Johnny Depp and Amber Heard
(Picture: PA Wire)Amber Heard has complained she continues to pay the price “for speaking out against men in power” ahead of her court battle against ex-husband Johnny Depp.
Depp, 58, launched a $50m (£38.4m) lawsuit against Heard, 35, after she described herself as a domestic violence victim in a 2018 column in The Washington Post.
While the actor’s name was not mentioned, he has argued he was clearly the target of the article and his career was impacted as a result.
Heard has countersued for $100 million (£76.8m) and the stage is set for another high-profile trial where both parties will take the stand in proceedings starting on Monday, April 11 in Fairfax, Virginia.
Ahead of the trial, Heard told fans on Instagram: “I’m going to go offline for the next several weeks. As you may know, I’ll be in Virginia where I face my ex-husband Johnny Depp in court.”
She continued: “Johnny is suing me for an op-ed I wrote in The Washington Post, in which I recounted my experience of violence and domestic abuse. I never named him, rather I wrote about the price women pay for speaking out against men in power. I continue to pay that price, but hopefully when this case concludes, I can move on and so can Johnny.
“I have always maintained a love for Johnny and it brings me great pain to have to live out the details of our past life together in front of the word,” Heard said.
“At this time, I recognise the ongoing support I’ve been fortunate to receive throughout these years, and in these coming weeks I will be leaning on it more than ever.”
It comes after Depp, who has always denied the allegations against him, lost a libel lawsuit against the publisher of The Sun in 2020 after an article labelled him a “wife beater” in reference to his relationship with Heard.
The Pirates of the Caribbean star also lost a bid to overturn the ruling in March 2021.
