Amber Heard fires PR team over 'bad headlines', days before trial

Actress Amber Heard fired her PR team and switched to a new firm after she reportedly became frustrated following a week of bad headlines during the defamation trial brought by her exhusband and actor Johnny Depp a new report claimedAccording to dailymailcouk Heard was being represented by Precision Strategies which she suddenly ditched in favour of LAbased consulting firm Shane Communications She made the move in apparent hopes that she might receive more favourable coverage this week during which time she is expected to take to the stand and testifyShe doesnt like bad headlines an unnamed source told the New York Post which first reported the news reports dailymailcoukAnother source told the newspaper that Heard 36 is frustrated with her story not being told effectivelyThe Alist trial in Virginia which started on April 11 and is set to last another three weeks has so far seen Depp 58 claim he was the victim of domestic abuse during his four days of testimony with his bodyguard on Thursday even describing in detail the wounds on the actors face allegedly sustained during a confrontation with HeardThe actor is suing Heard for 50 million claiming she defamed him and ruined his career after a 2018 Washington Post article in which she described herself as a public figure representing domestic abuse without naming her exhusbandHeard is countersuing for 100 million and after three weeks of sitting silently in the courtroom during Depps testimony she is preparing to start her fightback possibly as soon as WednesdayThe PR firm switch came following several days of court testimony from Depp witnesses that saw the socialmedia mob suddenly turn against HeardHeards credibility as a philanthropist also took a battering when it was claimed she had not donated her 35 million divorce settlement to charity something she had promised publicly to do She had apparently donated only 13 million and much of that appeared to have come from her former boyfriend billionaire Elon MuskAccording to Terence Dougherty the chief operating officer of the American Civil Liberties Union ACLU and the recipient of Ambers largesse of 500000 it came from a Vanguard fund connected to MuskHer contributions dried up by 2019 and Dougherty told the court the ACLU learned that she was having financial difficultiesHeards lawyer is arguing Depp abused her both physically and sexually and she hopes to make her point once she takes the stand early this weekShane Communications is led by its CEO David Shane who has briefed against Depp in the pastIn 2017 the firm highlighted accusations made by Depps former business managers The Management Group alleging that the Pirates of the Caribbean star needed to hire a shrink for his compulsive spending habit of spending 2 million per monthDepp then launched a 25 million lawsuit last month against his business managers The Mandel Company claiming gross mismanagement of his affairsOne crisis communications expert told the Post that they believed the new PR company would have its work cut out in order to change the narrativeIts crazy to change teams in the middle of a trial like this because you dont like the headlines said Lis Smith a senior communications director for Pete Buttigiegs 2020 presidential campaignAfter years of narrative building you cant change the publics opinion in the three weeks when someone is suing you in a caseHeard never wanted cameras to be allowed in the courtroom at all but Depps team pushed for it and wonDepp has even accused his ex of defecating on their bed in an act of aggressionTestimony so far has also included photos of severed fingers pictures of feces videos of explosive arguments and temper tantrums and even a discussion about the Hollywood stars penisDepp denies the allegations of abuse noting how he brought the lawsuit in order to clear his nameLawyers for Heard say such denials are not credible because the actor was too drunk and high to remember what occurred The trial in the Fairfax County Courthouse runs Monday to Thursday from 10 am to 5 pm and is set to conclude on May 19This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever