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      The Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard Libel Case Is in the Jury’s Hands

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      After closing arguments, the judge asked a jury in Virginia to decide a defamation trial that focused as much on domestic abuse as damaged reputations.After 23 days of testimony that painted conflicting pictures of a tumultuous Hollywood marriage, lawyers for Johnny Depp and Amber Heard delivered their closing arguments on Friday, seeking to persuade the jury that their client had been the person who was abused and defamed.Mr. Depp’s lawyers asserted that their movie star client had been falsely disparaged in a Washington Post op-ed in which Ms. Heard referred to herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.”The accusations of spousal abuse that she was referencing, the lawyers argued, had ruined Mr. Depp’s life.“We ask you to give Mr. Depp his life back by telling the world that Mr. Depp is not the abuser Ms. Heard said he is,” a lawyer for Mr. Depp, Camille Vasquez, said, “and hold Ms. Heard accountable for her lies.”Ms. Heard’s lawyers countered that not only were the accusations and the op-ed entirely true, but during legal proceedings in 2020, the actress was unfairly maligned when a lawyer, who represented Mr. Depp at the time, called her abuse accusations a hoax.“In Mr. Depp’s world, you don’t leave Mr. Depp, and if you do, he will start a campaign of global humiliation against you,” argued a lawyer for Ms. Heard, Ben Rottenborn.Now, the case is in the hands of seven jurors who deliberated until Friday evening and left the Fairfax County Circuit Court with instructions to return on Tuesday.The trial has drawn widespread attention because the proceedings have been both televised and livestreamed through a pair of cameras in the courtroom, a rarity in Virginia. On one YouTube channel streaming the proceedings, called Law & Crime Network, more than one million users were reported to be watching.There has been stiff competition to fill the public seats in the courtroom, with observers — most of them fans of Mr. Depp — lining up in the middle of the night to secure a spot. On Friday morning, about 150 people waited in line to get into the courtroom, with hundreds more lining a nearby road, some of them dressed as Mr. Depp’s movie characters.Peyton Elmendorf, a 27-year-old Depp fan, said that when she first heard about Ms. Heard’s accusations, she had misgivings about defending the actor given the #MeToo movement. But now, after hearing other of the actor’s romantic partners speak positively about him, she said she felt confident voicing her support.Our Coverage of the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard TrialA trial between the formerly married actors has become a fierce battleground over the truth about their relationship. What to Know: Johnny Depp and Amber Heard are suing each other with competing defamation claims, amid mutual accusations of domestic abuse.Stan Culture in the Courtroom: The closely watched trial is a case study in what happens when complex claims are filtered through the lenses of extreme fandom. TikTok’s Hate Machine: The online commentary about the trial quickly turned into an internet-wide smear campaign against Ms. Heard. Dressing to Suggest: Both litigants appeared notably sober in their fashion choices. That is no coincidental thing.“I knew he didn’t do it,” she said.Outnumbered outside the courthouse, but unpersuaded, Dan Kim, 26, quietly held a sign nearby that said “I stand with Amber.” He called it “crystal clear” that Mr. Depp had abused Ms. Heard.Supporters of Mr. Depp outside the courthouse on Friday.Craig Hudson/Associated PressUltimately, the jury must consider the veracity and reputational impact of a narrow set of statements. But the six-week trial has encompassed testimony about a vast array of alleged incidents from Mr. Depp and Ms. Heard’s marriage.Ms. Heard has accused Mr. Depp of repeated physical abuse that she said often coincided with drug and alcohol use and began with his accusing her of infidelity. She has also alleged several instances of sexual assault — including an accusation that he assaulted her with a bottle in Australia in 2015.Amber Heard, talking to one of her lawyers during the proceedings on Friday.Pool Photo via Steve Helber/ReutersMr. Depp has denied ever hitting or sexually assaulting Ms. Heard and has portrayed her as the aggressor in the relationship, recalling violence from her throughout their relationship, as well as angry tirades and demeaning name-calling. Ms. Heard has denied hitting Mr. Depp except in defense of herself or her sister.Testimony about the incidents often involved sensational details: disputed affairs with celebrities, graffiti written in blood and a missing chunk of Mr. Depp’s finger that forced the fifth “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie to pause production.In laying out the highlights of their evidence, Mr. Depp’s lawyers reminded the jury of witnesses who said they did not see injuries on Ms. Heard around the times she reported having them, showed a photo of him with a “shiner” that he said she gave him and replayed audio of arguments between the estranged couple in which Ms. Heard admits to having hit Mr. Depp. In one audio clip, Ms. Heard can be heard saying, “I did start a physical fight,” challenging her claim that she only hit Mr. Depp as a defense. (Ms. Heard testified that in those instances, she hit him in response to his own aggression.)His team also pointed to instances where there were no medical records or photographs to corroborate her allegations of abuse.“The ‘mountain of evidence’ that Mr. Depp abused Ms. Heard is simply not there,” Ms. Vasquez argued. “What we have is a mountain of unproven allegations that are wild, over the top and implausible.”Ms. Heard’s lawyers described witnesses who said she had told them about the abuse. Mr. Rottenborn played a video of Mr. Depp angrily slamming kitchen cabinets and showed jurors a text in which the actor told Ms. Heard’s father he had gone “too far in our fight.” He then showed the jury a photo of Ms. Heard with a red mark on her face after, she said, Mr. Depp hurled a phone at her. Elaine Charlson Bredehoft, another of her lawyers, reminded the jury about a forensic psychologist who testified to reviewing a therapist’s notes — which were not entered into evidence — that reflect contemporaneous reports from Ms. Heard where she complained of sexual abuse.“A ruling against Amber here sends a message that no matter what you do, as an abuse victim, you always have to do more,” Mr. Rottenborn said. “No matter what you document, you always have to document more. No matter whom you tell, you always have to tell more people.”Johnny Depp’s Libel Case Against Amber HeardCard 1 of 6In the courtroom. More

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      Amber Heard’s Account of Abuse Challenged by Johnny Depp’s Lawyer

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      During tense cross-examination, Ms. Heard was asked why she had not presented medical records to back up her account of key incidents in which she said Mr. Depp struck her.A lawyer for Johnny Depp sought to discredit abuse accusations by his ex-wife, Amber Heard, during cross-examination on Tuesday, confronting her with audio recordings of the couple’s arguments as well as text messages and love notes that the lawyer suggested showed Ms. Heard to be an unreliable witness.As Ms. Heard finished her testimony at Fairfax County Circuit Court in Virginia, the lawyer, Camille Vasquez, challenged Ms. Heard’s assertions that she has only ever hit Mr. Depp as a defense. Ms. Vasquez played recordings from an argument several years ago in which Ms. Heard acknowledged, “I did start a physical fight,” and called Mr. Depp a “baby.”Ms. Heard testified that in that incident, she hit him only because he was trying to “bust” into the bedroom where she was trying to hide from him.“I accused him of being a baby for complaining about me hitting him when he was trying to get through the door that I was trying to barricade,” she testified on Tuesday.Ms. Heard, 36, is locked in a tense legal battle with Mr. Depp, 58, over competing defamation claims and has spent several hours during the trial sharing her accounts of repeated physical abuse throughout their relationship, as well as multiple instances of sexual assault. Mr. Depp has denied ever hitting or sexually assaulting her and has accused her of being the abuser in the relationship.Mr. Depp sued Ms. Heard three years ago over an op-ed, published in The Washington Post, in which she called herself a “public figure representing domestic abuse.” Ms. Heard countersued Mr. Depp, saying that his former lawyer had defamed her by calling her accusations of abuse a hoax.During one part of her questioning, Ms. Vasquez challenged an account of the aftermath of an incident in Australia in 2015, in which, according to Ms. Heard, Mr. Depp sexually assaulted her with a bottle and beat her while he was intoxicated on MDMA. Ms. Heard testified that after Mr. Depp’s attack, she had a bruised jaw, as well as cuts on her arms and feet from broken glass on the ground.“There is not a single medical record reflecting treatment for any of those injuries, is there, Ms. Heard?” Ms. Vasquez asked.“I didn’t seek treatment,” Ms. Heard replied.Mr. Depp has testified that he was the person injured that night when Ms. Heard threw a vodka bottle, hitting his hand and severing part of one of his fingers. Ms. Heard said he injured his finger by smashing a wall-mounted phone into “smithereens” while in a rage; Ms. Vasquez pointed to a lack of photographic evidence of the broken phone or of the injuries Ms. Heard said she suffered that night.Ms. Heard said documentation of the abuse was incomplete because she only started taking photos of her injuries “incidentally,” when she wanted to show a friend or her mother. She never envisioned a legal battle like this, she said.Ms. Vasquez also presented a love note that Ms. Heard wrote to Mr. Depp about two months after the Australia incident, which included the line, “I have seen in you the true bones of friendship and respect.”Ms. Heard said the couple had been in a “honeymoon period” at the time.As in Mr. Depp’s testimony, Ms. Heard’s cross-examination involved an airing of insults she had hurled at him during arguments. In one recording, Ms. Heard can be heard calling him a “sellout” and a “joke.” She acknowledged on the stand that she called him “horrible, ugly things,” noting that he called her names, too. (In her lawyers’s cross-examination of Mr. Depp, they brought forward several text messages to other people in which he referred to Ms. Heard using insults and obscenities, including calling her a “worthless hooker.”)Johnny Depp has argued that his career was damaged by what he characterized as a false assertion by Ms. Heard that he had been violent toward her. Pool photo by Brendan Smialowski/EPA, via ShutterstockCentral to the case is the op-ed, and Ms. Vasquez sought to establish that, even if Ms. Heard did not mention Mr. Depp by name in the piece, it was clear that the subject was their relationship. Ms. Heard confirmed that when she said she became a “public figure representing domestic abuse,” she was referring to getting a temporary restraining order against Mr. Depp in 2016.Johnny Depp’s Libel Case Against Amber HeardCard 1 of 6In the courtroom. More

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      Amber Heard Recounts Unraveling of Marriage to Johnny Depp

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      The defamation trial involving the actors is entering a new stage as Ms. Heard faces aggressive cross-examination from Mr. Depp’s lawyers.Amber Heard testified on Monday in the defamation case brought by her ex-husband, Johnny Depp, that she filed for divorce and for a restraining order against him in 2016 after two blowout fights that made her fear for her safety.“I knew I had to leave him,” Ms. Heard testified. “I knew I wouldn’t survive it if I didn’t.”But after detailing the collapse of their marriage for several hours, Ms. Heard faced aggressive cross-examination from a lawyer for Mr. Depp, Camille Vasquez, who sought to discredit her account that the actor had beaten her repeatedly throughout their relationship.Citing incidents during which Ms. Heard testified that she had been struck, Mr. Depp’s lawyers displayed photos taken at the time that show no apparent bruising or swelling. Ms. Heard testified that she covered the injuries with makeup so the abuse would remain hidden after many of the incidents.“You should see what it looked like underneath the makeup,” Ms. Heard said of one photo she described as being taken the night after Mr. Depp hit her so hard that she thought her nose had been broken.As the trial at Fairfax County Circuit Court in Virginia entered its final two weeks, Ms. Heard spent the opening hours of the day finishing her testimony before facing off with Mr. Depp’s legal team, who questioned whether her accounts of spousal abuse were accurate and whether she had actually donated the money she secured through her divorce to charity, as she had pledged.Her testimony included her account of the first time the issue of spousal abuse by Mr. Depp came into public view, in May 2016, after paparazzi photographed Ms. Heard at a California court, where she obtained a temporary restraining order against him. She had what appeared to be a bruise under one eye, and she told the court then, in a filing, that Mr. Depp had hurled a cellphone at her during an argument about a week earlier, hitting her in the face.“The violence was now normal and not the exception,” Ms. Heard told the jury on Monday.Mr. Depp, 58, sued Ms. Heard, 36, for defamation after The Washington Post published an oped by Ms. Heard in 2018 in which she called herself a “public figure representing domestic abuse.” The article did not mention Mr. Depp by name, but he has asserted that it clearly alluded to their relationship. The jury is also considering a countersuit filed by Ms. Heard, which accuses Mr. Depp of defaming her when his former lawyer made statements saying her accusations were a hoax.In addition to repeated physical abuse, Ms. Heard has described multiple instances of sexual assault by Mr. Depp. He has accused her of being the aggressor in the relationship and denied ever hitting or sexually assaulting her.Ms. Heard testified on Monday about one confrontation that occurred after Mr. Depp missed her birthday dinner in April 2016 because he had a business meeting. When they were alone later that night, he initiated a physical fight, she said, and shoved her, grabbed her by the hair and threw a bottle of champagne at her, missing her.Ms. Heard said she did not see her then-husband for about a month after that. But in May 2016, when Mr. Depp visited the penthouse in Los Angeles where Ms. Heard was staying, the couple ended up arguing about Mr. Depp’s accusation that she or a friend had defecated in the couple’s bed as a “prank.” Ms. Heard called the accusation a “delusion,” attributing the feces to one of the couple’s dogs.During the confrontation, Ms. Heard said, she was on the cellphone with a friend, who, overhearing the commotion and screaming, warned Ms. Heard that she wasn’t safe. That prompted Mr. Depp, she said, to grab the phone from her.“He pulls his arm back with the phone and throws it at my face,” she said. “I put my head in my hands and immediately start crying.”According to court papers, the friend on the phone called 911, but when the police arrived, Ms. Heard refused to cooperate.“I wanted to protect Johnny,” she testified on Monday. “I didn’t want him to be arrested.”But two days later, she said, she filed for divorce, and several days after that, she filed for the restraining order because she was experiencing extreme anxiety and wanted an assurance that Mr. Depp would not return to where she lived. (She agreed to drop a request for a permanent restraining order as part of their divorce agreement.)Johnny Depp, waving to observers in the gallery in the courtroom on Monday.Pool photo by Steve Helber via ReutersMr. Depp’s account of those two incidents was markedly different during his testimony earlier in the trial. He said he had an important meeting about his finances and was late for Ms. Heard’s birthday party, prompting her to lash out at him later that night. He testified that she punched him in the face twice before he left the building and stayed elsewhere. His mother died while the couple was separated, and when he called Ms. Heard to tell her the news, he also told her he planned to file for divorce, Mr. Depp testified.“Somebody had to call it,” he acknowledged.When he returned to the penthouse to pick up some of his belongings, Mr. Depp testified, the couple got into an argument about the feces that an employee had found in the bed the previous month. Mr. Depp said he did not throw the phone at her, but rather, he “flopped” it onto the couch. He accused Ms. Heard of faking that she had been injured during the confrontation in order to convince her friends that she was in some peril.Johnny Depp’s Libel Case Against Amber HeardCard 1 of 6In the courtroom. More

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      ‘S.N.L.’ Takes on the Trial of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard

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      In an episode hosted by Selena Gomez, “Saturday Night Live” tried to distract itself from a dire news week with a celebrity lawsuit and whoopee cushions.After a particularly challenging week of news events, “Saturday Night Live” took refuge in the defamation trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard.This weekend’s broadcast, hosted by Selena Gomez and featuring the musical guest Post Malone, was introduced by Kate McKinnon, playing the MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace. After rattling off other headlines — “political fallout from the recent Jan. 6 subpoenas, updates on the Russian helicopter taken down by Ukraine, plus a nationwide shortage of baby formula” — McKinnon explained to viewers that her network would instead be covering the celebrity trial.“I know it’s not the most pertinent story of the moment,” she said, “but with all the problems in the world, isn’t nice to have a news story we can all collectively watch and say: ‘Ooh. Glad it ain’t me’?”Inside a courtroom, Depp (Kyle Mooney) sat in a witness box, being examined by his lawyer (Aidy Bryant), who was asking about an incident in which Heard was accused of leaving fecal matter in Depp’s bed.Despite the objections of Heard’s lawyer (Heidi Gardner), the presiding judge (Cecily Strong) said she would allow Depp’s team to play a surveillance video that supposedly confirmed his version of events. “Because it does sound fun,” said Strong, “and this trial is for fun.”In the scene from the videotape, Kenan Thompson played a property manager who was the first to make the unpleasant discovery in Depp’s bed. (“Aw, hell no!” he exclaimed.)Gardner lodged another objection, but Strong told her she was once again overruled. “I’d like to see more of this video,” Strong said. When Gardner asked why, she responded: “’Cause it’s funny.”As the videotape played on, Thompson and a second household staff member, played by Ego Nwodim, argued about who would be responsible for cleaning the bed. They both said it was possible Heard could have made the mess, following an accusation from Depp that she had severed a part of his finger in a fight.Asked how much longer they had to keep playing the tape, Strong replied: “We don’t have to watch any of it. But we want to. So hush.” (After which she took a swig from a glass of wine.)Back in the bedroom, Thompson and Nwodim continued their argument, joined by a housekeeper played by Melissa Villaseñor and a laundryman played by Chris Redd. (Redd, surveying the scene, had assumed that Thompson was the culprit. “So you really did it, man,” he said. “You finally quit.”)Strong addressed Mooney and the rest of the courtroom. “This trial has given me a lot to consider,” she said. “On one hand, I believe Mr. Depp’s story. But on the other hand, your constant little smirk lets me know that this is not the first woman you’ve made so mad that she pooped in your bed.”Netflix sendup of the weekOne sign of a successful parody is that you don’t have to be familiar with the source material that’s being satirized to appreciate it.Case in point: If you’re already a viewer of the Netflix reality series “Old Enough!,” a long-running Japanese program that follows toddlers as they try to run errands on their own, hey, good for you. If not, you can still appreciate this would-be American remake, which instead is about long-term boyfriends who try to complete real-world tasks for their significant others, like buying shallots and night mist eye pencils (a thing we only just learned existed because of this sketch).All the world’s a stage of the weekTwo recent and not especially humorous developments on New York stages that may better inform your understanding of the following sketch: Many shows continue to be disrupted, postponed or canceled by Covid; and the theater company presenting “Take Me Out” has increased security measures after video of a nude scene performed by the actor Jesse Williams was circulated online.Johnny Depp’s Libel Case Against Amber HeardCard 1 of 6In the courtroom. More

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      Amber Heard Accuses ‘Belligerent’ Johnny Depp of Sexual Assault

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      With graphic depictions of what she described as physical attacks, she sought to counter the actor’s testimony that she had been the aggressor.Amber Heard described in graphic detail on Thursday how, she said, her ex-husband, Johnny Depp, beat and sexually assaulted her during a trip to Australia, during which she experienced the worst fear of her life.Ms. Heard, testifying in the defamation case filed against her by Mr. Depp, said the couple took the trip in 2015, shortly after they were married, because the actor was needed for the filming of the fifth “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie. But, while there, Mr. Depp took MDMA, became “belligerent” and attacked her, hitting her in the face, throwing her across the room, ripping off her nightgown and grabbing her by the neck, she said.“I’m looking in his eyes and I don’t see him anymore,” Ms. Heard, who sometimes broke into sobs during her testimony, said. “I’ve never been so scared in my life.”Ms. Heard described the encounter during her second day of testimony in Fairfax County Circuit Court, where she and Mr. Depp are locked in a tense legal battle over just who defamed whom. In his own testimony, Mr. Depp denied hitting Ms. Heard and denied sexually assaulting her, accusing her of being the aggressor in the relationship.The incident in Australia has emerged as a key point of contention in a trial that has focused on competing, and contradictory, accusations of spousal abuse. At some point during the confrontation Ms. Heard described, part of the middle finger on Mr. Depp’s right hand had been severed, but the couple has presented differing accounts of how it actually happened and who was to blame.Ms. Heard, 36, said Mr. Depp, 58, was angry about several issues, including his suspicion that she had been having an affair with another actor and his contention that she had been unkind to his sister. She said his attack escalated from vulgar name-calling to threats and violence. In an argument over his drinking, she said, she had thrown a liquor bottle on the ground.“That really set him off,” she said.Ms. Heard testified that during the fight, Mr. Depp threw bottles at her, missing, and that later he sexually assaulted her with a bottle. She said that, though she could not see the bottle at the time, she was later able to deduce what the object had been.According to Ms. Heard’s account, Mr. Depp severed his finger when he picked up a phone from the wall and smashed it into pieces. She said that after the attack she returned to that area of the house and found messages written on the walls and objects in the room, in blood and paint.During his testimony earlier in the trial, Mr. Depp said his finger had been severed when Ms. Heard threw a handle of vodka at him that had shattered on his hand. He said she had been upset about a meeting she had with a lawyer over a potential postnuptial agreement, and described her following him around the house, screaming obscenities and “hammering me with brutal words.” He testified that when she discovered him drinking, she hurled a bottle of vodka at him, which missed, and then another, which made contact.As his hand bled “like Vesuvius,” Mr. Depp testified, he experienced a “nervous breakdown” and used his bloody finger to write on the walls messages that “represented lies that she told me.”Mr. Depp’s lawsuit seeks $50 million in damages and cites what it describes as damage done to his reputation and career by an op-ed piece written by Ms. Heard.Pool photo by Jim Lo ScalzoDuring her first day of testimony on Wednesday, Ms. Heard testified that Mr. Depp physically abused her throughout their relationship, recalling that his anger was triggered by suspicions she was being unfaithful, which would not abate despite her repeated denials.In his testimony, Mr. Depp had denied ever hitting Ms. Heard and accused her of being the person who resorted to violence by punching him, throwing objects at him and, once, kicking a bathroom door into his head. In court papers, Ms. Heard denied hitting Mr. Depp except in self-defense or in defense of her sister.Johnny Depp’s Libel Case Against Amber HeardCard 1 of 6In the courtroom. More

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      Depp’s $22.5 Million ‘Pirates’ Deal Collapsed After Op-Ed, Manager Testifies

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      Mr. Depp’s talent manager said the actor had been up to play Captain Jack Sparrow again until his ex-wife, Amber Heard, wrote an op-ed saying she was a “public figure representing domestic abuse.”Johnny Depp’s talent manager testified on Monday in the actor’s defamation trial that Mr. Depp lost a $22.5 million deal to star in a sixth “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie after his ex-wife, Amber Heard, published an op-ed in which she called herself a “public figure representing domestic abuse.”The exact timing of when Mr. Depp was cut from the “Pirates” franchise has become a pertinent question in the trial because Mr. Depp’s lawsuit against Ms. Heard claims that her op-ed, published by The Washington Post in December 2018, “devastated” his reputation and career.Although the op-ed does not mention Mr. Depp by name, he has argued that it clearly referred to their relationship. Ms. Heard has accused Mr. Depp of assaulting her repeatedly during their relationship, which Mr. Depp denies.At Fairfax County Circuit Court in Virginia, the talent manager, Jack Whigham, testified that the actor had a verbal agreement with Disney to reprise his role as Captain Jack Sparrow in a proposed sixth film, but that in early 2019, it became clear that Disney was “going in a different direction.”“After the op-ed, it was impossible to get him a studio film,” testified Mr. Whigham, who has represented Mr. Depp since 2016.Lawyers for Ms. Heard have argued that it was not the actress’s op-ed that undermined Mr. Depp’s career but rather his own actions that led to bad publicity, seeking to prove during cross-examination of Mr. Whigham that Mr. Depp had, in fact, lost the “Pirates” job before the article was published.Elaine Charlson Bredehoft, a lawyer for Ms. Heard, pointed to a previous deposition by Mr. Whigham in which he said that it had been the fall of 2018 — before the op-ed was published — when he came to understand that it was becoming unlikely that Mr. Depp would appear in the next “Pirates” movie.Mr. Whigham testified that around that time, Disney had not yet made a decision about whether Mr. Depp would appear in the movie and it was “trending badly,” but he and the film producer Jerry Bruckheimer were still seeking to convince the company to keep Mr. Depp in the franchise.“We had hope,” Mr. Whigham said, “and it became clear to me in early 2019 that it was over.”In the op-ed, Ms. Heard asserted that her own career had been affected by becoming a “public figure representing domestic abuse,” saying that she was dropped as the face of a fashion brand and a movie had recast her role.The idea for the op-ed came from the American Civil Liberties Union, and a communications department employee from the nonprofit organization drafted the article, according to earlier testimony from Terence Dougherty, general counsel for the A.C.L.U. Initially, the op-ed draft referenced Ms. Heard’s relationship with Mr. Depp directly. But those references were later edited out after back-and-forth between A.C.L.U. personnel and Ms. Heard’s lawyers about a nondisclosure agreement associated with the couple’s divorce, Mr. Dougherty testified.Aside from discussions about the op-ed on which Mr. Depp’s lawsuit is based, much of the trial has focused on diverging accounts of physical abuse in Ms. Heard and Mr. Depp’s relationship. Mr. Depp testified that he has never hit Ms. Heard and that she was the aggressor, accusing her of punching him in the face and kicking a bathroom door into his head. Ms. Heard, who has not yet testified in the trial, has said in court papers that she never hit Mr. Depp except in self-defense or in defense of her sister, and that Mr. Depp tended to perpetrate violence against her when he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.Amber Heard has countersued Mr. Depp, asserting that his former lawyer defamed her by referring to her allegations as a hoax.Pool photo by Steve Helber/EPA, via ShutterstockOn Monday, Ms. Heard’s lawyers sought to undermine Mr. Whigham’s claim that Mr. Depp had a formal deal for the sixth “Pirates” movie at all.“Do you have any explanation for why there exists nothing — no piece of paper — nothing suggesting that Mr. Depp ever had a deal with Disney for ‘Pirates 6’?” Ms. Bredehoft asked.Mr. Whigham said it was not unusual for an actor to have a verbal agreement for a movie that is later put into writing.Ms. Bredehoft also pointed to other possible precursors to Mr. Depp’s reputational decline other than the op-ed, citing a headline from The Sun newspaper in Britain that called Mr. Depp a “wife beater.” That article was published in April 2018, she pointed out, and Mr. Depp sued the newspaper for it in June 2018 — both months before Mr. Whigham’s recollection of Disney’s declining interest in Mr. Depp for “Pirates.”(Ms. Heard’s potential witness list includes Tina Newman, a Disney executive.)Ms. Heard’s legal team has referred repeatedly to the defamation trial in Britain that arose from that lawsuit. But it appears that the team has been restricted from mentioning the outcome of the case, in which a judge in London ruled against Mr. Depp and found that there was “overwhelming evidence” that he had assaulted Ms. Heard repeatedly during their marriage. More

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      Johnny Depp’s Texts Shown to Jurors in Defamation Case

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      Mr. Depp was questioned on the stand by lawyers for his ex-wife Amber Heard, whom he is suing for defamation.Lawyers for Amber Heard worked on Thursday to point out inconsistencies in Johnny Depp’s testimony in the defamation trial between the formerly married actors, presenting text messages sent by Mr. Depp and audio recordings of the couple’s arguments.Ms. Heard has asserted in court papers that Mr. Depp repeatedly assaulted her throughout their marriage, including during a fight in 2015 in which she said he “reeled back” and head-butted her in the face, “bashing” her nose. Mr. Depp has testified that he never struck Ms. Heard during their relationship and accused her of being the aggressor.Mr. Depp said on the stand Thursday that he vehemently disagreed that he had head-butted Ms. Heard that night, saying that he was only trying to restrain her and that it was “not impossible for them to bump.”Confronted with a recording of himself saying, “I head butted you in the forehead,” using an expletive, and “That doesn’t break a nose,” Mr. Depp said he had been trying to placate Ms. Heard by repeating her version of events.“There was not an intentional head butt,” the actor said, “and if you want to have a peaceful conversation with Ms. Heard, you might have to placate just a little bit.”The trial in Fairfax County Circuit Court revolves around an op-ed Ms. Heard wrote in 2018 for The Washington Post in which she said she was a “public figure representing domestic abuse.”But the trial testimony has gone well beyond an analysis of what Ms. Heard wrote. It includes a lengthy review of physical altercations between the actors, the differing accounts they have given about each and an extensive review of Mr. Depp’s use of drugs and alcohol.On Thursday, a lawyer for Ms. Heard, Ben Rottenborn, had Mr. Depp recall how he wrote bloody messages on the wall and other objects after part of his finger was severed in 2015.In his testimony, Mr. Depp affirmed that he had written a message on a mirror with his injured finger that referred to Ms. Heard — then his wife — as “easy Amber” and another, on a lampshade that said, “Good luck and be careful at top.”“I thought it was good advice,” Mr. Depp replied.But what the two sides disagree on is how Mr. Depp’s finger was severed, while the couple were in Australia for the filming of fifth “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie.Mr. Depp has testified that Ms. Heard threw a handle of vodka, which shattered on his hand and severed his finger. In court papers, Ms. Heard has said he severed his own finger when smashing a phone “to smithereens” amid a bout of physical violence against her.Ms. Heard — who is countersuing Mr. Depp for defamation after his former lawyer called her accusations a hoax — has written in court papers that Mr. Depp’s drug and alcohol use was central to the cycle of abuse, writing, “Johnny would become volatile and violent when under the influence of drugs and alcohol, then contrite and apologetic when he would sober up.”Amber Heard has countersued Mr. Depp and is expected to testify later in the trial.Pool photo by Jim Lo ScalzoMr. Depp testified on Tuesday that Ms. Heard’s depiction of his drug and alcohol use was “grossly embellished” and that he was once addicted to an opioid but had successfully detoxed.Parts of the cross-examination from Ms. Heard’s lawyer sought to show that Mr. Depp had misrepresented his drug use.Mr. Rottenborn questioned Mr. Depp about a particular incident in 2014 on which the actor’s account diverges from Ms. Heard’s. She has written in court papers that Mr. Depp had been “drinking heavily” on a private flight and threw objects at her, screamed obscenities and kicked her in the back. He was angry, she said, about a romantic scene she had been filming with the actor James Franco. She said he then locked himself in the plane’s bathroom and passed out, according to court papers.Mr. Depp testified on Wednesday that he had taken opioids and had perhaps had a glass of champagne on that flight, adding that he had locked himself in the bathroom because Ms. Heard had been “actively searching for a way to instigate a fight with me.” Ms. Heard has said in court papers that she has never struck Mr. Depp except in self-defense or in defense of her sister.Johnny Depp’s Libel Case Against Amber HeardCard 1 of 6In the courtroom. More

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      Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard: What We Know

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      Mr. Depp has sued Ms. Heard, his ex-wife, on grounds that she defamed him in an op-ed she wrote for The Washington Post.The defamation trial in Virginia between the actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard has become a fierce battleground over the truth about their relationship, with both sides accusing the other of repeated domestic abuse in what was an unquestionably tumultuous marriage.Before a seven-person jury in Fairfax County Circuit Court, lawyers have questioned witnesses about the events of what has been described as a whirlwind romance that started on a movie set and soured into a barrage of fights and physical confrontations — the details of which vary widely depending on the account.Mr. Depp, 58, sued Ms. Heard, 35, for defamation after she wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post referring to herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.” After more than a year of legal sparring, Ms. Heard then countersued Mr. Depp, alleging that he defamed her when his former lawyer released statements saying her allegations of abuse were a hoax.Many of the allegations being aired in the courtroom have already been heard in a British case — which Mr. Depp lost — in which the actor sued The Sun newspaper for printing a headline that called him a “wife beater.”The trial, which started with opening arguments on April 12, is expected to last about six weeks.Why is Mr. Depp suing Ms. Heard?Mr. Depp’s lawsuit, filed in 2019, revolves around the 2018 op-ed written by Ms. Heard titled, “I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change.”The op-ed does not mention Mr. Depp by name, but in it, Ms. Heard wrote that two years before the article’s publication, she became a “public figure representing domestic abuse.”In 2016, Ms. Heard was granted a temporary restraining order after showing up to a California court with a bruised face, writing in an application for the order that Mr. Depp had thrown a phone at her face at close range. (The actor denies this.)In the application, Ms. Heard wrote that Mr. Depp had been verbally and physically abusive to her throughout their relationship, detailing a recent incident in which she said he grabbed her by the hair and violently shoved her to the ground. (Mr. Depp wrote in court papers that this was a lie and that she was the one who punched him in the face that night.)Mr. Depp’s lawsuit asserted that Ms. Heard’s abuse allegations were an “elaborate hoax” that cost the actor his career and reputation.“Mr. Depp brings this defamation action to clear his name,” the actor’s lawsuit said.What did Ms. Heard’s op-ed in The Washington Post say?The op-ed says that after she became a “public figure representing domestic abuse,” she started to experience a backlash to her career.“Friends and advisers told me I would never again work as an actress — that I would be blacklisted,” she wrote. “A movie I was attached to recast my role. I had just shot a two-year campaign as the face of a global fashion brand, and the company dropped me.”She wrote that she saw “in real time, how institutions protect men accused of abuse.” Ms. Heard was identified in the op-ed as an ambassador on women’s rights for the American Civil Liberties Union, and in court papers, Ms. Heard said the A.C.L.U. suggested that she write the article and submitted it.Although the trial has become a sprawling inquiry into the couple’s marriage, one of Ms. Heard’s lawyers, Ben Rottenborn, tried to impress upon the jury in open arguments the idea that, ultimately, the case rests on “one piece of paper” — this op-ed.Ms. Heard is countersuing, claiming Mr. Depp had conspired with a lawyer to “attempt to destroy and defame Ms. Heard in the press.”Pool photo by Jim Lo ScalzoWhy is Ms. Heard suing Mr. Depp?The jury is simultaneously considering Ms. Heard’s countersuit against Mr. Depp, which was filed in 2020.Ms. Heard’s defamation claim is against Mr. Depp, but the statements it centers on came from his former lawyer, Adam Waldman, who told the British tabloid The Daily Mail that the actress’s allegations were an “abuse hoax.”Her lawsuit claims Mr. Depp has “authorized and conspired” with Mr. Waldman, who was acting on the actor’s behalf, to “attempt to destroy and defame Ms. Heard in the press.” (Mr. Waldman was not named as a defendant.)What has Mr. Depp said in his testimony?So far, Mr. Depp has testified that he had never struck Ms. Heard, nor any other woman. Instead, he asserted that Ms. Heard was the aggressor in the relationship, engaging in angry tirades and “demeaning name-calling” that would often escalate into physical violence.Johnny Depp’s Libel Case Against Amber HeardCard 1 of 6In the courtroom. More