” A public figure victim of domestic abuse ”. So Amber Heard spoke about herself in an article written in 2018 for the ‘Washington Post’. Hence the multimillion-dollar lawsuit that ended in favor of Johnny Depp, Heard’s ex-husband and implicitly accused in the article. To initiate the case, for “implied defamation”, it was Depp, who sued her ex-wife asking her for compensation of 50 million dollars.
In the article, in fact, Heard made references to the allegations of abuse that she had filed in 2016, after the end of their marriage. Heard’s response was not long in coming and a consequent defamation lawsuit against Depp and a $ 100 million compensation claim for an article published in the Mail Online in 2020 in which the actor’s lawyer called a ” buffalo ” the accusation made by the woman.
This led to a six-week trial that was held in Fairfax, Virginia, where the plaintiff’s legal team asked the jury to “restore Mr. Depp’s life.” The trial was not about the money, but about the actor’s reputation, the lawyers said, who asked the judges to “release him from the prison he has lived in for the past six years.” In his concluding argument, Heard’s attorney Ben Rottenborn said the lawsuit was not about Depp’s reputation, but was part of an ongoing smear campaign launched by the actor after Heard filed for divorce.
During six weeks of testimony at Fairfax County Circuit Court in Virginia, the jury listened to friends, including supermodel Kate Moss, family members, doctors, therapists and staff who worked and spent time with the former couple. Depp and Heard were also heard twice each, and for several days they gave different accounts of their report to the jury.
Their discussions were detailed in court. Aside from the alleged physical violence, the allegations against Depp included keeping the dog out of the window of a moving car and painting messages in blood on the wall of a house in Australia after cutting off his finger. He, in turn, accused Heard of defecating in their bed and faking bleeding wounds using nail polish.
As the plaintiff, the person who initiated the prosecution, Depp was the first of the two to testify, telling the jury that he was “obsessed with the truth” and arguing that he was the victim of domestic abuse during his relationship with Heard, not the other way around. He called his ex-wife’s allegations against him “heinous and disturbing”, saying they had “permeated” the entertainment industry.
When Heard took a stand, he put forward several allegations of physical and sexual abuse against Depp, bursting into tears as he explained some of them in detail. She told the court that her ex-husband had been jealous of the actors she co-starred with, including Eddie Redmayne, Billy Bob Thornton and James Franco, and that during alleged abuse she feared for life. her.
During the trial, a couples therapist told the court that the couple had committed “mutual abuse,” while two psychologists gave different accounts as to whether or not Heard was suffering from PTSD due to abuse or had a personality disorder. A financial expert estimated that Depp had suffered a loss of earnings of about $ 40 million due to Heard’s allegations, and several of his security guards and staff members have confirmed his claims that his ex-wife on occasion. she was violent towards him.
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