Johnny Depp defamation lawsuit case against Amber Heard begins in Virginia

Film & TV
12 Apr 22

Divorced celebrity couple Johnny Depp and Amber Heard are heading to court for a €45 million lawsuit over domestic abuse allegations.

The defamation lawsuit concerning abuse allegations between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard has taken to court in Virginia.

The divorced couple will be present at the trial with a slew of testimonies from high-profile figures including Elon Musk, James Franco,and Paul Bettany.

After losing a libel trial in the UK, 58-year-old Depp, is suing 35-year-old Heard for $50m (€45m) over an op-ed she wrote in which she claimed to be a victim of domestic abuse. Heard is suing back, with a $100m counterclaim against Depp.

The performers met in 2009 while filming The Rum Diary and married in 2015. In 2016, Heard was granted a restraining order against Depp. By 2017, they were divorced.

The legal drama began in a 2018 interview with the Washington Post where Heard made claims of sexual and physical violence. She never used Depp's name in these comments specifically. The Sun then called Depp a "wife-beater" in another 2018 headline. In a libel hearing that took place last July, a judge ruled the content of The Sun article to be “substantially true”.

Depp's legal team successfully argued that the trial should be held in Virginia - home to two Washington Post offices and where the paper is physically published.

The plaintiff insists that his reputation and demand as an actor have been damaged significantly since this controversy. In 2019, it was announced that there would be a trial for Heard's statements.

He addresses cancel culture at a 2021 San Sebastian Film Festival press conference: “It takes one sentence and there’s no more ground, the carpet has been pulled. It’s not just me that this has happened to, it’s happened to a lot of people,” he emphasises. "This type of thing has happened to women, men. Sadly at a certain point they begin to think that it’s normal. Or that it’s them. When it’s not.”

In response, the actress has filed her own pending case against Depp regarding declarations made by his lawyer.

It's expected that Heard’s lawyers will use Virginia's anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) provision to argue for her immunity in the libel suit. The provision was created to provide protection against nuisance litigations that involve matters of public concern.

In 2019, Heard's attorneys rebuffed the lawsuit:

"This frivolous action is just the latest of Johnny Depp’s repeated efforts to silence Amber Heard. She will not be silenced. Mr. Depp’s actions prove he is unable to accept the truth of his ongoing abusive behaviour. But while he appears hell-bent on achieving self destruction, we will prevail in defeating this groundless lawsuit and ending the continued vile harassment of my client by Mr. Depp and his legal team."

Depp's odds of success were better in England than the US, where a defamed person has to prove what was said about them isn't true. Across the Atlantic, the burden of proof rests with the alleged slanderer, who has to prove what they said is true.