It closes with the final speeches of the two parties’ attorneys before the court in Fairfax, Virginia, il Depp-Heard processin which Johnny Depp sued his ex-wife for defamation Amber Heard that in 2018, in an article by Washington Posthad accused him of Domestic violence.
The attorneys of both sides, who have had a couple of hours each to summarize the factsthey played all for all. But it will be the jury, which withdrew to deliberate, to deliver the verdict. And the sentence, barring twists, should arrive next week.
It will therefore be a weekend of waiting, not only for the two parties in the conflict, but also for the public, who for six weeks followed morbidly what has already been defined “The trial of horrors”for the gruesome background of a marriage that lasted just 15 months – between 2015 and 2017 – and made up of violence, blood, lies and mutual accusations.
The decision to sue the ex-wife is just that the last act of a war that began years ago. When, shortly after the wedding, a quarrel turns into hell and Depp loses the joint of a finger. The episode emerges in 2018 during the cause brought by the plaintiff against his lawyer, Jake Bloom: Depp himself tells it, “I was trying to deal with the madness of having a finger cut off from the woman I was married to,” he says, explaining that Amber Heard had severed his phalanx with shards of an empty vodka bottle.
Of the episode, however, Heard herself, who at the time of the divorce request had also submitted to a restraining order for domestic violence against her then husband (later withdrawn), has always given another version: “He injured himself after three days of abuse of drugs and alcohol “.
In the fall of 2021 Depp and Heard meet in court in London, where the star has brought before the High Court the Sun who had called it a “Beater of wives”. The trial sentence arrives in early November and for Depp it is a defeat. In every sense, because a few days later Warner Bros pulls him away from the set of Fantastic Beasts 3 and the role of Jack Sparrow from the saga of Pirates of the Caribbean.
But the facts told to the London judges are nothing compared to those that hit the headlines since 11 April, when it opened the most media trial of recent times, on the other side of the ocean. Here, as fans of one and the other flocked outside the Court and the social networks slowly issued their sentence (in favor of Depp), years of unrolled inside the hall unimaginable violence, tales of gruesome spite, and disturbing mutual accusations.
“I want the truth”, asked Depp, reiterating that the accusations that the ex has leveled him ruined many of the relationships, working and otherwise, that he established over the decades in Hollywood. “If I’m alive it’s because I left,” the actress replied several times, accusing her ex-husband of having her “Almost killed” during the honeymoon on the Orient Express (apparently because he is jealous of James Franco).
Their gruesome statements were joined by those of the gods witnesses, of both sides. So while one couples therapist confirmed the actress’s versionspeaking of a “toxic relationship full of mutual abuse”, Tara Robertswho for 15 years managed the actor’s private island in the Bahamas, he recalled before the court physical assaults perpetrated by the wife against her husband.
Amber – that according to the forensic psychologist Shannon Curry suffers from borderline personality disorder – she cried several times, during the depositions, yes contradictedshe took back declarations, admitted lies and (of course, little supported by her lawyers) she accomplished several missteps. Like what to mention Kate Moss and the alleged violence suffered by the British model at the time of her relationship with Depp in the 90s. Convened by his lawyers, Kate Moss has firmly denied the accusation: “Johnny Depp never pushed me down the stairs,” he declared turning into a ruinous own goal Amber’s deposition.
Also yesterday the actress spoke in tears, in the courtroom, talking about suffer constant threats from Johnny Depp fans: «Every day I am harassed, humiliated, threatened. Even outside this court, “he said. “There are people who want to kill me and he tells me every day. People who want to put my baby in the microwave and let me know. But he promised me that I would think of him every day… »she sobbed up to the objection raised by her ex-husband’s lawyers.
Now the judge has put an end to this sad and ferocious ballet of accusations and passed the ball to the jury who withdrew to deliberate immediately after the final speeches. But even after the sentence, it is highly probable that the matter will not end there.
Other stories of Vanity Fair that may interest you:
Case Johnny Depp and Amber Heard: the turning point arrives
Johnny Depp, Amber Heard, the “severed finger” and the last act of a nightmare marriage
The sister, the betrayal with James Franco, the cocaine: the trial (of horrors) Johnny Depp against Amber Heard continues
Johnny Depp against Amber Heard, at the trial (of horrors) she speaks: “I divorced so as not to die”
Source: Vanity Fair
