Johnny Depp and Amber Heard had a short-lived marriage, over 15 months starting 2015. Heard filed for divorce in 2016 amid domestic abuse allegations.
The Johnny Depp versus Amber Heard defamation case has now started in Virginia and has already seen some wild accusations being played out in court.
In one of such counter accusations at an earlier trial, Depp alleged that Heard left human feces on their bed in their Los Angeles home.
Johnny Depp also alleged that an article Heard wrote for the Washington Post in 2018, regarding domestic abuse falsely implied she was physically and sexually abused by Depp, when the actors were married.
Depp sued Heard for libel in Virginia after the Washington Post published her opinion piece. Even though Depp was never mentioned, it was clear that he was being referred in the article, Depps legal representation argued.
A judge had earlier ruled against ruled against Depp, who had sought to bar Heards lawyers from claiming immunity. The ruling does not mean Heard has immunity for what she wrote, but simply that she can include it as part of her defence arguments.
Depp’s lawyers brought forward the evidence that the op-ed was published on the eve of her first major motion-picture, Aquaman, which according to the lawyer’s allegations, was a way for Heard to elevate her career.
They added that no one in the past five decades ever accused Depp of being abusive with a woman and that Heard had last made contact with Depp on 21st May, 2016.
‘By choosing to lie about her husband for her own personal benefit, Amber Heard forever changed Mr. Depps life and his reputation.’ they argued.
Amber Heards lawyer, J.Benjamin Rottenborn rebutted in his opening statement that Depp was misleading the jury with his ‘crazy conspiracy theories.’
Elaine Bredehoft, part of Heards legal representation, brought up several incidents where Depp was physically assaulting and being verbally abusive to Heard. She brought up an incident in 2015, where Depp had apparently thrown her across the floor, kicked her, punched her and ‘penetrated her with a liquor bottle’ while on vacation.
Depp was painted as an alcoholic who abused drugs and had uncontrollable rage.
Depp’s longtime friend and neighbor Isaac Baruch took the stand During cross examination by Bredehoft, during which the October 2016 text messages between Depp and Baruch were revealed, including one in which Depp allegedly referred to Heard’s ‘rotting corpse.’
According to a report by People, in the text, Depp allegedly said he hoped Heard’s ‘rotting corpse is decomposing in the f—–g trunk of a Honda Civic.’
Baruch corroborated this saying ‘Yeah, it was written.’ Depp had also allegedly texted ‘That c— ruined such a f—–g cool life we had for a while.’
Baruch got emotional during the cross examination when talking about the impact of the allegations on those who are close with the Depp along with the actor’s family.
‘It’s not fair. It’s not right what she did and what happened for so many people to get affected from this. It’s insane how this happened.’ he said.
The trial is expected to go on for six weeks.