Johnny Depp, Amber Heard defamation trial begins

Hollywood star Johnny Depps lawyers accused his formerwife Amber Heard of fabricating domestic violence claims against the actor in order to advance her own career as a defamation trial got underway in VirginiaDepp has sued Heard for 50 million alleging that she devastated his career when she revived her allegations against him in a 2018 oped in the Washington Post reports VarietyHeards attorneys meanwhile argued in their opening statement on Tuesday that her allegations are entirely true and that she had a First Amendment right to express her viewsHer attorney Ben Rottenborn argued that Depp is seeking to ruin Heards life by pursuing the lawsuitFor years all Mr Depp has wanted to do is humiliate Amber to haunt her to wreck her career Rottenborn argued calling Depp an obsessed exhusband hellbent on revengeThe trial is expected to last about six weeks as 11 jurors will be asked to sort through a mountain of documentary evidence and conflicting testimony to decide who is telling the truth reports VarietyDepps attorneys Ben Chew and Camille Vasquez noted that the Washington Post piece was published just before the release of Aquaman in which Heard starred and helped her portray herself as a sympathetic advocateShe presented herself as the face of the MeToo movement the virtuous representative of innocent women across the country and the world who have truly suffered abuse Vasquez said The evidence will show that was a lieHeard has accused Depp of numerous instances of assault including times when she alleges Depp grabbed her by the neck threw her against a wall kicked her choked her and punched herHer attorney Elaine Bredehoft went through many of the allegations in detail in her opening statement including one occasion when Depp allegedly sexually assaulted her with a liquor bottleThat allegation had not been made public beforeIn a statement a spokesperson for Depp denied the sexual assault claim The spokesperson said it was not part of the original allegations surrounding the couples divorce in 2016 and emerged only after Depp filed his defamation suit in 2019This follows a pattern of her elaborate erroneous claims which have continued to change and evolve over time for the purpose of Hollywood shock value of which Amber has mastered and used to exploit a serious social movement the spokesperson saidThe trial will go into painstaking detail about drug abuse violence and trashed apartments In his opening argument Rottenborn said that jurors should try to keep their focus on her oped which does not identify Depp by nameThe article isnt about Johnny Depp he arguedThe article is about the social change she is advocatingRottenborn argued that at the time of the publication Depps career was in freefall while Heards career was taking off The oped he argued was her attempt to move on from the abusive relationship But by suing her Depp is refusing to let her move onThis case isnt about a daytoday chronicle of their marriage Rottenborn said Its not about who you like more Its not about which party can sling more mud Ultimately what this case is about is the First AmendmentHeard has filed a 100 million counterclaim against Depp alleging that his lawyer defamed her by accusing her of fabricating a hoax reports VarietyChew argued that Heards allegations have caused severe harm to Depps career because Hollywood studios do not want to face the backlash that comes with hiring someone accused of domestic violenceThe evidence will show that Ms Heards false allegations had a significant impact on Mr Depps family and his ability to work in the profession he loved Chew said Ultimately this trial is about clearing Mr Depps name of a terrible and false allegationDepp has alleged that he was dropped from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise after Heards oped was published But Rottenborn argued that Disney was discussing dropping him months earlier due to his erratic behaviourAny damages he suffered in his career were not because of this oped Rottenborn told the jury Its time to make Johnny take responsibility Its up to you ladies and gentlemen to make him do thatDepp lost a similar lawsuit in 2020 against The Sun newspaper in the UKThe judge in that case found that Heards allegations were substantially true and that therefore the newspaper did not defame him when it described him as a wife beaterThis 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