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Johnny Depp’s reason for suing Amber Heard for libel – her Washington Post column – has been the main focus of this trial.
Heard wrote a first-person piece published in December 2018, headlined: “I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change.”
Although the column did not mention Depp by name, the actor and his lawyers argue that it was clearly about him and have sued for $50m.
Heard’s counterclaim for $100m has not been as widely discussed, so here’s a summary.
In 2020, an attorney for Johnny Depp, Adam Waldman, was quoted in three separate Mail Online articles about Heard’s allegations of domestic violence against Depp. These have been referred to as the Depp-Waldman statements and it is these that Heard is countersuing for libel over.
The first says: “Amber Heard and her friends in the media use fake sexual violence allegations as both a sword and shield, depending on their needs.
“They have selected some of her sexual violence hoax ‘facts’ as the sword, inflicting them on the public and Mr Depp.”
A second article contains quotes from Mr Waldman in which he calls Heard’s abuse claims “an ambush” and “a hoax”.
Describing an incident in which Heard accused Depp of throwing a phone at her and trashing their apartment in May 2016, Mr Waldman is quoted as saying: “So Amber and her friends spilled a little wine and roughed the place up, got their stories straight under the direction of a lawyer and publicist, and then placed a second call to 911.”
In a third Mail Online article, Mr Waldman is quoted as saying “We have reached the beginning of the end of Ms Heard’s abuse hoax against Johnny Depp.”
Heard’s lawyers argue these statements defamed her and have impacted her life and career – in the same way Depp says her op-ed impacted his.
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