Johnny Depp’s libel trial against his ex-wife Amber Heard is likely to turn into a six-week mudslinging soap opera, lawyers for the actress warned on Tuesday.
The Pirates of the Caribbean actor is suing his ex-wife for libel in Fairfax County Circuit Court after she wrote an op-ed piece in The Washington Post in December 2018 calling herself a “public figure representing domestic abuse”.
He denies abusing her and he said the article indirectly defamed him by referring to abuse allegations Heard made back in 2016.
During the opening statements, Heard lawyer J. Benjamin Rottenborn told the jury: “You’re going to see who the real Johnny Depp is - behind the fame, behind the pirate costumes.
“Because Johnny Depp brought this case, all of this is going to come out.”
Her lawyer argued the 2018 article did nothing to damage Depp’s reputation as the abuse allegations had been public for two years already.
Also, Rottenborn argued Heard was exercising her First Amendment rights as an advocate when she wrote the article.
The legal brain claimed Depp’s spiralling career was a result of his drinking and drug-using.
Depp’s lawyer Benjamin Chew, however, acknowledged the Hollywood actor’s name never appears in the piece and said it was “defamation by implication”.
“It didn’t have to,” Chew told the jury. “Everyone in Hollywood knew exactly what she was talking about.”
In the December 2018 piece, Heard wrote, “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.”
Chew argued it was a clear reference to a restraining order Heard sought in May 2016 after Depp told her he wanted a divorce.
The lawyer claimed Heard gave herself a bruise on her face, which was photographed by the paparazzi when she turned up to the courthouse on May 27 that year, in a bid to ruin Depp’s reputation.
He claimed Depp and Heard hadn’t seen each other since May 21 as he was on a European tour with his band the Hollywood Vampires.
Another of Depp’s lawyers Camille Vasquez told the jury of Heard: "She can’t back down. She has been living and breathing this lie for years… She’s going to give the performance of a lifetime in this courtroom."
Both Depp and Heard are expected to testify at the trial, scheduled for six weeks.
Actors Paul Bettany and James Franco and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk are also expected to have a say.
A civil jury of seven members, plus four alternates, was selected Monday to hear the case.
