Popular American actor Johnny Depp on Wednesday won a high-profile defamation case against his ex-wife, Amber Heard. After several years of dating, Depp and Heard had married in a very private ceremony in their home in Los Angeles in 2015.
From the beginning of their relationship to registering a case of defamation. Let's have a look at the detailed timeline of their relationship.
2009
The 'Pirates of the Caribbean' actor met Amber Heard when they were shooting for the film "The Rum Diary" in the year 2009. The comedy-drama portrayed Johnny Depp as Paul Kemp, a journalist who struggles to strike a balance between the culture of the Puerto Rico Island and expatriates living in the region. Depp's character Paul falls in love with Amber Heard's Chenault.
2011-2012
The year from the end of 2011 to the beginning of 2012 marked the start of Johnny and Amber's official dating phase. During that time, Depp got separated from French singer Vanessa Paradis. They had two children together. Amber also parted ways with her partner Tasya van Ree.
2014
In the year 2014, both Depp and Amber got engaged as confirmed by Johnny in an interview.
2015
The world witnessed the marriage of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard in 2015 at a private ceremony in Los Angeles on Depp's private island.
2016
However, the year 2016 saw Depp's and Amber's marriage deteriorate rapidly. On May 27, 2016, Amber appeared before the court with a bruise on her face. She had claimed that Depp had physically abused her during the tenure of their relationship and had filed a restraining order against the actor. Amber alleged that she had received the bruise after Johnny threw a phone at her face.
However, a spokesperson of the police disregarded Amber's claims. terming them as 'baseless.' While Depp rebutted that Amber was trying to secure a financial solution by talking about her abuse.
Later, both Depp and Amber released a joint statement where they stated that although their relationship was 'passionate', it became volatile sometimes. They even declined that none of them made false accusations to gain financial benefit.
The lack of prenuptial arrangement, resulted in Amber receiving USD 7 million from Depp. It was a part of the divorce settlement. Amber later donated the amount to a children's hospital.
2017
Johnny Depp and Amber Heard finalized their divorce in 2017 and their marriage was over.
2018
The year 2018 followed Amber writing an op-ed for the Washington Post where she mentioned famous institutions shielding abusers without taking the name of her ex-husband Johnny Depp. Following the op-ed, Depp was dropped out as Jack Sparrow from the movie The Pirates of the Caribbean.
2019
In the year 2019, a USD 50 million lawsuit was filed by Depp against Amber's defamation case. According to the filing, Depp had blamed Heard that it was a hoax by the 'Aquaman 2' actor to garner positive publicity.
2020
In the month of July 2020, a certain magazine published an article which labelled Depp as a 'wife beater'. The executive director and the publisher of the magazine received a lawsuit from Depp. Johnny further claimed that his ex-wife, Amber was engaged in numerous affairs during the course of their marriage. However, the allegations were denied by Amber.
Later in November 2020 of the same year, the court justified the magazine's allegations of labelling Depp as a 'wife beater' and he was removed from his role of Grindelwald in the franchise of Fantastic Beasts.
2022
Finally, in April 2022, Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's USD 100 million defamation lawsuit began in Fairfax, Virginia on April 11. Depp was represented by lawyer Ben Chew while Amber was represented by J. Benjamin Rottenborn. Popular Hollywood actors like James Franco, Paul Bettany, Jason Momoa, and WandaVision all testified in court.
During the court hearings, Johnny had testified that he suffered from abuse as a child and struggled with substance abuse. He even clarified his chaotic relationship with Amber. During his testimony, Depp confirmed that never once did he raise a hand on Amber and neither did he hit any woman in his life.
The testimony was conducted for six weeks and Amber's attorney continued to argue that Amber was telling the truth. The juror gave a patient ear to the recordings of the fights between Depp and Amber. As graphic images of Johnny's bloodied finger surfaced, Depp said that it got severed because Amber had thrown a vodka bottle at him in 2015.
However, Amber denied Depp's claims and instead alleged that her ex-husband had assaulted her that night. According to Amber, she only hit Depp as an act of defending herself. The detailed testimony was live-streamed.
On Wednesday, June 2, a Virginia jury member gave his verdict that Amber had indeed defamed her ex-husband, Johnny Depp. The jury has awarded Johnny Depp USD 15 million in damages.
Amber Heard has also won part of her libel case against Johnny Depp over articles in a privately owned newspaper, in which Johnny Depp's former lawyer described her claims of domestic abuse as a hoax. The jury has awarded Amber Heard USD 2 million in damages.
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