The recent opening statements in Hollywood actor Johnny Depp and Amber Heard`s defamation lawsuits featured echoes of their 2016 bitter divorce and a similar 2020 libel case in London. Depp had sued Heard over a 2018 op-ed she wrote about surviving domestic violence, though she never mentioned him by name in the article. According to People magazine, during the libel trial, which is expected to last about six weeks, inside the Fairfax County Courthouse in Virginia, Heard`s lawyers accused her ex-husband, Depp, of sexual assault as the actor set out to prove defamation charges against her.

Heard`s attorney Ben Rottenborn said evidence will show that she suffered domestic abuse by Depp that "took many forms," including physical, emotional, verbal and psychological. Rottenborn, while discussing the headline used for the online version of Heard`s op-ed, explained that she did not write that headline herself or get to approve it. The headline read, "Amber Heard: I spoke up against sexual violence -- and faced our culture`s wrath. That has to change."