Johnny Depp and Amber Heard (Jonathan Brady/PA)
(Picture: PA Archive)There are toxic celebrity divorces and then, several galaxies beyond, there are Amber Heard and Johnny Depp. In case you’ve been living under a rock, a recap: In 2018, Heard wrote an article for the Washington Post in which she said, “Two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse”. Though not mentioning him by name, lawyers for Depp claimed that these 11 words defamed him and sought $50 million (£41.5 million) in damages.
Following a televised (and fiendlishly publicised) trial, last month a jury awarded Depp $15 million (£12.4 million) in damages. The case may be over, but all signs indicate that the battle — between Heard, Depp and their supporters — has only just begun.
Trial by TikTok
While this is far from the first celebrity trial to be televised (both OJ Simpson and Oscar Pistorius’s proceedings were broadcast), it is extremely rare in cases dealing with allegations of domestic violence. The presence of rolling cameras turned Depp v Heard into a spectator sport, attracting inescapable media coverage in both mainstream outlets and on social channels, where users sided overwhelmingly with Depp (in one day there were 19 million uses of the ‘I believe Johnny’ hashtag).
The decision to televise the trial also meant that footage could be manipulated on platforms such as TikTok, a news source for an increasing number of people. Ironically for a defamation trial, Heard was widely defamed as a result of her testimony. Her online detractors accused her of taking cocaine while on the stand, faking photos of her injuries from Depp’s alleged attacks and convincing multiple witnesses to lie under oath. One TikTok trend saw users making aroused facial expressions over an audio clip of Heard detailing her alleged sexual assault by Depp. Another saw them mockingly lip-syncing along to her distraught testimony.
The jury were not sequestered, and while they were discouraged from looking at social media, they were allowed access to their phones. In addition, there was a 10-day break in proceedings because of a judicial conference, causing some commentators (and Heard’s lead attorney) to suggest that the wide-spread social media vilification of Heard could have prejudiced the jury against her.
Depp had previously lost a libel claim against The Sun newspaper, which described him as a “wife beater”, when a judge in the English High Court— rather than a jury — ruled on a balance of probability that there was sufficient evidence to prove that 12 out of 14 alleged incidents of domestic violence occurred.
Fittingly for a trial which played out on TikTok, Depp celebrated his win by joining the app, where he accrued over four million followers in a day. “To all of my most treasured, loyal and unwavering supporters. We’ve been everywhere together, we have seen everything together,” he wrote. “We have walked the same road together. We did the right thing together, all because you cared. And now, we will all move forward together.”
Amber’s fightback
Responding to Depp’s TikTok, a spokesman for Heard issued a statement saying: “As Johnny Depp says he’s ‘moving forward’, women’s rights are moving backward. The verdict’s message to victims of domestic violence is ... be afraid to stand up and speak out.” Following the verdict, Heard said: “The disappointment I feel today is beyond words. 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 believe Johnny’s attorneys succeeded in getting the jury to overlook the key issue of freedom of speech and ignore evidence that was so conclusive that we won in the UK. I’m sad I lost this case. But I am sadder still that I seem to have lost a right I thought I had as an American — to speak freely and openly.”
In an interview, Heard later claimed not to blame the jury for their verdict. “I actually understand,” she said. “He’s a beloved character, and people feel they know him.” But the actor was critical of the social media fanfare surrounding the case, in which #amberheardisguilty and similarly themed hashtags accumulated 900 million views. “I don’t care what one thinks about me or what judgments you want to make about what happened in the privacy of my own home... I don’t take it personally,” she said. “But even somebody who is sure I’m deserving of all this hate and vitriol, even if you think that I’m lying, you still couldn’t look me in the eye and tell me that you think on social media there’s been a fair representation. You cannot tell me that you think that this has been fair.”
In more released clips from the Dateline interview, Heard says she has “a binder worth of years of notes dating back to 2011... that were taken by my doctor who I was reporting the abuse to.” Depp’s team has been quick to clap back. “It’s unfortunate that while Johnny is looking to move forward with his life, the defendant and her team are back to repeating, reimagining and re-litigating matters that have already been decided by the court and a verdict that was unequivocally decided by a jury in Johnny’s favor.” Heard’s lawyers have promised to appeal the verdict — watch this space.
The death of #MeToo?
The trial has been decried as ‘an orgy of misogyny’, with former sex crimes prosecutor Wendy Murphy describing the verdict as a “symptom of a culture that oppresses women”. Journalist, and friend of Heard, Eve Barlow tweeted: “I don’t care who you believe or who you don’t believe, one person is subjected to global public vilification, incessant death threats and harassment, and it’s — once more — the fault of the public. How dare you support mockery, violence + dehumanisation of a woman you don’t know.”
Other commentators have expressed fear that the verdict may dissuade domestic violence victims from speaking out or putting their faith in the justice system, with some suggesting that the verdict signals the end of #MeToo.
Writing on Twitter, the movement’s founder Tarana Burke denied that this was the case. “The ‘me too’ movement isn’t dead, this system is dead,” she wrote. “When you get the verdict you want, ‘the movement works’ — when you don’t, ‘it’s dead’,” she wrote. “In the meantime — millions of people who have never been able to utter the words ‘it happened to me’ have released the shame that wasn’t theirs to carry in the first place. This movement is very much ALIVE.”
The role of the Deppheads
Throughout the trial Depp’s most ardent fans, nicknamed ‘Deppheads’, gathered at the court, chanting “Amber Turd! Amber Turd!” as Heard arrived each day. Hundreds of them - some even flew in from the UK - queued outside the courthouse in the early hours of the morning in the hope of being one of the 100 members of the public allowed inside. Online, they called for a boycott of L’Oréal products until Heard was removed as a spokeswoman, and almost 2 million signatories petitioned for her to be dropped from the cast of Aquaman 2 (a source has since confirmed she hasn’t been cut). The hashtags #AmberHeardIsALiar and #AmberHeardIsAnAbuser were used more than 100,000 times on Twitter. Other fans of Depp’s didn’t deny his alleged violence, but seemed to approve of it. One viral TikTok accompanied photos of Heard’s bruised face with the caption, ‘He could have killed you. He had every right.’ The post was liked more than 222,000 times.
Meanwhile, Depp’s fans coordinated to campaign for reinstatement as a Hollywood heavyweight. After he was dropped from his role in the Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts, they stockpiled bottles of the Dior’s Depp-fronted Sauvage perfume until it became a bestseller. One fan warned the fashion brand not to, “even try to fire Johnny Depp. You will get Twittered and Reddited to oblivion.”
Depp’s victory lap
Ahead of the verdict, Depp made surprise appearances on stage with rock guitarist Jeff Beck in Sheffield and London – where ex girlfriend Kate Moss (who had testified that rumours Johnny had pushed her down the stairs in 1999 were untrue) joined them for the after-party. Following the conclusion of the trial, Depp and Beck announced that they will release a joint album in July. It’s perhaps the least bizarre twist in a victory lap which has seen Depp posing with a badger cub on the Facebook page of Folly Wildlife Rescue Trust in Kent, and spending £50,000 at a Birmingham curry house. These are hardly the actions of a cancelled celebrity, and Depp appears to have triumphed in the court of public opinion, despite the shocking details exposed during the trial (these included text messages where Depp fantasised about murdering Heard).
Seeming to confirm that the trial had been an effort to rehabilitate Depp’s toxic reputation, one of his lawyers, Ben Chew, told Good Morning America that Depp may consider waiving the damages Heard has been mandated to pay. “Mr Depp testified this was never about the money,” Chew said. “This was about restoring his reputation and he’s done that.” An Instagram post in which Depp paid tribute to his supporters was liked by celebrities including Bella Hadid, Halle Bailey, Naomi Campbell and Jennifer Aniston.
What next?
What remains to be seen is whether Depp can leverage his reinvigorated fanbase into a full-scale career revival. New York publicist Matthew Hiltzik, who started his career in PR at Harvey Weinstein’s Miramax, has been charged with the task. While Depp has been dropped from the lucrative Pirates of the Caribbean and Fantastic Beasts franchises, he recently announced that he will star as King Louis XV in Jeanne du Barry. The fact that this is a French production, rather than a Hollywood blockbuster, indicates that Depp may follow the lead of Mel Gibson, who pivoted to indie and foreign cinema after being blacklisted by Hollywood.
Meanwhile, the reverberations of the trial promise to ripple far beyond the big screen. Marilyn Manson, a long-time friend of Depp, has filed a defamation lawsuit against actor Evan Rachel Wood, one of more than 16 women to have accused him of psychological and sexual abuse. Already the hashtags #IStandWithMarilynManson and #EvanRachelWoodIsALiar are circulating - the same slogans used by the Deppheads, only with different names.
