Pirates of the Caribbean star Johnny Depp recently lost his libel case against the publishers of the Sun on its “wife beater” claim. The high-profile case came to conclusion after weeks of a parade of witnesses including A-list actors to support each side’s versions of events.
Short Time Together
The relationship between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard can now be considered one of those Hollywood relations which end in mess. The pair began dating after the movie “The Rum Diary”. Later in February 2015 they married. From then on, fate turned for the worst for the couple.
Thus, Heard filed for divorce in May 2016. While alleging that Depp had been verbally and physically abusive throughout their relationship, usually under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
The Legal Battle between Estranged
The broken marriage was dragged to courts, when, Depp sued Heard for an opinion piece. She wrote about her experiences of leaving an abusive relationship in it. Depp maintained that Heard had been the abuser and that her allegations constituted a hoax against him. While Amber Heard denied the claims. The relationship again came into the limelight when Depp sued the publishers of “The Sun” after it called him “wife-beater” in its article.
This libel trial took place in July 2020. The allegations made by Depp were tackled by The Sun, with Amber as its ‘star’ witness. It took series of court trips by either party in the highly publicized trial. Throughout the trial, Johnny maintained that Amber was the one who was abusive. He argued that Heard was motivated to destroy his career and reputation. Depp always strenuously denied claims he was violent towards Heard in any way.
In return, the defense put up 16 instances to prove that Johnny had been abusive towards Amber. The evidence included videos of Heard and Depp, swearing and banging cupboards and pots, paintings in blood, photos of severed fingers and a whole lot of bizarre stuff. After weeks of trial, the judge declared in favor of the Sun.
He found out that 14 of the above instances were substantially true and Depp did what he often did when subjected to stress: he drank alcohol excessively and used controlled drugs. Later, the court refused Depp permission to appeal against the libel verdict.
The Long Road Ahead
After this long trial, Amber Heard has come out victorious and is being hailed for standing against domestic violence. While Johnny Depp has resigned from his role as Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beasts sequel. The saga seems to have cooled for now, but the water ahead is still turbulent for the separated couple. Their legal battle will continue in April 2022 when the US court hears another of Depp’s libel case against Heard.
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