In December 2018, actress Amber Heard published an article in The Washington Post alleging her ex-husband Johnny Depp (whom she didn’t name) had assaulted her. Depp sued Heard for defamation, alleging he was the one who had been assaulted.
As with most lawsuits, Heard’s lawyers attempted to get Depp’s dismissed, but a Virginia judge on Friday denied Heard’s motion to dismiss, allowing the lawsuit to proceed.
Variety reported that “Judge Bruce D. White ruled on Friday that Depp can proceed under the theory that Heard’s statements clearly implied that Depp had assaulted her.”
“Plaintiff has pleaded circumstances that would reasonably cause three of the four statements at issue to convey the alleged defamatory meaning that Mr. Depp abused Ms. Heard, and this alleged meaning is in fact defamatory,” White wrote in his ruling.
As The Daily Wire previously reported, Depp’s lawsuit alleged that: “Heard was the serial abuser in the relationship, and provided ‘87 newly discovered surveillance videos, 17 sworn eyewitness statements, audio tape, photographs, and other evidence’ to prove he was the real victim. One of the testimonies comes from Trinity Esparza, who was the concierge at the penthouse where Heard claims Depp hit her in the face. Esparza now questions how Heard received the mark on her face she claimed was from Depp, after reviewing surveillance footage from three days later, when Heard’s sister Whitney pretended to punch her in the face, according to court documents.”
“In the surveillance video, Ms. Esparza testified under oath that she saw Whitney Heard pretend to punch her sister in the face. Then Ms. Heard, [a friend], and Whitney Heard all laughed,” the court documents state.
In another instance, Heard started screaming, “Stop hitting me, Johnny,” unaware that Depp’s security team was nearby to witness the hoax.
In February, The Daily Wire’s Paul Bois reported on audio of Heard admitting that she had hit Depp, but told him to “grow the f**k up” and calling him “a baby” for getting upset that she hit him.
Depp alleged in his lawsuit that Heard used the #MeToo movement and her claims against Depp to further her career and that after she made her allegations, she “became a darling of the #MeToo movement, was the first actress named a Human Rights Champion of the United Nations Human Rights Office, was appointed ambassador on women’s rights at the American Civil Liberties Union, and was hired by L’Oreal Paris as its global spokesperson.”
In mid-March, three prominent actresses – including two who had previous romantic relationships with Depp – came forward to defend him against allegations that he was a domestic abuser. One of the women was Vanessa Pardis, who was in a relationship with Depp for fourteen years and is the mother of his two children. Pardis called Heard’s allegations “false facts.”
“I have seen that these outrageous statements have been really distressing, and also caused damage to his career because unfortunately, people have gone on believing these false facts,” she wrote. “This is so upsetting as he has helped so many persons in his personal and professional life, with kindness and generosity.”