp. Some of the famous films she was in were Justice League, Aquaman, Never Back Down, Drive Angry, The Rum Diary. Johnny Depp and Amber Heard met on the sets of The Rum Diary in 2009. In her court filing, Amber had said that they had started dating in 2012. This was the same year Johnny Depp announced his separation with the singer Vanessa Paradis. Johnny and Vanessa have 2 children together. Lily Rose and John Christopher. Around the same time, Amber split up with her previous partner. And in 2014, Johnny Depp and Amber Heard got engaged. 

The following year, in 2015, the two got married. The marriage didn't even last 1.5 years. In May 2016, Amber filed for a divorce. When the divorce was granted by the court, it even issued a restraining order against Johnny Depp. A restraining order meant that Johnny Depp couldn't contact Amber Heard, couldn't meet her. You might wonder why the court issued such an order. Because Amber Heard had complained that Johnny Depp used to physically abuse her.

 That he would be violent towards her under the influence of drugs and alcohol. She cited one such example when she claimed that Johnny threw his phone at her it hit her face injuring her. But a spokesperson of the police told the People's Magazine, that when the police officers investigated this complaint, they found no evidence in support of the claim. Johnny Depp denied all such accusations. Johnny's lawyers claimed that Amber was trying to negotiate the divorce settlement by making false accusations. 

so that she could get more money for the "abuse". In August 2016, Johnny and Amber reached an out-of-court settlement. Accordingly, Amber got $7million. The newspapers then reported that Amber had had donated half of the money to a children's hospital in Los Angeles, and the other half to the ACLU, the American Civil Liberties Union. An organisation that stands to prevent violence against women. 

During this time, Johnny and Amber released a joint statement saying that all was well. And that they had mutually resolved the problems between them. "Our relationship was intensely passionate, and at times volatile, but always bound by law. There was never any intent of physical or emotional harm." Later, in January 2017, their divorce was finalised. In the divorce filings, a Non-Disparagement Clause was also inserted. 

To prevent both of them from publicly saying anything derogatory against the other. Our story would have ended here. The world didn't need to be involved in it. It was a common divorce between two celebrities. They had mutually reached the settlement. The End. Thank you very much! But that's not how it went. In December 2018, this issue came back into the limelight, when Amber Heard wrote an article in the Washington Post. 

She wrote that she had become a public figure representing domestic abuse. And that when she had spoken against the violence against her, she had to face the wrath of several people. In the article, she hadn't mentioned Johnny anywhere. Even so, logically, it was very obvious because she had been married only once.

 To Johnny Depp. Any reader could understand whom she was referring to. For this one article, Johnny Depp filed a $50 million defamation suit against Amber Heard. Johnny claimed that Amber Heard wasn't a victim of domestic abuse. Instead, she was the abuser in their relationship. 

This was in 2019. In response, Amber filed to have the defamation case dismissed. She came forward with several examples of abuse towards her. She claimed that in May 2014, they were in a private jet, and Johnny was heavily drunk. He started throwing things at her. She was verbally abused. He kicked her. And then he passed out in the bathroom. She also claimed that Johnny may not recall these incidents, because he was heavily intoxicated. She claimed that she remained with Johnny even after these incidents because she loved him. And that she believed that he would change. But that never happened. 

According to her, there were three other similar incidents. In March 2015, December 2015, and in May 2016. Several allegations were hurled. Many claims were made, about how Johnny punched her, grabbed her hair, threatened to kill her, threw his cell phone at her, wrote messages on the wall with blood, and such other things. She said that there are scars on her hands and legs still. In response, Johnny came out with photos of his own. With bruises on his face. Because Amber had allegedly attacked him.

 For some concrete evidence, the Daily Mail, a UK-based newspaper, publicly released some phone call recordings. In these recordings, you can hear Amber saying that she is throwing pans and pots at Johnny. And in another instance she says that she can't promise not to be physically violent again. In 2018, another British newspaper The Sun, had published an article in 2018, which referred to Johnny Depp as a wife beater.

 Making it seem like Johnny Depp was a man who beat his wives. Johnny filed a case against the Publisher and the Executive Editor for this. The trial for this case began in July 2020. In this case, Johnny's ex-wives, Vanessa Paradis and Winona Ryder, came forward to record their statements in the case. Their statements were in Johnny's defence. They said that they were married to Johnny, and that Johnny had never hit them. According to them, Johnny was never violent. Nor abusive. And then Elon Musk entered our story. Yup, that's right. Don't be too shocked. Elon Musk is also involved in this story. In London High Court, Johnny's lawyers said that, Amber had two extra-marital affairs. 

First with Tesla CEO Elon Musk. And second with actor James Franco. While she was married to Johnny. In the case against The Sun for the wife-beater reference, the lawyers of The Sun, cited 14 instances as proof, about why it was justified to call Johnny Depp a wife beater. Based on these, the UK Judge, gave a ruling against Johnny Depp. He said that the newspaper wasn't wrong. 

By referring to Johnny Depp as a wife-beater. Johnny's lawyers were quite upset with the court's judgement. They claimed that the court relied on Amber's allegations alone. But the police record, medical testimonies, medical practitioners, and the testimonies of the other witnesses weren't given due consideration. And so they planned on appealing the court's judgement. Johnny's lawyers claimed that there wasn't a fair trial. And they would present new evidence of how Amber had lied about the $7 million as well. Amber had said that she had donated the $7 million. 

To different charities. Whereas in reality, she hadn't done so. But the court rejected Johnny's appeal twice. The next major event in our story was in January 2021. When Amber Heard filed a counter-case against Johnny. For $100 million. Johnny's lawyer Adam Waldman, had said that Amber's allegations of domestic abuse, were fake, fabricated, and false. Based on this statement,

 Amber had filed the countercase. The judge accepted this case saying that now when there are so many MeToo cases coming to light, in the light of this movement and the social climate, it wouldn't be acceptable to malign Amber's reputation, and if Amber is falsely called a liar, for speaking out against domestic abuse, it would be unacceptable. That's why the court accepted Amber's counter-defamation case. Its trial began in April 2022. Amber's lawyers said that the article written by Amber in the Washington Post, was her freedom of speech. And that it was an article on the issue of domestic abuse. And not on her relationship with Johnny Depp. 

Amber's lawyers said that if Amber had really wanted to write about her relationship with Johnny, she could have filled many more pages. That article would have looked very different. On the other hand, Johnny's lawyer argued that she is coming up with false accusations for personal benefits, she had damaged Johnny Depp's reputation. That those accusations have led to a downfall in Johnny's career. The films he would've gotten, he lost them. 

The good relations Johnny had with producers took a hit due to these accusations. In the court, Johnny said that he has never hit a woman. "Never did I, myself, reach the point of, um, striking Miss Heard in any way, nor have I ever struck any woman, um, in my life." Johnny then revealed what had happened in their relationship in detail. Repeatedly, he would be told that he was wrong. There'd be constant fights and often they turned violent. And in one such instance, Amber had thrown a wine glass at Johnny. She would get infuriated all of a sudden. And because of the constant attacks on Johnny, it drove him towards drugs and alcohol. 

Johnny claims to have helped Amber's career a lot. Such as by reaching out to Warner Bros. So that she could get the role in Aquaman. In response, Amber's lawyers repeated how Johnny was the abusive one. In response to the allegations of extra-marital affairs, Amber said, that the actor James Franco was her neighbour, and that one night after a fight with Johnny, he had visited her at her home. He was a friend and a neighbour. And for the Elon Musk incident, she said, that during the Met Gala event, she was waiting for Johnny, who didn't show up, and it was there she met Elon Musk. They got to talking and later became good friends. After getting a divorce from Johnny, Amber started dating Elon Musk. 

During the entire trial, many witnesses were called. There were all kinds of testimonies by the witnesses. One such example is the erstwhile marriage counsellor of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. She testified to the court that both of them were abusive towards each other. They were participating in 'mutual abuse' with escalating violence. Johnny's former agent Tracy Jacobs testified in the court that Johnny has anger management issues. In another instance, a former clinical psychologist, Dr Shannon Curry, said that Amber has Borderline Personality Disorder. Along with Histrionic Personality Disorder. And because of these disorders, she becomes very violent. Especially with her romantic partners. And then starts making up wired stories.

 According to Dr Shannon Curry, people like Amber Heard, are very attention-seeking. And they shift the blame on others, and see themselves as victims. There was a testimony by the ACLU as well. The same organisation to which Amber Heard had allegedly donated, half of her divorce settlement of $7 million. $3.5 million. She claimed she had donated. In the court, ACLU's statement was that Amber hadn't actually donated the amount.

 They say that Amber has pledged to donate $3.5 million over the next 10 years. And that she has donated $1.3 million, and there were no payments after December 2018. And perhaps the most interesting thing was that this $1.3 million was paid in 4 instalments, of which only 1 instalment of $350,000 was directly from Amber Heard in August 2016. This was the only amount Amber Heard had donated. So who donated the rest of the money? Those were from Donor Advised Funds, and from Elon Musk. A similar story was told by the Children's Hospital. To which the remaining $3.5 million had been donated. 

In response to these allegations, this was what Amber Heard said. "Well, at least $500,000 that was donated to the ACLU in your name, wasn't paid by you, right?" "I believe Elon made a donation in my honour on one of the years." "And it didn't come out of your $7 million divorce settlement, right?" "No, nor did it count towards my pledge." "And at least $500,000 that was donated to the children's hospital of Los Angeles wasn't paid by you either, right?" "Those were made at the same time." "And it didn't come out of your $7 million divorce settlement." "Nor did it account to my 3.5 obligation." "Those $500,000 payments came from your new boyfriend Elon Musk, right?" "Uh, he, I don't know if he was a new boyfriend at the time." The trial of this case ran for 6 weeks. 

Since this was a public hearing, everyone could see what was being said and by whom. These videos circulated online. People would comment on it. And they would give their judgements on the hearing. This led to online trends of I Support Johnny Depp, and I Stand With Amber Heard. During the trial, many memes were being circulated ridiculing both of them. But the biggest question here, What was the verdict? What was the court's ruling?

 First of all, since this was in a US court, unlike the UK court where the judge had passed the judgement, here the judgement was passed by a jury. The jury held that both of them had defamed the other. The jury held that Johnny should be awarded $15 million, in damages from Amber Heard. The defamation brought to Johnny Depp by Amber Heard, should be compensated by the sum of $15 million. On the other hand, Amber Heard was awarded $2 million,

 for the defamation of Amber Heard by Johnny. Later, due to the Virginia State Law, the $15 million award was reduced to $10.35 million. In response, Amber Heard's lawyers said that she absolutely cannot pay this amount. She doesn't have so much money. So the next step would be to appeal this judgement. 

After this judgement, 2 hashtags were circulating online. #MenToo where people acknowledged that men can be victims too. That abuse against men is still abuse. This is an obvious reference to the #MeToo. Where women had come forward to share the stories of abuse against them. #MenToo indicated that women aren't always the victim. 

On the other hand, in contrast, the other was #BelieveAllWomen Many people criticised this judgement saying that it was in Johnny Depp's favour because of the memes and trolling online on social media. Claiming that the jury was heavily influenced by that. There have been strong opinions for both these perspectives. People believing in MenToo and the people believe in BelieveAllWomen. But friends, what you need to understand here is that there is no need for this polarisation. It isn't a very complex philosophy. It is common sense. Both perspectives are correct. It is completely true that men can be victims too. 

That there can be domestic abuse against men as well. And it is equally true that it is very difficult for women to speak out against abuse. In most cases, it is women who are victims, but there are cases where women file fake cases against men. The simple fact is that we shouldn't make any judgements right at the start. Saying that all women are the same, they file fake cases, or that all men are the same, they are abusive towards their partners. 

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