Today starts the final week of testimony in Johnny Depp’s defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife Amber Heard. The civil trial is resuming today as Heard’s defense against the actor’s $50 million dollar lawsuit will attempt to prove her $100 million countersuit. The trial has been over a month long, starting on April 11th, of this year when the actor initially sued her for defamation over an Op-Ed she penned for The Washington Post back in 2018.
It was Johnny Depp’s choice to have the trial live stream for the entire world to see. As he stated during the first week of this case, he feels that regardless of what he can say to defend himself against the words Amber Heard wrote in 2018, “she won that day.” In the article, the actress talked about domestic abuse and women against men with social status and economic power. It was these words that the former Pirates of the Caribbean actor feels hurt his career, as immediately after the article was posted, he was dismissed from all his major movie roles.
Consequently, Johnny Depp’s lawsuit has been built upon proving how much damage Amber Heard’s article caused to his career, which at the moment was peaking. Although for the biggest part of the trial, most of the testimonies and proofs seemed to favor the actor, last week was not so favorable for him.
On Thursday, three people who used to be close to Depp were called to the stand: a former business partner, a long-time agent, and an old friend. One by one, they all took turns narrating the story of the actor’s rise to popularity and success, as well as his struggle with money, drugs, and professionalism.
To this account, Tracey Jacobs, former Johnny’s movie agent, said that he fired her after having worked with him for 30 years. According to her testimony, Johnny “terminated almost everyone in his life, so I was along for the ride”. She testified to the actor’s substance abuse and how it affected his career, as he would constantly “show up late for projects.”
“Crews don’t love sitting around for hours and hours for the star to show up,” Jacobs told the court. “People talked, and it made people reluctant to use him.”
This testimony served to disprove Depp’s accusation of Amber Hear’s article being the sole one responsible for his professional undoing.
Last Wednesday, Heard’s sister and one of her friends took the stand and supported Heard’s allegations that Depp was abusive during their relationship. And although the actor previously testified that he never hit Heard, her defense alleges that his testimony, as well as his recall of the events, cannot be taken seriously, as it has been proved that he has had an ongoing problem with drugs for a long time.
The trial, which was originally scheduled to conclude on Thursday 19 May, has now been extended as there is still a significant amount of evidence to be presented. So, it is now set to end on 27 May, after which the jury will consider their verdict. Court is in session at the moment, and during the next days until Thursday, starting at 9 am eastern time and finishing at 5 pm.
