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A new three-part Netflix documentary, Depp v. Heard, examines the high-profile court case between actor Johnny Depp and his ex-wife, actress Amber Heard, delving in particular into the media coverage of the trial, which included widely-viewed televised hearings that gave way to the very first “trial by TikTok.”
The former couple’s legal battle began in 2016, when Heard filed for divorce from Depp and got a restraining order against him, alleging that he had been physically and verbally abusive during their marriage. She later withdrew that claim, and Depp paid $7 million in their divorce settlement, which Heard donated to charity.
In 2020, Depp sued the British newspaper The Sun for libel after it ran a story calling him a “wife beater,” and the actor’s legal team alleged that Heard was actually the abuser in their relationship. A judge dismissed the case, stating that he believed the newspaper’s account of Depp’s violence against Heard to be “substantially true.”
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But the notorious six-week trial covered in the documentary occurred when Depp also sued Heard for defamation in the United States, after she authored an op-ed in the Washington Post describing herself as a “public figure representing domestic violence,” although the article never mentioned Depp by name.
After six weeks of hearings, Heard was found guilty on three counts of defamation, and the court awarded Depp $10.35 million in damages. Heard filed a countersuit against one of those charges, and received damages of $2 million.
“The disappointment I feel today is beyond words,” Heard stated after the ruling. “I’m heartbroken that the mountain of evidence still was not enough to stand up to the disproportionate power, influence and sway of my ex-husband. I’m even more disappointed with what this verdict means for other women. It is a setback. It sets back the clock to a time when a woman who spoke up and spoke out could be publicly shamed and humiliated. It sets back the idea that violence against women is to be taken seriously.”
Heard decided to settle the case, although she maintained that this was “not an act of concession,” saying: “There are no restrictions or gags with respect to my voice moving forward.” After the trial she sold her home in Yucca County, California and relocated to Europe.
Where is Amber Heard now?
Heard currently lives in Spain with her daughter. After taking some time away from the public eye in the aftermath of the trial, she now has two movies coming out. In June 2023, she made her first public appearance since settling the court case, at the Taormina Film Festival.
Heard was there to promote the independent film In the Fire, playing a psychologist in the late 1800s who takes on the case of a child in Colombia who is rumored to be possessed.
“The best luck you can have as an actor is to be able to balance both,” Heard recently told Deadline, explaining her choice of big and small projects. “Aquaman, that franchise and the machinery behind it, I’m very honored, honored to be a part of that. And then there are these small passion projects like In the Fire, where I’m proud to have gotten to know the filmmaker and the cast, and we got dirty together, to breathe life into this story. There’s something cool about that, and I think success is an actor who is able to have both those things.“
Heard also reprises the role of Mera in DC’s superhero sequel Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, which will be released in December, although she has claimed that the fallout from her very public legal issues with Depp led to reduced screen-time for the character.
“I was given a script, then given new versions of the script that had taken away scenes that had action in it,” she testified during the defamation trial. “They basically took a bunch out of my role. They just removed a bunch.”
Now Heard is looking ahead, and excited by the prospect of continuing to build a body of work she can be proud of. “What I have been through, what I’ve lived through, doesn’t make my career at all,” she said. “And it’s certainly not gonna stop my career.”
Depp v. Heard is now streaming on Netflix.
Philip Ellis is News Editor at Men’s Health, covering fitness, pop culture, sex and relationships, and LGBTQ+ issues. His work has appeared in GQ, Teen Vogue, Man Repeller and MTV, and he is the author of Love & Other Scams.
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