The 40910: Toxicity Turned into Trial, Amber Heard vs Johnny Depp
Where To Begin: The Origin Story
Based heavily on CNN's Timeline of Depp and Heard's relationship.
The couple began dating in 2012 after Depp ended things with Vanessa Paradis, with whom he shares his two children. Depp and Heard got engaged two years later in 2014 and they officially married the next year in a private ceremony.
After only one year and three months of marriage, Heard filed for divorce. She filed a temporary restraining order against Depp due to alleged abuse she suffered from Depp. She also alleged that Depp was under the influence of drugs and alcohol throughout the alleged abuse. The couple reached a $7 million settlement and Heard promised to donate the money to charity.
Depp and Heard released a joint statement after the settlement, which read:
"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."
Two years later, in December 2018, Heard wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post about domestic violence, though she didn't specifically name Johnny Depp.
In 2019, Depp officially sued Heard for $50 million for defamation in response to her op-ed in The Washington Post. He claimed that the op-ed cost him various acting work. Heard tried to get the lawsuit dismissed, but that effort was unsuccessful; she ended up countersuing for $100 million.
In 2020, Depp went after The Sun in the UK for publishing a 2018 article that claimed he was violent towards Heard. The UK court found The Sun's claims as "substantially true" and Depp was denied an appeal.
Dellara Gorjan, who goes by @legalbaddie on TikTok, details the entire timeline of the couple’s relationship. She also provides legal commentary on the case as a whole.
Hollywood Hesitant to Condemn Amber Heard
When Heard first came out with her allegations, she wasn't immediately fired from her role in the Aquaman sequel. Though, Depp was fired from his role as Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beasts franchise as well as his role as Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of Caribbean franchise.
People noticed the apparent hypocrisy and curated a Change.Org petition calling for Heard to be fired from her role in Aquaman 2. The petition has about 3.8 million signatures – if it reaches 4.5 million, it will be the most signed petition on the site.
Even though almost 4 million people want Heard out of the DC film, she hasn’t been fully fired from the project. Her camera time has only been reduced to 10 minutes rather than a complete erasure.
The Blue Demon Degenerate Twitter page brought this exact point, explaining that Hollywood has been slow to officially condemn the actress.
“One thing I think is interesting about this is the film industry’s hesitance to condemn Amber Heard even though she seems like the clear aggressor,” says the satiric Twitter page. “This happened in the MeToo movement a few years back as well, with people in and around Hollywood hesitating to condemn figures like Harvey Weinstein and even further back with Roman Polanski.”
They also mention how the general public has already ostracize the actress. The court of public opinion has been completely different than that of Hollywood.
The General Public and the Soap Box of Social Media
The general public has used social media, especially Twitter and TikTok, to voice their sympathy and support of Johnny Depp while voicing their displeasure towards Amber Heard.
The live stream of the trial from various news organizations adds fuel to the social media fire. Due to the live streams, social media users have material for various funny videos as well as jaw-dropping moments.
One specific moment shows Heard's lawyers not allowing a witness to explain something. Or the time that Heard's lawyers objected to their own question. Or the time they questioned Depp's former agent, Christopher Carino.
Due to the high coverage of the trial, fans and people have given strong opinions about which person they believe. One Twitter user put Depp's and Heard's testimonies side-by-side, ones where they each describe how they were hit.
Some people in the replies act as body language experts, where one user said: "She is speaking and recalling things as the abuser and not the abused." Another user replies, saying that Heard shows aggression while Depp shows defensiveness.
Where Do We Go From Here?
As Darella Gorjan mentioned in her TikTok video, defamation can be quite hard to prove. Perhaps, Depp isn't looking to win the case in the court of law. He may want to win in the court of morality or the court of public opinion.
Rather than see this as a case of domestic violence, the general public appears to lean into the spectacle. From the train wreck of Heard's legal team to Depp's Post-It Note drawings, the couple's toxic relationship has become yet another celebrity mess that we all can't look away from.
Who do you think will realistically win this case? Who do you want to win the case?