Actor Amber Heard attends her ex-husband Johnny Depp’s defamation trial against her
(Picture: REUTERS)Amber Heard’s lawyers revised details of a contentious article about Johnny Depp which her former husband is now suing over, a court has been told.
Jurors in the libel lawsuit brought forward by Depp, 58, against Heard, 36, heard testimony on Thursday from Terence Dougherty, general counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
The ACLU drafted the 2018 Washington Post article under Heard’s name in part to reflect her role as an ambassador for gender violence issues for the organisation.
Mr Dougherty said numerous lawyers reviewed the article in order to ensure it did not violate a non-disclosure agreement between Depp and Heard when they divorced in 2016.
During discussions, lawyers for the Aquaman star sent back an edited version of Heard’s article which “specifically neutered much of the copy regarding her marriage," according to an email from Jessica Weitz, an ACLU employee who coordinated with the actress.
According to the email, however, Heard was looking for a way to have a deleted passage restored to the article.
The various drafts of the articles were not shown to the jury so it's not clear how many personal details were in the first draft and how much Heard's lawyers had removed.
But the final version contains very little about Heard's personal experiences.
In addition to the passage about "a public figure representing domestic abuse," in another passage she writes, "I had the rare vantage point of seeing, in real time, how institutions protect men accused of abuse."
Depp sued for $50million in Fairfax County Circuit Court after the article was published, in which Heard says that "two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our culture's wrath for women who speak out."
Depp's lawyers say that's a clear reference to abuse allegations she levied against Depp in 2016 that Depp says are untrue.
The Aquaman star, is countersuing for $100 million over Depp’s claims that she is lying.
The trial continues.
