If you haven’t been able to keep up with the Depp v. Heard trial, let me catch you up to speed. Johnny Depp is suing his ex-wife Amber Heard for $50 million after she wrote an op-ed piece in the Washington Post in 2018, implying he abused her. The trial has now been going on for over six weeks, and over 100 hours of testimonies have been heard. But let’s go back to the beginning of the couple’s relationship timeline to understand how they got to this point.
Johnny Depp and Amber Heard met in 2009 on the set of The Rum Diary, and began dating in 2014. Later that same year, the pair got engaged and was married by February 2015. Unfortunately, however, newlywed bliss was short-lived for the pair. After only 15 months of marriage, Heard filed for divorce and even obtained a restraining order against Depp, claiming that he had abused her.
Depp has denied these accusations since 2016, and a $7 million divorce settlement was reached in court between the couple. Heard pledged to donate her funds from the settlement to two charities, the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles and the ACLU. She released a statement saying, "As described in the restraining order and divorce settlement, money played no role for me personally and never has, except to the extent that I could donate it to charity and, in doing so, hopefully help those less able to defend themselves.” She went on to say, “This is over and above any funds that I have given away in the past and will continue to give away in the future."
After the divorce, the couple released a joint statement saying, “Our relationship was intensely passionate and at times volatile, but always bound by love. Neither party has made false accusations for financial gain. There was never any intent of physical or emotional harm." Depp presumably thought the whole affair was ending and that they could finally move on with their lives. Unfortunately, the battle between the two of them was far from over. Cut to 2018. Heard releases an op-ed piece for The Washington Post portraying herself as a victim of domestic abuse. She never mentioned Johnny Depp by name in the piece, but he was clearly implied as the perpetrator.
The op-ed piece was really the catalyst for the seemingly never-ending legal battles between the two. In 2019, Depp sued Heard for $50 million for defamation, after her claims in the op-ed piece began costing Depp acting jobs. In response to that, Heard counter-sued for $100 million. In 2020, Johnny Depp also sued the publisher of The Sun for libel, as they published an article in 2018 claiming he had been violent towards Heard. Depp continued to deny these claims, despite Heard testifying that he threatened her life “many times”. The London court denied Depp an appeal at the time, deeming The Sun’s claims about him to be “substantially true”.
As far as the former couple’s 2022 legal battles, the ongoing defamation case began in Virginia on April 12th. The entire trial has been widely publicized and incredibly painful to watch. In their opening statements, Heard’s legal team said that Depp would “try to turn this case into a soap opera”, but the reality of the case is much heavier. Any trial dealing with claims of domestic violence and assault is never easy to watch unfold, but it must be even harder to be a part of when the entire world is watching the courtroom’s every move.
Johnny Depp’s testimonies have included incredibly painful moments from his past including his childhood growing up with an abusive mother, his past struggles with substance abuse and his turbulent former relationship with Heard. While he admits that the couple had their fair share of arguments, he maintains that he was not abusive towards her. "Never did I myself reach the point of striking Ms. Heard in any way nor have I ever struck any woman in my life." In fact, it appears that Heard knew Depp was actually a victim, rather than an abuser. Jessica Meyers, Depp’s attorney, asked him what his response was in an audio clip that had been played for the court where Heard said to him, “Tell the world, Johnny. Tell them, Johnny Depp, I, Johnny Depp, a man, I'm a victim, too, of domestic violence.” Depp responded, “I said, ‘Yes, I am’.”
As the testimonies began winding down this week, the courtroom became more and more heated. The British model Kate Moss testified on behalf of Johnny Depp, denying claims that he had pushed her down a flight of stairs while they were dating. Heard had brought up the rumor at one point, claiming she was fearful he might do the same to her sister while they were arguing. Moss cleared up the situation, saying she one time fell down the stairs while following Depp out of a room. “As I left the room, I slid down the stairs and I hurt my back," she said. "And I screamed because I didn't know what had happened to me and I was in pain. [Depp] came running back to help me and carried me to my room and got me medical attention."
