By Georgia McManus

The intense trial between Hollywood actor Johnny Depp and his ex-wife, actress Amber Heard has been taking place in Fairfax County, Virginia since April 11 and is set to last six weeks. Depp is currently suing Heard for defamation after she wrote a Washington Post piece in 2018 making abuse allegations towards Depp. 

Depp playing Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean. Photo credit: Trey Ratcliff. 

Depp has been a widely known actor since his first major role in Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984, at age 21. Depp is now 58 and has appeared in at least 84 films throughout his career. He is perhaps most famous for his leading role as Jack Sparrow in Disney’s five-part Pirates of the Caribbean series. Depp’s first marriage was with celebrity makeup artist and entrepreneur Lori Anne Allison from 1983 to 1985. He then had two children with his long-term girlfriend, Vanessa Paradis, whom he dated for 14 years until 2012. He first met Heard on the set of The Rum Diary in 2009. Despite dating Paradis at the time, Depp claims to have felt a connection with Heard during a kissing scene, later stating, “it felt like something I should not be feeling.”

Their marriage only lasted 15 months, and Heard filed for divorce in 2016. Heard originally filed a restraining order against Depp at the time of their divorce but dropped it when the two officially separated in 2017. In the opinion piece about Depp that Heard wrote for The Washington Post, she made clear domestic abuse allegations against him for both verbal and physical abuse. Depp denies such abuse and is suing Heard for $50,000,000 as compensation for harming his reputation as a public figure. In early 2019, Depp made a public statement that Heard was the aggressor in the spousal abuse, not him. He claims he didn’t leave Heard, even with her alleged abuse, because, “my father stayed [in his abusive marriage]… and I didn’t want to fail. I wanted to try to make it work.”

Heard at the 2018 San Diego Comic Con International in San Diego, California. Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons. 

Many text conversations, photos, and videos have recently surfaced in court as evidence of abuse from both. Depp and Heard both shared extensive accounts of violent incidents that occured during their relationship, previously unheard of by the public. Some say that there was more likely mutual abuse from both Heard and Depp, while others believe it was one-sided. 

Heard’s two personality disorders and Depp’s potentially ongoing substance abuse issues are being carefully considered by the seven-person jury throughout the trial. After being asked to complete a psychological analysis of Heard, psychologist Dr. Shannon Curry testified in court that Heard has “histrionic and borderline personality disorders” which are “a predictive factor in women who implement violence against their partner.” Dr. Curry also added that “one tactic is physically assaulting and then getting hurt themselves… then using the legal system… for example using a restraining order.” Heard’s lawyers have highlighted Depp’s past problems with alcohol and drugs, insinuating they may have caused Depp to become violent with Heard at times. While Depp admits to his short-term addiction to opioids that were originally prescribed to him for pain, he claims all other drugs were strictly recreational.

Heard and Depp at the premiere of his film Black Mass, 2015 Toronto Film Festival. Photo credit: GabboT via Flickr.com.

Depp told the court about how Heard severed the tip of his finger in 2015 by throwing two vodka bottles at him. The couple was staying in Australia at the time while Depp was filming the fifth Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Depp described how, following a heated argument, he retrieved a bottle of vodka from behind their mini-bar and poured himself several shots. Heard then picked up the vodka bottle and smashed it against the wall. Depp pulled a second bottle out from behind the bar, which she proceeded to throw directly at him, severing the tip of his finger with flying glass shards. When Depp looked down, he saw, “I was looking directly at my bone sticking out.” Upon reviewing the photos of himself in the emergency room, Depp tells the judge that he forgot to mention, “Ms. Heard had taken my cigarette from the ashtray and stubbed it out on my face.”

As further evidence against Heard, Depp’s lawyers played an audio recording for the court of Heard openly admitting to physically assaulting Depp. In the recording, Heard was clearly repeating, “I did not punch you, I was hitting you,” and she went into detail about the manner in which she was striking Depp. When Depp tried to speak up for himself in the tape, she told him to stop being a “baby,” essentially telling him he was overreacting and being dramatic.

Contrastingly, Heard’s lawyers showed the court a video of a fight between her and Depp in which Depp angrily slams kitchen cabinets and shouts at Amber, “Want to see crazy, I’ll give you crazy!” In showing the court this footage, Heard’s lawyers were trying to convey Depp’s “violent nature” that may have caused him to physically abuse Heard, but Depp claims he did not assault her. In response to the video, he stated, “I did assault a couple of cabinets, but I did not touch Ms. Heard.”

Depp repeatedly emphasized to the court that he has never and will never strike a woman. He discussed the abuse he endured from his mother in his childhood, saying he would never want his kids to see or go through what his mother did to him.

Depp at the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest London premiere. Photo credit: Caroline Bonarde Ucci. 

Another major topic of debate has been about a text conversation between Depp and his friend and actor Paul Bettany from June 2013. In the messages, Depp clearly stated “Let’s burn Amber!!!” and other very dark and threatening messages referencing killing Heard. Depp continues to defend himself by claiming he just has a dark sense of humor. While Depp has a strong group of supporters and fans on his side, they became somewhat divided upon discovering Depp’s messages. 

The trial has attracted much public attention with extreme supporters on either side. Depp has an especially intense fandom that whole-heartedly advocates for him, many only seeing him in a positive light. In reality, video and audio evidence presented in court have proven that both Heard and Depp have said and done many violent things to or about one another. Their fandoms voice their support mainly through social media platforms like TikTok and Twitter, where videos and statements about Heard and Depp have been trending. Hashtags like “#johnnydepptrial” and “#justiceforjohnnydepp” are receiving billions of views, conveying how invested people are in the outcome of the trial. 

Featured image credit: Andy Templeton via flickr and Wikimedia Commons.