The verdict is in. Amber Heard has been found guilty of defaming Johnny Depp, and Johnny Depp’s lawyer (who acted as his agent) has been found guilty of defaming her. She must now pay Depp $15 million while Depp must pay her $2 million.
Was justice served?
I don’t think so.
It’s clear that Amber Heard & Johnny Depp’s marriage was troubled and toxic. She admitted to physically harming him and being verbally nasty; he claimed he did not physically harm her but was verbally cruel (and crude and bloodthirsty in his texts). The evidence that really sunk Heard was when the photography expert reported that photos showing bruising on her body were actually edited. Additionally, the TMZ witness suggested that the video of Depp smashing glasses had been sent to him directly from Heard, and that Heard had also sent in the tip that she planned to file a TRO. Indeed, she even planned to turn her head so that TMZ would be able to take a photo showcasing the bruise on her cheek.
That’s damning, because it shows a person who is a liar and cunning. But here’s the thing- it’s not actually surprising.
Depp’s psychologist Dr. Shannon Curry said that Heard has borderline personality disorder and histrionic personality disorder. These are illnesses, not just convenient terms. People who have them suffer from distortions in their thinking and perception. To my mind, here is what likely happened.
Depp did hurt Heard- probably when he was high or drunk, and doesn’t remember doing it. Even the expert witness who testified about the edited photographs did not testify about any of the most damning ones- the ones that show hair pulled out, a broken bed, and her bruised face and lip (see my former post where I include these). The fact that he didn’t talk about those suggests there was nothing to talk about- those photos were not edited.
The problem is that Heard decided to go beyond the facts. She exaggerated- which is a symptom of her disorders. She edited photos to make her bruises (which might have been real) look stronger, or her cheek look redder- perhaps worried that otherwise it wouldn’t be clear enough to the onlooker that she was hurt. She alerted TMZ to what she was about to do due to her desire to be noticed and to garner the sympathy of others. She took what was real and mixed it with falsehood in an effort to get noticed- and so she became like the boy who cried wolf. Even though she’s telling the truth about some of the abuse, since it’s so mixed in with falsehoods (and likely exaggerations or lies about other incidents of abuse), nobody believes her.
What we should be feeling for Heard is pity. This woman is ill. Her behaviors reflect it.
And Depp is no saint. He too obviously lies on the stand.
The fact that SNL thought this trial was something funny and worth satirizing is disturbing. The fact that it has become TikTok fodder, that statements like #AmberTurd are trending, is terrible. Heard made a heartbreaking statement where she asserted, “I am a human being!” In her words:
This is horrible. This is painful. And this is humiliating for any human being to go through. And perhaps it’s easy to forget that I’m a human being. And even though Johnny promised that I deserved this and promised he’d do this, I don’t deserve this. I want to move on. The statements, the attacks on me, the campaign that Johnny has elicited millions of people to do on his behalf when he himself couldn’t do it torture me everyday.
This reminded me of the scene in ‘The Elephant Man’ (which I first watched in ninth grade when Mr. Dave Newman, our biology teacher, showed it to us.) That scene impacted me - I wrote about it in my college application essays. The cruelty and the callousness with which people treat others is evident. Merrick, who suffers from an ailment where his body is deformed, is harassed and hurt by others and finally gasps out ‘I am a human being.’
And he is. And so is Heard. They are both human.
The trial in its entirety reminded me of one of my favorite Black Mirror episodes, ‘Hated in the Nation.’ (The trailer is below. You should watch it in its entirety.)
The schadenfreude and glee evinced by nearly everyone who covered this trial is sickening. When I look at this story, I see a man who believes he was maligned- even though he wasn’t. He hurt Heard, and probably doesn’t remember it because he was blackout drunk or extremely high. I also see a woman who, due to her illnesses, wasn’t content with telling the truth about her abuse, but exaggerated it and distorted it in order to garner more sympathy, undermining her own cause. All of this is tragic.
Johnny Depp used the justice system to punish a woman who dared to expose him- in his words, giving her the “total global humiliation” he felt she was begging for. And the woman, herself, is deeply unlikable and ill- and lacks the insight to recognize her illness, let alone seek treatment for it.
There’s nothing funny about any of this. There’s just a lot of pain.
Good points. But she didn’t just lie about the abuse, she also lied about many other things, like that she donated $7 million to charity, or that she never alerted TMZ that she was about to file a restraining order. If she lies so much, she can’t be trusted about anything. Maybe she cut her hair with scissors and then took a picture (which is less calculated and cunning than some other things she did). Maybe the picture of her broken bed shows a bed that SHE broke.
While I agree that Depp likely physically hurt her (though she might have been the original aggressor and Depp just fought back) the fact that she lies about everything did her in. Depp lied, but it wasn’t this pervasive thing where everything he said was exaggerated.
But I agree with your overall point that she is a human with illnesses and deserves compassion.