In the wake of Amber Heard’s abuse allegations against Johnny Depp, Depp’s friends came out in full force to defend him. Most of those friends just tweeted or said a few words here and there, so maybe “full force” isn’t the right term. Depp does have one friend willing to lay it all on the line for him though: comedian Doug Stanhope. Stanhope wrote an “op-ed” for The Wrap last week in which he flat-out said that Amber Heard was completely lying about the abuse and that she’s just a golddigger looking to ruin Johnny. Stanhope said that Depp told him and other friends that Amber was leaving him and planning to say anything and everything about their marriage. Stanhope said Amber was going to blackmail Depp.
The op-ed was pretty awful and poorly thought-out, and now Amber’s lawyers are all over it. Amber is suing Doug Stanhope for defamation. If and when she wins, she’ll be donating the money to a battered women’s shelter in Arizona, and her lawyer tells People Mag that Amber is seeking “the maximum possible jury award.” In the court filing, Amber and her legal team claim that Stanhope and others “orchestrated a plot to write an article, which was published at TheWrap.com, which falsely accuses plaintiff Amber Heard of ‘blackmail’ and other criminal behavior towards her husband, Johnny Depp, from whom she is seeking a divorce.” The filing also includes details of several of the incidents in which Depp abused Heard. Per People:
Johnny’s Alleged Cycle of Abuse: The court documents give a detailed account of Depp’s allegedly violent behavior, which Heard claims was fueled by drugs and alcohol.
“During the course of his relationship with Heard, Depp has repeatedly been physically and verbally abusive towards her,” the documents read. “Depp has hit and kicked Heard on numerous occasions, has thrown objects at her, at one point nearly suffocated her to the point where she feared for her life.”
She Says Depp Is ‘An Alcoholic and Drug Addict’:
“Depp is an alcoholic and drug addict, and these violent episodes occurred mostly after Depp had relapsed into a cycle of substance abuse. His drug and alcohol abuse has increased dramatically in recent years, as has his violent behavior.”She Says She Loved Him and Repeatedly Tried to Save the Relationship: Throughout their relationship, Heard claims she left Depp due to his alleged problems with violence and addiction on numerous occasions, only to return in hope of salvaging the relationship.
“Heard repeatedly returned to Depp, despite his verbal and physical mistreatment of her, hoping optimistically that the man she married would change his behavior,” the documents state. “Each time Heard returned, however, within months, the cycle of substance abuse and violence repeated.” Later, the documents reiterate her commitment to working things out. “[Heard] gave him numerous chances to change his behavior, and end the cycle of alcoholism, drug abuse, and physical and verbal abuse of her,” the document states. “Yet Depp would not and has not changed his behavior, precipitating Heard to file for divorce and seek a restraining order.”
A ‘Coordinated, Malicious’ Publicity Campaign: Heard alleges that since she filed for divorce, Depp has gone to great lengths to publicly discredit her. In the documents, she claims that a “publicity tour” coordinated by Depp and “his powerful representatives” have spread numerous false statements about her to the press.
“As a result of this coordinated, malicious campaign, a number of news organizations have repeated these false statements, disparaging Heard and harming her public reputation and career.”
She goes on to claim that Depp’s team, including Stanhope, knew that the information they disseminated was false, and “did not care, because their only concern was helping Depp by trashing the reputation of his wife, who loved Depp, even though she had been repeatedly physically and verbally abused by him.”
In case it isn’t clear to Johnny Depp, his friends, his defenders and his legal team, let me spell it out: Amber Heard isn’t playing. She has the receipts. Even though she stayed with him (or was manipulated into staying with him for a time), she did the smart thing and documented evidence of Depp’s abuse in case she would ever need to prove it in a court of law. Team Depp has people on Depp’s payroll running to the Daily Mail and TMZ on a daily basis. Amber has lawyers, evidence and SHE IS NOT PLAYING.
Photos courtesy of Getty, WENN.
Serious people taking this seriously. So glad to see this.
“I did not come to play with you ho’s. I came to slay”
Take him to the cleaners SOO HARD that scarf/pirate makeup sales plummet at an all time low.
You go Amber.
I totally thought of this in Beyonce lyrics too!
“TONIGHT IM F*CKING UP AAALLLL YOUR SH*T BOY”
Go Amber!
i agree!!! I hope she takes him to the cleaners
She’s telling everybody else that they’d better think twice about lying about her in the press. Depp’s former assistant had better watch his language from now on.
I imagine Depp’s team is going to be a lot quieter moving forward. Ha!
–TheRealPinky
Depp’s former assistant doesn’t look like he is handling this very well. I mean personally. You know he is up Pooper’s Creek without baby wipes because if these texts were actually doctored in any that is significant to the issue, TMZ would have that version right now.
In the Friday posts some of us wondered about defamation as a potential route for her but we agreed that the assistant and the bodyguards have played this very smartly. They didnt make directly attributable statements and they didnt make them to mainstream journalists who would be reluctant to perjure themselves if push came to shove. “They” went to TMZ which reported their positions in the most gossipy terms possible using language like “we are told” and “sources close to”. By “they” i mean Johnnys crisis team of course, its doubtful the employees would know that TMZ makes the most damage to Amber with the least exposure to a law suit for themselves.
Doug on the other hand is a moron. He thought he would surprise his millionaire buddy with a nice brown nosing gift and instead exposed himself to a defamation suit. It couldnt happen to a nicer guy.
If we can agree on one thing though is that this law suit will be a proxy battle over the assault. Doug will be represented by the most expensive lawyers and PIs money can buy and neither DM nor TMZ will report that part.
@Naya the real zinger though is that her lawsuit argues it was not a surprise from Doug for Johnny, but a coordinated effort between Johnny, his team, and Doug. That’s why those 20-odd John and Jane Does named in the suit are so significant. The discovery process! Imagine the subpoenas! The depositions! If Disney PR was coordinating with Johnny’s team, it will come out. We might see just how dirty Wasser’s hands do or don’t get in these situations. Could be big.
Good pont. I cant wait for the dozens of leaked depositions. I think Depps team is probably scrambling to settle now. Shes really got nothing to lose considering that even if she proves her case I cant see her being cast in a studio film ever again. He on the other hand stands to lose the world…
Stanhope is such a fool. Didn’t he know he was being used by Johnny? I predict he will get thrown under th bus in 3 … 2 … 1
I am glad she did this. That thing he wrote was disgusting.
If he said Depp TOLD him these things it’s not the same as saying they were HAPPENING.
If he claimed she was DOING these things simply because Depp SAID she was, he’s in trouble I’d think.
Conflating the two is dumb.
Kind of shocking that he thought it would be ok to write this article and that people would think that just because Depp said these things were true, they were then true.
From what I gather, this particularly stupid man also said something along the lines of “I didn’t want to defend Depp at first because being in his circle is more important to me”, which just goes to show what kind of a shallow git he is. The fact he said this in public, suggests he doesn’t have much in the way of intelligence.
I just read the court documents. It’s great she’s also asking for damages for financial losses she will suffer.
I have a question for the lawerly folks out there…does she have to prove that Stanhope (etc) were maliciously intending to ruin her career to get damages, or does she just have to prove that this was the outcome? It seems like it is legally much harder to prove someone’s intent, and much easier to prove an outcome. So, I’m wondering what the law is around this.
This woman is tough…Jonny either has a crap team around him, or he has a good team and isn’t listening to them.
Public figures must show malice. She must also show damages.
Unfortunately she is unlikely to win the lawsuit as showing malice and damages AND connected them to this article will be extremely difficult. They might even know that but be using this to try and minimize these sorts of articles/statements going forward. Not a bad strategy against a powerful opponent.
She might be able to show malice but damages? Let’s be honest, her career was not great to begin with. There has long been talk that several of her roles were the result of a call from or favour to Depp. She’s 10000% in the right to get away from Depp, but yes the divorce will cost her work. Showing that she lost work because of this article specifically? Not likely.
There are several thousand posts (undoctored) maligning every bit of her looks, personality and talent. Whatever companies that she may have been a model or spokesperson for would probably not consider her now. Fashion magazine covers and editorial spreads? The same. Directors and producers who count on getting away with bullying actresses? Hmmmm, what do think?
Not to mention the posts that include violent and sexual threats. Damage.
“There are several thousand posts (undoctored) maligning every bit of her looks, personality and talent. Whatever companies that she may have been a model or spokesperson for would probably not consider her now. Fashion magazine covers and editorial spreads? The same. Directors and producers who count on getting away with bullying actresses? Hmmmm, what do think?”
And there were several thousands posts doing exactly that BEFORE Stanhope went off and BEFORE she even filed for divorce from Depp. And probably? Has she actually lost any contracts? No? She must prove she lost something and the loss was directly attributable to the defamation .
Would damages depend on whether or not she was dropped from a project she already had lined up? It seems like in other cases where famous people have won defamation lawsuits, he or she was dropped from something they already had lined up. For example, when Reese Witherspoon sued because a tabloid said she was pregnant and then she lost a role she was up for because they were worried her pregnancy would interfere with filming.
Regarding Malice: She would just have to prove Doug Stanhope himself acting maliciously correct?
Thus, she would need to prove that what he wrote about her hurt her reputation and that ONE purpose of his story was to maliciously damage her reputation and career, even if his main intent was to impress Johnny Depp. She would also need to prove she lost a roll or a job directly because of this story. Is this correct?
@lilacflowers, the way ‘malice’ is used in defamation suits is different than normal usage.
To recover against a public figure, the plaintiff must prove the defendant defamed her with ‘actual malice.’
Actual malice exists when (1) you knew what you were saying is false; or (2) you acted with reckless disregard for the truth or falsity of your statements.
You don’t need to prove intent beyond (1) or (2). So there’s no need to prove the defendant acted ‘maliciously’ or will cruelty. It’s a question of what they knew regarding the truth of their statements.
source–I’m an attorney practicing in California.
@Lala, I’m an attorney too and I’m not the one who brought up intent.
Okay. Thank you Lala. Lilacflowers, I think she was responding to my question. I probably shouldn’t have posted it as a reply.
Is there any chance he’s innocent?
No. Hold on let me think for a second….yeah, still NO.
I think at this point the photos, text messages, and eye witnesses are MORE than enough evidence to rule out the possibility that he’s innocent.
yes there is always a chance someone is innocent. but the seriousness of the allegations indicate that we must err on the side of caution and side with the victim. I BELIEVE HER and i am deeply saddened by the loss of yet another icon.
Eleri – Thank you for encapsulating EXACTLY my feelings. I don’t doubt Amber for a second, but it makes me SUPER sad to say that…
Early on, I tended to believe her because it seemed such an unlikely public step for someone in her position to take without having been well and truly fed up with being abused. But I wondered the same thing — any chance at all that JD is innocent? — trying to wait until I had time to read more of the reports out there.
But — once I read what’s out there, I still do think Amber was abused, and has the evidence, and that we are witnessing a strong woman’s “I’m done with this man’s sh&te, D.O.N.E.”
—- and we’re also seeing once again the mess that happens when Hollymoneywood endeavors to hide the truth about some of its male megastars, helped by those whose paychecks depend on lies.
I believe her because she left him right after his mother died. There was an urgency there; she knew she was going to be portrayed as cold hearted..and she was.
The more information that comes out the more I believe her story.
Yep @minx. It reminds me of when Denise Richards left Charlie Sheen while she was like 6 months pregnant. When it happened people were in shock and went after Denise just like they went after Amber. But in retrospect both women where in urgent situations. They were both in terrible situations and had to act fast.
Most definitely. All ANY of us know is what’s out there.
@Minx, this is just speculation, but if it’s true that she was managing his mother’s nurses and health care, she might have stayed for that reason. Once his mother passed, she might have felt she no longer had any reason to stay–and no more buffer between her and Johnny. His mother was living with them, right? Perhaps with her around, Depp was less violent.
@Minx,
Or she left him after his mother died because she knew he would go on a massive bender and attack her even more viciously, is my guess regarding the timing of her exit from the marriage.
Very good question, Fee, one which family and criminal courts will soon have to answer.
When a formerly honorable, kind, loving and upstanding person in midlife suddenly starts embezzling from his company, shoplifting from the neighborhood store, or kicks, punches and chokes out his wife due to a terminal brain disease called Frontotemporal Dementia, what should be done?
Yes must show malice in intent and she HAS to prove that this ruined her reputation or affected it in some way. The burden is on the accuser and is always harder to prove.
Her team just needs to screen cap all the nasty comments said about her and she can easily show it ruined her reputation.
As for malice, suggesting that she was going to make up abuse allegations, when there is sufficient evidence to confirm she was abused fits right in that definition.
And the article fueled even more vitriol against her.
“Her team just needs to screen cap all the nasty comments said about her and she can easily show it ruined her reputation. ”
Uhm, no, it is not that easy.
Considering Amber was not well liked BEFORE all of this no that would not work. The law is very specific and again the burden lies with her. Even well liked celebs get vitriol online…because anonymous comments are easy for trolls. They are going to be looking at whether she lost any work, whether the comments led to any black balling in the industry, was her quality of life directly affected by the comments. In essence that’s a no.
@Nic919: how in the world would all that be pinned on HIM? He’s literally one of thousands of voices all over the internet saying things like that. She wasn’t widely liked even before any of this.
There are certainly comments that make reference to Stanhope’s article as “proof” that she is making all this up. Those help show that her reputation has been damaged.
As for Amber “not being liked” that is only in terms of certain online groups. She was cast in the Danish Girl so she wasn’t hated that much in the industry, but Stanhope’s article claiming she made up the allegations would certainly make her getting new work harder.
We have people claiming she will never work again because of the abuse allegations so I don’t see that it would be that hard to show she has sustained damages, especially with regard to future work in the industry.
She is likely to ultimately settle, but this was a warning to other Depp followers.
One thing– industry people like Gilliam have retweeted that article, and I think she could use that to make the case that it has hindered her ability to find work. There’s your damages.
You also have to prove that Stanhope KNEW he was lying and said/wrote it anyway. He can throw his hands up and say “Well, my friend said it wasn’t true and I believed him.”
It’s a tough burden of proof, but I do see why it exists.
As a public figure Amber will have to prove she did not lie (which could be possible with pictures and witnesses) but she also needs to prove that Stanhope acted with “acutal malice”. defamation suits are pretty much impossible to win in the USA for public figures. the burden of proof lies with the victim in defamation cases for public figures not with the person making the claim.
in most cases its not even possible to prove that the claim is wrong, for example infidelity. how do you prove you havent slept with someone?
celebs never sue usually because 1. it gives attention to something bad and 2. they cant really win it. and losing such a lawsuit will make a lot of people think the defamation is the truth.
so you ususally dont sue, Amber sued to get other people to shut up but she will not win this. the same as Johnny could not win such a lawsuit against Amber.
as long as a public figure doesnt have a recording where people are conspiring to hurt theirrepuation they cant prove actual malice. its different for regular folks.
If they did conspire, though, and used email or text messages to do so, Amber’s team can get that in discovery.
I predict the lawsuit will be settled, with Stanhope making a donation to a DV charity. Discovery would be too damaging to Team Depp, even if they think they can win in court. Stanhope might lose too: his column shows a lot of “malice” toward Amber in the non-legal sense of the word, and a jury would hate him.
i think stanhope’s column proves itself to be malicious. It calls her every nasty name he could and described her like nothing short to a devil. It was his column which established the doubt about her abuse claims and his headline was affirmative “Johnny Depp IS BEING blackmailed by Amber Heard” (libel ) despite that he has not proofs that Amber asked money to Johnny Depp to keep the secret over his abuses (the basis of a blackmail is the secret!).
And even if it’s obvious that without Johnny’s team intervention a column from a irrelevant comedian would never have been published by “The Wrap”, her lawyer must find the proofs
She has a good lawyer, the same that won the case of Hulk Hogan over Gawker for over U$140 million. I guess her lawyer knows they have a “case” here
There’s a reason most defamation cases are settled: they’re long, expensive and tons of embarrassing crap comes out in discovery.
She’s likely not trying to “win” the suit outright. By filing, she’s firing a warning shot to other publications and to Johnny’s PR people that she’s willing to show how the sausage is made, so to speak. And if this DOES get as far as discovery, what comes out can only help her other cases, as well as her reputation in the court of public opinion.
So it’s basically a win for her no matter what, at this point.
By the way, someone posted this in the last thread: Stanhope is now encouraging his Twitter followers to hide Amber’s People cover by turning it around or putting other magazines in front of it. This loser just doesn’t know when to quit.
Samtha, you said what I was coming here to say. This case is ALL about the discovery, and how much Depp’s team is willing to pay, via Stanhope, to stop the discovery train from rolling. Either way, this is gonna be GOOD. But no way will this suit make it all the way to trial.
If I ever need attorneys I am hiring the firm of Lilacflowers and Lala, LLP.
And for PR, the firm of CB & Commenters.
Also notice she “loved” him, past tense. At least by this statement, that door is closed.
Oh I really really hope so. She must be smart and not allow herself to be talked back in.
Because he is going to contact her after all this is done and he’s ‘cleaned up’ to say he never intended it to go this far. She has to shut that door for good.
I’m starting to wonder if Depp’s pr team is as drunk as he is, beacause their “strategy” is utter crap. The smear campaign was a huge mistake, it shown him petty, vindicativ and paranoid. Anyway I’m so glad Amber surrounded herself with such a good team.
My thought too. I don’t know if at a certain point Disney will step in this mess get his drunk a#s in rehab ASAP and totally change the pr game.
I’m surprised Disney hasn’t already stepped in and closed this down to be honest.
I’m starting to think that Disney is either a) working tirelessly on JD’s PR and we just don’t know it, cause they don’t want to be associated with helping him. b) waiting to see Amber’s full proof. Or, c) secretly doesn’t care about saving him cause he’s no longer so golden in their eyes and they secretly want to get rid of him.
@Rapunzel
I’m voting for C.
c) Here too, with a side of …
d) The best move for Disney is to keep it’s mouth shut and stay out it. You don’t want the brand name mentioned in the same context as domestic violence.
Looks like Depp has a meeting with Disney next week: http://www.express.co.uk/celebrity-news/676874/Will-Disney-chiefs-make-Depp-walk-the-plank?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+daily-express-showbiz-news+%28Daily+Express+%3A%3A+Showbiz+Feed%29
I honestly think Disney wanted no part of this – just keep their heads down, stay neutral, keep making movies. But the defamation suit makes that much harder now, with the 20 john does named and the enormous potential for discovery. If they are having a meeting next week, it would not surprise me in the least if it was a “shut this down NOW, settle it all” message. I could easily picture them telling Depp to bankroll a settlement for the defamation case – his mess, he needs to clean it up. Depp certainly gets paid enough by Disney.
Yeah, I think Disney is a bit of C, with mostly an addition of “keeping quiet until they are absolutely sure Amber is telling the truth, so they don’t look like they’re protecting/helping a guy who abuses his spouse”
JD’s team used the classic beloved celebrity vs a nobody strategy. Usually it works, and wins BIG. Look at Michael Jackson vs all his accusers. JD’s team thought Amber would be cowed into silence or couldn’t produce evidence or put that evidence into the public arena.
They are using old school tactics that worked and still work in many situations. Heck, she’s producing evidence and people still don’t believe her, and that’s down to his PR tactics.
Hey LAK- on an earlier thread I remember you and Lilacflowers telling me that this hasn’t hurt Depp that much at all and I said that I didn’t think the majority of people would be dumb enough to fall for his sh*t.
That was before I checked the comments on sites outside of this one.
Either Depp’s team has an army of people out there posting positive comments about him and slamming Amber, or maybe it’s a case of the biggest idiots being the loudest ones, or people are that terrible.
All I know is that the majority of comments on Yahoo (I know I know, the WORST) are siding with Depp. I would say 95% from what I looked at yesterday.
@Kitten, Pajiba and here are the two sites that I know which are not buying into Depp’s bullshit.
Hey Kitten: Sometimes, humanity makes one weep.
The only retort to a good smear campaign is an equally well publicised airing of facts backed by evidence.
It seeds doubt in all the terrible accusations.
I’d say that his reputation remains intact, but there is a asterix now. Should someone else come out with accusations against him, he will be ruined. Like MJ.
Yup, they’re using a tried and true method except instead of rolling over as expected Amber is standing firm.
It’ll take a lot for the “mainstream” to believe her, and not just because Johnny is the more famous and beloved one, but because of good old sexism. She’s the lying trollop, remember, and nothing but a lying trollop. It’s SO EASY for people to believe that because we’ve been conditioned with a lifetime of one-note female characters. There’s the mother, the girlfriend, the girl next door, the golddigger, the whore, the party girl, and so on. Since she’s the golddigger, then she cannot possibly be anything else, such as a victim of domestic violence, and therefore must be lying, evidence be damned. That’s not how we like our stories. I really wish I was exaggerating.
@Kitten, sorry, but I don’t think I ever said that this hasn’t hurt Depp one bit. What I have said, as an attorney, is that I do not understand why Heard’s attorney is allowing her to release anything that she has put out in public. The public does not rule on the divorce, the divorce settlement, or the domestic violence charges. A judge does, based solely on admissible evidence put forth in the courtroom and the state’s controlling laws. And a judge’s ruling, especially on any domestic violence charge, trumps any smear campaign.
Lilacflowers: in terms of the actual divorce, Amber shouldn’t be releasing any of this information and JD should not be smearing her because none of it makes any difference to outcome. Everyone will walk away with what they are entitled to per the law.
What is happening in the media is a battle for their future employment. It’s the only way they can hurt each other. Taking a few million off JD isn’t really the problem, but JD is determined to destroy her future prospects hence the smear campaign.
They both have jobs that depend on public perception and likeability. If their public standing is damaged they can’t be hired in the future. Any contracts they currently hold may be jeopardised OR not renewed.
You can’t fight a smear campaign in court unless your proceedings are televised so the public can make up it’ own mind. She has to rescue her public reputation.
If future employers rate her public standing as negative, they won’t hire her. It’s the reason people hire publicists. Not simply to tell the public how wonderful a person is, but also to destroy the competition if they have to.
Look at Tom Cruise. His public persona took such a hit with the *Brooke Shields incident ( amongst other things) that he was fired from his Paramount contract despite being a lucrative commodity for them.
*the owner of Paramount was very upset by the Brooke Shields incident because his own wife was going through depression and needed meds to cope. He hasn’t been shy about saying that’s why he fired Tom from Paramount.
The point being that this isn’t about divorce settlement. JD’s team thought they could trash talk Amber and possibly punish her ( ‘You’ll never eat lunch in this town again’ scenerio) and rather than turn tail and ran away, Amber is fighting back to keep her public persona at a level that she can still work, AND in the process truth telling which in turn is/may damaging JD’s public likeability, in effect turning the tables.
Btw: she keeps putting out evidence in public because each day brings more denigrating PR from JD’s team.
Apparently one photo wasn’t proof enough. A pap stroll from court showing her bruise wasn’t enough. Text messages aren’t enough.
Set against support messages ftom his team calling her a liar, a gold digger, a manipulator and a blackmailer. JD’s camp, who are also calling each new piece of evidence lies.
Looking at other websites, the court of public opinion remains heavily on JD’s side. That makes Amber’s future employability problematic and potentially damaging to her currently held contracts.
This article isn’t in industry news, BUT a UK tabloid is already speculating on the repurcussions on JD’s future employability given the accusations.
http://www.express.co.uk/celebrity-news/676874/Will-Disney-chiefs-make-Depp-walk-the-plank?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+daily-express-showbiz-news+%28Daily+Express+%3A%3A+Showbiz+Feed%29
Thank you, LAK. Actors’ success and livelihood is almost wholly dependent on public perception. To me, she had no choice but to fight this publicly after Depp fired the first shot.
If she had just filed charges, it wouldn’t have made a difference In public perception imo. The public can be faced with any amount of evidence and they will still side with Depp. They’d just be saying that Amber pressed charges as part of her cash grab plan. This isn’t Sandra bullock that were talking about, this is a woman who already had public perception against her before this happened.
@lilacflowers- how can Amber’s attorney force her to press charges? If Amber doesn’t want to, I think her hands are kinda tied, no?
http://www.drkarenruskin.com/why-women-dont-press-abuse-charges-stand-by-their-man-ray-rice/
i have a friend who i expected to be solidly team amber that said, “i wish i could get millions because someone threw a phone at me.”
I’m happy to see that amber isn’t going to just go away quietly
@Kitten, I don’t know why you are directing that question about charges at me as I never said said her attorney was filing charges without her approval. She can’t.
@LAK, you are repeating arguments that have been thrown at me for days. Tom Cruise’s career is doing just fine and the Brooke Shields fiasco is remembered by far fewer than those who remember the couch jumping.
This is about domestic violence. Save your life first. I would have advised my client after his first salvo to just focus on getting safe, getting free, and re-building her life. Not to be releasing public statements about loving his mother or releasing inadmissible, hearsay text messages that don’t even identify anyone by name. With each response, the attacks escalate. Avoid that, get the legalities done, and do clean-up later. When the judge sides with her, it exposes him for what he is and his lies for what they are.
@LAK
Please elaborate on MJ and “all his accusers”.
@Kitten
You know, I don’t know that many lawyers who take the time or have the time to make so many comments on celebrity gossip.
The same with doctors, nuclear scientists, finance experts, game night hosting cancer patients so on and so forth.
After a while these things become very easy to spot and I think you might agree a bit with what Im saying.
Its a way of shutting down and claiming authority over the discussions. People do it for various reasons. Its just the nature of the comment section.
People are weird. The internet is weird.
@Lilacflowers, who wrote: “@Kitten, sorry, but I don’t think I ever said that this hasn’t hurt Depp one bit. What I have said, as an attorney, is that I do not understand why Heard’s attorney is allowing her to release anything that she has put out in public. The public does not rule on the divorce, the divorce settlement, or the domestic violence charges. A judge does, based solely on admissible evidence put forth in the courtroom and the state’s controlling laws. And a judge’s ruling, especially on any domestic violence charge, trumps any smear campaign.”
Thank you for posting this because I’ve also wondered about the strategy of Heard’s attorney for allowing these leaks. It seems to me that the photos, text messages, and whatever else she’s holding would serve her best by being presented in court before a Judge. Throwing her cards out to the public in this manner plays to the argument of the people posting on various sites who think her only goal is to get a substantial settlement from Johnny Depp in order to make it all go away before it gets to court.
@ lilacflowers- “and a judge’s ruling, especially on a domestic violence charge, trumps any smear campaign”
Ok let me get this straight: you’re saying here that if Amber had proceeded with the divorce while not responding to Depp’s first attack and the judge ruled in Amber’s favor that the public perception would be entirely supportive of Amber. Is that not what you’re saying?
Cause I’m saying that’s total bullish-t and naive as hell. What if Depp’s team files the court to seal the divorce transcripts? People would just assume that Amber got the cash grab she was looking for. Even if he doesn’t do that, the public made up their minds about Amber after Depp’s team accused her of callously filing for divorce a few days after his mother passed away. You make it sound like it’s so easy to erase public perception and it’s just not. We’re seeing that play out right now.
All I’m getting from your comments is that you think Amber should have taken the high road while Depp and his team publicly drag her through the mud. Sorry but no, dude, I don’t agree with you at all. She’s been silent about this for long enough.
By the way, I still think OJ is guilty and so do a lot of people, despite the fact that he was found not guilty in a court of law. Public perception MATTERS and media has far more influence than you give it credit.
@Kitten, don’t underestimate the power of a paid astroturf campaign to fill a comments section with stuff favoring the team that is paying shills to make it look like Joe Public is firmly on their side. Of course there are lots of real-life stans and misogynists who will be firmly on JD’s side and vitriolically anti-Amber, but I am 100% confident their numbers are greatly augmented by online personae (can be real or made-up, but usually made-up) used by JD’s PR flacks to make it appear that JD has enormous grassroots fan support. These online personae are also known as sockpuppets.
@lilacflowers, I think Amber is behaving very sensibly in aggressively defending her public image as best she can; the mud-slinging was inevitable from the moment she filed her TRO, which I’m sure she and her team knew. The main purpose of the PR war is to attempt to salvage some shreds of her career, but it also serves the purpose of softening JD up so that he will settle the divorce quickly because he wants all this to go away and stop damaging his brand and his earning ability. It’s a way to shut down shenanigans when it comes time to settle up and split the community property, and is faster (and perhaps cheaper) than spending a year or two with dueling forensic accountants arguing over every bank transaction and tax return. As far as getting herself free and safe, I’d say Amber’s already pretty much done that. This IS her rebuilding her life.
@Mathilde, @Cindy — you are brave ladies to read those comments sections! Glad to hear your reports.
Boo, Lilacflowers has been a commentator on here for years and she is an attorney. She is not shutting down any discussion, just being measured about what she says.
I agree that it does not help Amber ‘legally’ to release all this information publicly, although I can’t really blame her either, as she’s being viciously attacked. I think she should stop now though, which it seems that she has, because it really doesn’t seem to be helping, unfortunately.
Also wanted to add that @ lilacflowers you’re just assuming the judge will side with Amber. We don’t know that. Depp has proven that he’s a powerful guy with wide-reaching influence. I don’t blame Amber’s attorney for hedging her bets and trying to get ahead of the game.
@Kitten, I love you but please stop putting words in my mouth. Her response to his first salvo after the divorce filing was the temporary restraining order, which is a judge’s ruling and very strong response on her part. With domestic violence cases, the violence typically increases when the woman tries to end it, tries to get away, takes legal action. She is in as much or more danger now than she was before she filed for the divorce. Public perception means absolutely nothing. Divorce and child custody cases typically result in the highest percentage of legal malpractice and ethics charges than any other area of law and I believe these gambits of oneupmanship in this case and others contribute to that. So, yes, from a professional standpoint, I always advocate the high road because such antics reflect badly on the profession and really do not help the client.
@Boo, I’m a regular poster here and yes, I’m an attorney. But thanks for positing that you know so much about my life and schedule when you know nothing. I haven’t defended Depp, I am not defending Depp, and I am not going to defend Depp. I hope Amber gets her permanent restraining order and safety and goes on to a happy life without him. I have no interest in controlling any discussion. By the way, it is Sunday and I don’t work on Sundays. Most lawyers don’t.
@lilacflowers and kitten–
Why are we even discussing whether Amber should “leak” evidence? Technically, we have gotten nothing officially released from her side. All the evidence was from court docs, which are publically accessible, right? Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve seen Amber do nothing but play this legally, with no showmanship. The stuff coming out in the press is gonna happen in a case like this.
Frankly, lilacflowers, I think you’re being very unrealistic thinking that there was any way for this to not play out in the press. That’s simply not possible with TMZ, etc.
FF: the first time MJ was accused of child molestation, the public didn’t believe it. The fact that the parents of the child accepted a multi-million dollar settlement damaged the father/son’s credibility. Michael being a beloved celebrity, a peter pan character, was allowed the benefit of doubt.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_child_sexual_abuse_accusations_against_Michael_Jackson
When he was accused a few years later of the same thing by a different family, the public was more willing to believe it because of the earlier case.
http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2004/03/michael-jackson-alleged-child-molestation-maureen-orth
MJ’s reputation never recovered from the second set of accusations even though he won his court case.
All: Just because lilacflowers doesn’t agree with our opinions doesn’t make her a stooge for JD.
Personally i’m grateful for legal input because she is astute and clear about process. Something that can be lost in the murky waters of this PR wrangling between JD and Amber.
Last, but not least, she is a delightful member of the CB community and has posted for years, but even if she were not, it doesn’t invalidate her opinions nor does her differing opinion make her a JD supporter.
Though to contradict myself, if she were a JD supporter, her arguments are sound. She’s not bashing Amber. She’s not accusing Amber of anything. She’s pointing out that all this is best kept to the law. Nothing wrong with that opinion.
If JD hadn’t ignited the PR war, chances are that we wouldn’t have been privy to all this detail because much of Amber’s strategy seems to be a retort to the slander coming from JD’s camp.
If Vanessa says, via TMZ no less, that Amber’s accusations are ‘outrageous lies’, the best retort is a pic of a bruised Amber via an equally public forum.
@Rapunzel The text messages and the photo on the cover of People were released directly to the media. They weren’t included in the court hearing when Amber got her TRO. I understand that Amber is trying to defend herself against the public smears. I wouldn’t blame her for leaking evidence to the press after it’s been presented in court.(like she did with photo that showed the bruise around her eye) I just don’t understand the strategy behind releasing evidence to the press before it’s been documented in court.
There’s going to be a hearing next week regarding the restraining order, so why not just wait until then?
@lilacflowers- I just didn’t understand what you were getting at, that’s all.
From my understanding, divorces can take 6 weeks to 12 months. I guess to me it seems like a losing game to have Amber remain silent for months on end while Depp tarnishes her reputation and the public makes up their mind that Amber is a gold-digger who took advantage of poor Johnny. By the time the actual divorce occurs, nobody even cares about this story anymore and the details of Amber’s abuse isn’t largely picked up by the media because Amber is seen as worthless trash. That seems like it would be incredibly detrimental to her career, that’s all.
I’m not trying to diminish or challenge your professional opinion, I’m truly trying to understand…
Lilacflowers: my post on Tom Cruise’s forgotten fall from grace won’t take so i’ll post this one article that hints at it.
http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2012/05/tom-cruise-katie-holmes-mission-impossible-ghost-protocol-oprah
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/milken-confab-sumner-redstone-tom-cruise-best-friends-319587
From public POV, it appeared that T C didn’t suffer at all because his fall wasn’t on the level of Mel Gibson, but he did.
VALKYRIE and LAMBS FOR LIONS were outright bombs and MI3 underperformed. First time Tom had failed since his early career. Failures were directly linked to his negative public image.
The Brooke Sheilds incident led to direct firing by Paramount. In the re-telling, the incident is downplayed by the studios, but at the time, the owner was very vocal about why he fired Tom Cruise.
And TC did go on an apology tour as well as signing up with a proper PR company. His new PR tactics included being very public about his private life ie being papped frequently with Suri and Katie where he had spent decades avoiding being papped.
They’ve done such a good job that no one remember TC’s bad couple of years.
Ps: there is alot in Lainey’s archives on TC’s apology tour.
@goldie– the texts and pics were directly from her team to the media? I assumed they were evidence, maybe not included in the original filings? And the press got ahold of them? But I’m probably being naive.
I agree with lilacflowers that press smearing JD is not necessary or helpful. But I can’t see how one stays clean when they’ve been dragged through the mud. And JD dragged her through the mud…so if it her directly leaking, I’m not gonna hate. I’d do it too if I were her.
@Kitten, hugs, we’re good. My interest and concern is the process and I do try to clarify what that actually is. People are very often too overcome with emotion to understand it. Yes, sadly, her reputation is getting dragged, which is quite common in divorce cases, but this one is happening on a much larger scale. She prevails on the domestic violence, (and she should) which shows his smear campaign for what it is, or she doesn’t , in which case fighting the battle in the press won’t have helped her. As for the divorce itself, the property breakdown is statutory and any fighting would revolve around what is/isn’t marital property. That part really hasn’t begun yet. They could reach a settlement for something other than the statutory guidelines but such settlements usually contain language that neither party admits to any wrongdoing and the other party agrees to drop all allegations of wrongdoing and never mention the allegations again. Family court proceedings are very often all about shouting and nobody walks away happy in the end.
@LAK, thank you for the support and kind words. I do enjoy your postings.
@Rapunzal, this is all going to play out in the press with or without input from either party and I never once said it wouldn’t. But thanks for putting words in my mouth and calling me unrealistic. My point is that her legal case is not helped by fighting it in the press. And she did release the text messages directly to the media – messages that very likely would be inadmissible in court for a number of reasons.
@Rapunzel the photo with large iPhone shaped bruise was included in the court documents when she got a TRO. My understanding is that the newer photos that show her with a cut lip were given to People mag and were not included in the hearing last week. The text messages definitely weren’t from the court documents. Even ET had to add a disclaimer that they could not verify the legitimacy of the texts.
@lilacflowers- I wasn’t trying to put words in your mouth. I phrased myself wrong. What you’ve been saying is that leaking won’t help her case. Which I agree with, and say so later down thread.
But I have say I do think it’s unrealistic to think a case like could happen without leaks. Or maybe a better way to say it is “overly optimistic”?
Maybe I’m just too cynical, but to think the advice of “you don’t need to air this in the media” would be given to or taken by Amber is not even a possibility to me.
Simply put, I think Amber’s team is more interested in protecting her career than her legal case. And it should be that way because it’s better for her in the long run.
I hope you don’t take my opinion as an insult. It’s not meant to be that way.
I’m a fairly new poster, but long time lurker and respect all the regular commenters…
It seems like Oh No They Didn’t! is also team Amber. But apart from ONTD, this site and Pajiba, I haven’t come across another site or its commenters yet that are presenting Amber in a positive light at all. Granted I don’t read many celebrity gossip sites (or entertainment sites in the case of Pajiba), but I know I’ll be sticking to these 3 going forward because I appreciate the way they are handling this story.
I took the plunge and went to TMZ to read some of the comments. It’s bad but not nearly as bad as I thought. There were quite a few commenters siding with Amber. Slowly but surely the tide is turning!
That’s slightly reassuring at least.
I agree Mathilde….slowly it is turning. Personally I think Amber is smart to put out this stuff to the public, she is playing her hand and it has helped her perception in the public eye marginally. I mean look at Celebitchy, I can remember reading articles with JD & Amber and yes everyone was disgusted with Johnny’s looks but they were also, for the most part, putting the blame smack dab on Amber. CB has intelligent commenters, therefore, the tide has turned here and there are other sites as well doing the same. It will take a while and perhaps Johnny will settle and it will all be forgotten before Amber regains any public goodwill. But, for now, in my opinion, Amber has the upper hand and if she plays it well, she may come out of this nightmare with at least her dignity and hope for her future.
Go Amber!!!!
The tide is turning at tmz because they probably know by now she might actually havr stronger evidence. Remember they were siding with Hale Berry until it was shown that Gabriel sustained injuries of someone who was attacked and not the agressor?!
I braved about 20 minutes reading comments at daily mail about three days ago and was shocked to find the comments to be about 60% critical of Depp. I swear to god I am not making this up. It was the only time I have been any where but here to read about this, as I don’t have the stomache, but I had to see for myself. It was an article about Depp’s “brawl” outside after his show. The majority of comments said he looked like a pathetic mid life fool who needed to quit drinking, and there were more than a few calling him an out and out wife beater. So there you go.
It makes my heart happy to see Amber fight back. Truly it does.
There’s this thing called the truth as well that is very compelling! People after a while tend to recognize it as long as you refuse to just back down but endure the initial hatred. I watched a couple of interviews with JD on youtube and the change in him from when he was with Vanessa is quite remarkable. He sounds intelligent and seems very normal, interesting and likeable in the earlier interviews but the deterioration in the recent ones is very apparent. It seems clear to me he is in a very bad place and the DV is most likely directly related to a heavy use of drugs and alcohol. It’s such a waste and tragedy in so many ways!
I guess it is/was a case of ” I am Johnny Depp and you are a nobody” attitude which is now backfiring.
A lot of us wondered the same, I guess. Dumb and dumber. I really believe he is into his addictions too deep to realize what damage might come out of this for him in the long run. To that, his enabler support group is the wrong shoulder to lean on- they’ll make it worse.
Seems like his lawyers just want this process to be as long and expensive as possible. If it were their family they were representing they would have advised him to settle before it came out. Since he IS guiltly and since she IS due money as there was no prenup. But since they want this process to be as long as possible and as expensive as possible, they wanted all hell to brake loose. It is easy to manipulate a drunk. He will do whatever his lawyers say. They just have to get him all angry and upset over something to get him to be vindictive. He is probably all emotional under the drugs and alcohol and has very poor judgement. I would love to be his lawyer now. He is like putty in their hands.
Amber fighting back is terrific, but unfortunately, it isn’t going to sway folks who aren’t believing her. It just adds fuel to the fire that she’s out for money. Sigh. . . Women just can’t win sometimes.
There will always be people who don’t believe her, that’s human nature for you. But she’s doing it to prevent more of Johnny’s “friends” from smearing her in the press and make him look like a hero like Roman Polanski’s friends did to his 13 year old victim way back (Samantha X).
In interviews she said that was the worst part for her; Polanski’s media friends who would write lies about her and have her character ripped to shreds. She and her mother were powerless to do anything about the defamation. To this day he still has the rich and powerful to speak up for him and drown out her voice. Amber’s attorney’s IMO are doing the smart thing. That’s what Dylan’s brother is also doing for her.
Yes, that Polanski story boils my blood. She was 13 years old, for God’s sake. They all deserve a place in Hell.
Angelica Huston did that in her memoirs and it made me so mad. She basically said Samantha looked, dressed and carried herself in a way that made her seem much older than she actually was and that Roman fell victim to that.
Here is a picture of the girl taken by Polanski himself on the day she was raped. Much older than what? Nine?
http://patterico.com/2009/10/01/contemporaneous-pictures-of-polanskis-victim-or-another-applebaum-lie/
Nothing more needs to be said except Depp supports Polanski because apparently this gold digging slut set him up. The way I see it, Polanski should be put in a cage for the rest if his life. Retroactively would be nice.
I don’t know much about divorce, having never been married… But does the money really give her motive to leave? Sure, she could get a considerable amount of money by leaving, but it’s a gamble and it would be only a fraction of the amount she had when she was with him (also considering stuff like lawyer fees). Additionally, she’s lost any chance at a career in Hollywood. It just seems like, if she were the manipulative, gold-digging sociopath that Depp is making her out to be, it would’ve been smarter for her to stay with him.
This has also been my main argument against people calling her a gold digger.
She is divorcing and accusing of DV one of Hollywood’s most liked stars, who is super rich and has all the connections. I think he will blacklist Amber (especially after how he and his PR team are behaving). In earlier reports they were saying he tried to silenced her with money and she didn’t accept.
I do think she is doing this for justice and her dignity and she is standing her ground even with a whole media machine against her, which I find impressive.
Also worth noting is that, because there is no prenup to set aside, any court-ordered divorce settlement will be basically unaffected by any DV allegations. CA is a community property state, and assets and debts accumulated in the course of the marriage (minus any separate property, such real estate inherited by Johnny from his mother) will be split down the middle no matter who did what to whom. Both parties keep the assets that they had prior to the marriage. The only way the DV allegations might come into play would be with respect to granting of spousal support, and any court-ordered spousal support is going to be fairly trivial to a man of Depp’s means as it will last for a maximum of seven-and-a-half months (half the length of the marriage, since the marriage lasted less than 10 years. If Amber’s top priority was gold-digging, filing the TRO application with descriptions of Johnny’s abusive behavior was a big ol’ fail. It’s hard to blackmail someone with information once it’s out in the public eye already.
Depends on what other evidence she may have against Depp. If she has more condemning evidence, think his supporters will slowly slink back into their cave, much like Cosby supporters. What is going to be more interesting, sites like TMZ will have to back track and wipe the mud off of their face.
Sucks that this is such good publicity for Stanhope, who is like the king of douchey bros. Now I can’t even deny knowing who he is.
While I applaud her for this, it doesn’t really mean anything. Defamation is hard to prove. I did some research on it once and in American at least (not in France) you have to go to great lengths to show how it hurts you and how it ruins you financially. It takes years.
But that said, the headline looks great. No one will remember the outcome but they will remember that headline so she’s already won.
As someone commented on Friday’s post “Doug has been getting his followers to cover up Amber’s People magazine cover with a different magazine in stores then hashtag it with #OperationCoverUp and he favorites their tweet in response.”
So he is making Amber case against him very easy, because no judge is going to look at these actions kindly.
Seriously? What is he, five?
You only hide things you are afraid of. Put those magazines front and center, send pic to Heard tagged #OperationFearNot.
Send Depp a tweet asking when his friend Polanski is going to come out with his statement of solidarity. After all Depp stood with him. Tag it #SleazebagsUnite.
#operation cover up
A fitting name for JD’s whole PR scheme.
And a very bad label for someone making accusations about blackmail. Stanhope’s an idiot tanking himself. Why is his lawyer even letting him still talk?
And isn’t this interference with commerce? Magazines pay for certain display placement.
Wow, how childish. He is right up there with the Twihards. When Kristen was caught cheating, many of her obsessed stans, tried to do the same. They hid the copies of US & People, etc with the cheating evidence on the cover. Yep, he is such a brilliant guy…not.
this guy is beyond disgusting, Why does he cares so much? does he think he’ll inherit Johnny’s money so he doesn’t want Amber to touch any of it?
So invested in somebody’s divorce, makes a 48 old man look incredible weird.
But he always has been a fame-hungry “friend”. He always dropped Johnny’s name at every podcast he has and also he and his girlfriend, were the only “friends” always publishing private pictures of the couple at their intimate set up (their house, their hotel) to get attention
What an idiot! But what to expect of a grown man who calls a friend his Emperor?! Lol
I think whatever the outcome, it’s a smart move. It shows everyone she’s indeed not playing and anyone who thinks they can just throw out words like “blackmail” etc. better think twice. Because lawyers aren’t cheap and that dude better hire one fast. Chances are, he’s already paying for that article and I love it.
I haven’t commented on anything relating to this goddamn sh*tshow, pardon my French, because I never thought too highly of Heard and in retrospect, my initial reaction to the abuse allegations wasn’t something I’d like to repeat here. But man, it took about half a day for me to come around completely. It is crazy how people cling to their narrative of the scheming golddigger despite ALL the evidence she’s produced so far. The man is an addict. I have no doubt that living with him was – and I’m speaking from experience, as many CB posters have done already – absolute hell at times. I’m 100% convinced he did what she’s accusing him of and how anyone can still think she is making all of it up is beyond me. One or two years ago, a retired judge went on German TV and said that if his daughter was raped (which is not what we’re talking about here, I know), he wouldn’t necessarily advise her to go to court or even the police. There was a huge outcry and while I still disagree with that notion, I can see where he’s coming from. As a woman, you’re just f*cked.
I was sexually assaulted on my mid teens at work. I worked at a snack bar at a community centre hockey rink, and my attacker was a 24 year old janitor. He let himself in after the snack bar was closed and I was alone in an enclosed space and grabbed me.
My dad was a cop. He and the two policeman who came to the scene told me it would be better to do nothing. No charges were pressed.
I get where my dad and that German judge were coming from, I do. But to this day, I wish I had the courage to fight back.
I’m really sorry that happened to you, Bunny 🙁 I hope you’re doing well now.
I’m sorry, CommentingBunny, and wish you well. Please don’t think of yourself as lacking in courage. The fact that you are willing to discuss what happened to you at all, even anonymously, is brave. The only person with something to be ashamed of is your attacker.
Good for her. I think her team knew one of his defenders would come out and say something stupid and open the door for them. That is why all the other statements from Johnny’s people have been “sources” or carefully crafted statements that were written by a lawyer. The girl is not an idiot and I am pretty sure her father is a lawyer.
I think at this point she is beyond caring whether or not the public believe her. People either do or they don’t and those that don’t and are die hard fans or just women haters are not going to by anything. Johnny could assault her in their living rooms and they would still defend or excuse him.
her father is a retired civil contractor, not lawyer
Bingo’s boyfriend should have kept his laptop closed rather than write that crap!
Bingo!
I’m glad that she was smart enough to keep evidence. If Stanhope is any indication of the caliber of johnny’s “team”…well that pirate ship is sinking. And all of his rats can go down with their captain. I believe her 100%. My only regret is all of the gold digger comments I lobbed at her. She deserves a public apology and compensation from Depp and Co.
I admire the way she has handled this and I am completely on her side. She has my full support and belief and compassion. I never said she was a gold digger, but I do believe she married him to further her career. She may have cared about him, but I don’t think she was madly in love with him. The two stories are not mutually exclusive, and I don’t care if she married him for reasons that were less than honorable. No one deserves to be abused. It’s pretty clear that she tried to help him and believed she could save him, but that never works. He is an addict, and that addiction has made him behave in a completely unacceptable way. He lost my respect then, but I think they way he is handling the aftermath is even more despicable.
I’m not going to regret thinking that in many of her interviews she seemed more than a bit eye-roll inducing concerning her belief in her talents and her ‘coolness’.
And she may still be that way.
But this, she’s been able to able to make the break from an abusive relationship, document said relationship, and realize that she’s going to be dragged through the mud in way that makes any previous comments on her look benign. And she’s not backed down.
So she’s got my respect and admiration for that.
Depp and his team, OTOH, don’t seem to know when to back down and go quiet.
She’s never been particularly likable, but it’s that unapologetic aspect of her persona that is propelling her to employ a *take no prisoners approach* in what is an incredibly difficult battle. A different kind of a woman would have given up, caved under the public pressure and the sheer power of Depp’s team.
I dont even care how annoying she is, I will always have a sh*t ton of respect for her for sticking up for herself.
I never particularly liked her and I still don’t, but I admire the hell out of how she’s handling this. Evidence, refusing to back down, not playing the press smear game, just presenting her evidence and telling her story, and sending her lawyers out to deal with the idiots. We need this. We need more women refusing to go away and play nice, even if she doesn’t win. The fact that she’s standing up at all is huge and I hope she doesn’t stop. I don’t give a hoot why she married Johnny or if she’s a “nice person”, it’s completely irrelevant.
I do feel badly for judging her charismaless, dead eyed appearences, though. That I do take back.
I agree that the two are not mutually exclusive. I don’t think she’s a great actress and I do think she married him with the perspective of boosting her career (but who knows? that’s gossip stuff).
From the point on when she comes out with all these evidence about the abuse, nothing else matters. She’s crazily brave to fight him publicly. I don’t know much about the legal process but from the little I got from it he can only be made to pay for it with money and that’s the only sad part for me…if he’s a criminal and that is proven, he should go to jail.
I think many people don’t want to believe that a beautiful, rich, young woman can also be a victim because it’s a punch in the stomach…The reality is that any women/men can become a victim of psychological/physical violence. I think so many people already explained it here so eloquently that there is no need to repeat it (the power game, the dependence, the surprise, the promises that everything will change, the shame…) Good for her to break the cycle!
I’ve wondered how much of her brittle public persona was because of how miserable she was privately. All of those red carpet photos where she looked stiff and ‘over it’ at the time now read very differently in light of what we know.
I think I’m one of the few who have always liked her and found her charismatic, but even my first instinct when the divorce news came out (pre abuse news) was to side with poor Johnny who’d just lost his mother. And maybe she did marry him to further her career, but maybe he married her to further his ego. I think that part of the conversation is largely irrelevant at this point. Whatever reasons they had for getting into this marriage, I’m sure neither one imagined it would be ending like this. I just hope she gets out of this okay and is able to continue her career.
To be perfectly honest, I am yet to see credible evidence that Amber was opportunistic or a battle axe or a gold digger. I always thought the reason a lot of people didnt like her was because they liked Vanessa and saw Amber as the other woman. I wasnt interested in Vanessa or JDs love life for that matter so I had no problem accepting Amber.
Seriously, people were way too hard on her and continue to be. Like when she dumped Johnny and was photoed hanging out with a new girl in France and people were posting things like, “shes trying to make Johnny jealous”. Why would you dump a man and then try to manipulate him back to you with jealousy? When Johnny started drinking, the narrative went, “she lets him so that she can control him” and “she is probably also as bad”.
So I agree, being an opprtunist and being a victim are not mutually exclusive. I’ve just never believed the first applied to Amber and I still dont.
@tealily
I agree this part of the conversation is largely irrelevant, but since it was brought up, I was just pointing out that her initial reasons for marrying him, whatever they may have been, do not mitigate his behavior. He had no right to abuse her, period.
@Naya she never left Depp for her friend. That was just some made up tabloid stuff. She was working in France at the time and the friend is from France so they were just hanging out together and seen publicly (not holding hands,kissing…) so the tabloids created this story of how she left him. The friend later denied that she was with Amber and said that the paparazzi only took pics when they were out together. Basically so that could creat this story.
@Kri
Agreed. I hope something positive to come out of Amber’s misfortune is other abused women following her example to document everything! It’s still hard to prove abuse in court but the more receipts you have, the better.
I’m not sure Amber was ever was an “opportunist” I her relationship with Depp, given the time frame. From what we know now, the relationship was abusive from the very beginning. To be an opportunist, in any relationship, don’t you have to have the upper hand? I don’t think Amber ever had the upper hand in this relationship….I think she was treading water at best, and than it got worse from there.
I doubt she was in love with him because I find that so unlikely due to his behavior and appearance and constant drunken state. BUT. you are absolutely correct that there’s no way to really know, and I’m just speculating.
I would have agreed with you Goodnames until I looked back and saw the pics around the time they met in 2011, 2012. He was still very attractive at that point.
The other day my husband was talking about something going on at work and I told him to “Amber Heard that shit” , which is of course to document everything. As someone who witnessed this “non-tv-movie” abuse growing up, good for her for standing her ground and showing other women that even if you think it’ll work out and get better, you have to keep proof, you gotta document. Good on you Amber, I hope you bankrupt this little arsehole.
there was a comment on Jezebel from someone who knows one of Amber´s old actor friends through one of her girlfriends.
A few days ago he told everyone that several reporters contacted him and others for “good stories” about Amber. They´re shopping for stories now and they pay big.
So no surprise there are at least 20 people she has to sue. All these “lesbian wedding” etc stories surely come from “old friends”. Some people will tell evrything for money
Well that gives it away. Depp would not need dirt or even a spinnable story smearing Heard if he could stand up and swear in court no abuse happened.
Sounds like the last nail in the coffin.
That seems like a leap of logic to me. This is what reporters do, regardless. They milk stories. They dig. I believe Amber, but, reporters don’t need a nudge from Johnny Depp to do their job.
Okay Claire, I see where you are coming from but why weren’t they a sing for stories on Depp?
So disgusting.
Oh I agree, people are always gonna disbelieve and that doesn’t mean she shouldn’t fight back. I just think it’s sad how women are treated in these situations. Many don’t have the resources to even try and fight the slander. . . What kind of chance do they stand? None.
Edit: This is in reply to Original TC
Go, Amber!
When you know you’re right, you use the legal system. When you’ve got nothing, you use the press.
I’m sure Johnny will pay this dude’s legal fees. I think she has a strong case, even though she is a public figure….that artcle was the definition of malicious.
And there are several thousand posts at the Daily Mail, People, etc. showing what the damages are.
yup, spot on!
That first sentence is so spot-on. Depp is just sinking deeper into his alcoholism and using his money, power, and connections to smear Amber in the press. Didn’t he try to manipulate the press to paint the mother of his children in a negative way when they split? What a guy.
That’s not actually necessarily true. It might be true in this case; but not in many others. For many, many people the justice system fails them and the press becomes their only avenue. Consider that only 5% of rapists get any jail time and that abusers often are not punished.
If she has all these piles of evidence, why is she suing a z-list comic instead of Depp? Still not understanding.
Sloaney…what’s she gonna sue JD for? He hasn’t said anything slanderous. It’s all undercover PR working for him, not him himself.
A better question is this: If Amber’s lying, why isn’t Depp suing her for defamation?
This.
Um….for abuse? In a criminal court? With all her evidence? Like Denise Richards did? Are you being deliberately obtuse? I just want to know why she’s putting so much energy into a defamation case against someone with no money which she’s likely to lose, when she should be going to the cops to make a case against her abuser with all this evidence she keeps leaking to the press instead.
A criminal case is much harder to prove and lots of DV and sexual abuse cases fall away because it becomes a he said/she said game. With Johnnys status, the “gone girl” argument (now I remember why I hated that book) is bound to feature even worse than when ordinary Joe Plumber claims his wife is lying.
Johnnys side has been super smart in how they have parsed their response. Attributable statements never attack her they just deny her account or claim that Johnny is angel. When they attack her character they do it via “sources”. This idiot called her a blackmailer which is both an illegal and immoral thing to be. He is the only one to have left himself this vulnerable and he gives her the perfect opportunity to place all her evidence in the public domain. It would have been foolish to look this gift horse in the mouth.
It’s been said before, but it bears repeating: the victim of a criminal act is NOT the one who “presses” criminal charges, at least not in CA. The DA’s office determines what charges, if any, to file when a crime is suspected, and can do so without the victim’s consent or cooperation (although it is less common for charges to be pursued where the victim is uncooperative, as there usually has to be so much more additional evidence to compensate for the lack of the victim’s testimony). Before the DA’s office will consider filing any charges, an investigation has to be completed, and based on the reports of other DV victims in the Los Angeles area, there is a significant backlog of DV investigations. If charges are ever filed (a big if, given the high bar of “beyond a reasonable doubt” for criminal convictions — DAs don’t like to pursue cases which don’t have a very high likelihood of conviction), it could be months from now. And as JD has no prior DV convictions or even arrests, and there were no spectacular injuries, he would almost certainly not do any jail time even if he were convicted. A criminal conviction might be morally satisfying, but for Amber to make that the primary focus of her efforts would be to ignore her own best interests.
Are you really not understanding or just wilfully pretending to not understand? They are clearly two entirely separate things, her case against Depp, and her case against the ‘comic’.
If she had actually filed charges against Depp you can bet your sweet @$$ that TMZ would have them published already.
The DA has a year to press charges. She gave a report, police are investigating, then can refer it to the DA. She’s done her part.
@Who ARE these people, who wrote: “The DA has a year to press charges. She gave a report, police are investigating, then can refer it to the DA. She’s done her part.”
Which still begs the question of ‘why’ Heard’s lawyer is allowing her to leak all of her evidence to the public. Why not just hold her cards close to her vest and lay it all down for the DA / police investigation? Then it would be a huge ‘Gotcha!’ before a Judge when Depp tried to deny it.
We don’t know if this is all her evidence that we’ve seen, but we do know her lawyers felt the need to respond to the smear campaign and we can assume they are monitoring the results day by day.
When did Johnny do an interview or write an op ed?
Depp has not said anything publicly about her, so I don’t know what she could sue him for. He’s using other sources to try to discredit her. I can understand why she didn’t want to go public at first, look at how people are taking his side and everyone is dogging her out. She’ll never have a career in Hollywood again. Johnny will use all his connections to blacklist her for good. Whether people like her or not, I think we can all agree thats messed up.
To warn him and others that she is not going to tolerate this sort of thing. I don’t think she expects to get any money, or even to win, but it is a very clear message to Johnny ‘s team. She’s not playing around and she’s not going to let them smear her without a fight. She’s serious and she wants them to know it.
THIS
In effect, she HAS sued JD. She filed for divorce and gotten a TRO all based on his abuse of her during their marriage. Filing criminal charges is a different matter, not litigation, and not something she can do unilaterally. The police and prosecutors make that case, or not. She’s got control over the message when she keeps her legal activity in the civil (as opposed to criminal) sphere.
Thanks for clarification.
Also want to say thanks in general to all the ‘legals’ on here for their very informative input and for keeping it real for those of us who are a bit hazy (or a lot hazy in my case) on the process involved here.
You don’t sue someone for years of abuse within a week. These are criminal charges, that’s not how it works.
Because when someone makes a public statement that they know you are engaging in criminal activity and calls you a gold digging A-hole and a liar you shut that mess down. Its called fighting back and suffering no fools.
She doesn’t have to take that crap and neither does the average person either.
Its called survival and she is doing what she has to do.
What in the world is this mentality that people can do whatever they want to do to you and you have to just take it?
Hear, hear.
Right on! Women are expected to shut up and take it. That’s just more abuse.
Way to go, Amber!
The more and more I think about this, the more I feel maybe Disney is done with Depp. He’s so expensive and his behavior on the set of POTC 5 was so full of bad press, plus costly delays from his suspicious injury.
I’m wondering if their silence means they’re willing to let him go down in flames. He’s just not worth a damn as an investment anymore.
I think Disney is done with Depp, because Depp is over. Either Disney tried to reign him in and he won’t cooperate, or they can’t be bothered with him anymore. Depp’s media slander circus will overshadow the promotion of a family film like Pirates.
POTC5 will tank and there will not be a POTC6 – not with Depp, anyway. Who wants to watch a fat bloated old pirate?
i think that it may be tough to prove the case against doug but in re reading the article she probably had no choice – it was a hatchet job from the start and she prpbably had no choice
I wouldn’t be surprised. He hasn’t even been bringing them home much bacon anymore. Disney has spent a lot of money on him and they aren’t going to keep doing so if they get nothing but bad press for it anymore.
Upthread there is a link to a story about a meeting happening between Depp and Disney – likely over this debacle.
Well, a young Jack Sparrow franchise would maintain the brand with a cheaper actor, so this is a good way out.
Get a clean, well-liked actor with a good rep – and frankly this is probably what they were planning to do anyway – although it more likely would have been giving Jack a son but if they want to skip that, a younger Jack works better.
Now they’ll actually look good for making the switch, rather than cheap or lazy.
Yeah, I think JD and Disney are largely dunzo. If POTC5 makes serious bank, they might do 6 with JD as a mentor passing the torch, but that’s it. Someone else (sorry, on phone, can’t scroll properly) said something like Disney doesn’t want their brand name appearing anywhere near any mention of DV, and I think that’s spot-on. Plus, it’s all about what have you done for our revenue lately, and JD hasn’t brought big bucks that recently.
I would sue too. That piece and other evidence that came out like the text messages just showed how people in Depp’s circle treat him like god and he never gets to experience consequences or responsibility for his actions. He actually unintentionally made Johnny Depp look bad in that piece by painting the so-called down-to-earth star as someone they had to walk on eggshells around and stay in the emperor’s favor. He also made Depp look like the angry, paranoid person Amber has been saying he was when he showed up that night. I think Doug Stanhope was also trying to help out his book, which has Johnny Depp’s name prominently displayed on the front cover. Hmmm…
I saw pictures of Amber yesterday, she looked extra thin, I don’t want to concern-trolling but I hope she’s taking care of herself.
I don’t think it’s concern-trolling at all. She’s under massive amounts of stress right now and no doubt that’s affecting her appetite.
I feel so awful for her.
Bad as it is…the worst is over.
I’m someone that can’t eat when stressed or anxious so it’s not a stretch to believe she’s not eating properly and has lost weight. I’m sure this has to be such a stressful time for her. i hope she has a good support group around her.
I don’t think that Disney is over with Depp because they still need him for promotion duties, nobody asked for that Pirate movie but it still was (I am guessing) very expensive to make. I have a feeling that they (Depp’s team) will drop something big on Amber in next two weeks to try to discredit her. Hope she stays strong.
(Forgive my English, not my language)
I think if Depp’s team had anything to drop, we’d have seen it already.
Unless they hadn’t found anything they could use yet – reference Ollie’s comment above, that the word is out that there’s big money for anyone who can dish dirt on Amber’s past.
Having seen Depp in a documentary, read all that I’ve read about him over the years and spent years working with women coming out of abusive relationships, I don’t doubt that Amber is telling the truth here.
How this will affect both of their careers moving forward? No clue, really. Emotion aside, it will be fascinating to see how this plays out.
Cannibell- I think anyone who has a dirty Amber story for sale would probably have gone to TMZ already. But I suppose JD’s people would pay more, so stuff might happen.
But Amber’s supposedly got video. So any dirty story on her might pale in comparison. JD’s peeps would be wise to keep quiet.
Yeah, probably. My point – which I didn’t express as well as I might have – is that Team Depp is desperately (“Deppserately?”) grabbing at any straw that might possibly stop this train wreck, which I think is not going to happen.
I don’t think so if Depp team had something big his team wouldn’t be doing a smear campaign. They would have kept it clean and quite.
Doubt they have anything huge, since playing on her bisexuality already was the lowest you can go. Did she take drugs with Depp? Perhaps. Not scandalous enough for HW standards. Has she ever been drunk? Probably. The thing is, when Depp is drunk and drugged out, and as regularly as he seems to be, he won’t remember a lot. So he is on shaky ground with this. That would also explain his rather dumb PR strategy.
I so want to see Depp’s promo tour. Popcorn time! Endless softball questions that reporters will then take the heat for fir not asking about the real issues. Happened over Cosby and now happening to Trump.
Perhaps a meltdown or two. How many handlers will be present? Tazers and mace ready for the reporters, a big blanket to throw over Depp and run him out the back door to the already running getaway car.
I can hear the loud squeal of tires, as the getaway car exits, and the screams of the people jumping out of the way.
Tee hee, thanks for playing Mary S.
Take him to the cleaners! Little pissant should have kept his mouth closed.
Disney is calling a crisis meeting with Depp next week, according to the Daily Express UK: “Will Disney chiefs make Johnny Depp walk the plank?”- – “STUDIO bosses are to warn Pirates Of The Caribbean star Johnny Depp that he risks wrecking his Hollywood career unless he calms his bitter divorce row with Amber Heard.”
thank you @vicky for this information. I read the article carefully and found it very interesting. “Disney executives (are) horrified that his sequel Alice Through The Looking Glass has tanked, earning at least £20million less than expected at the American box office.” this shows that this nasty business influences movie goers as the expectations for this movie were very low in the first place. from now on I take the many many negative and trashing comments regarding amber heard with even more scepticism. seems the tide has really turned and plenty of the haters are paid folks who post on behalf of depps pr company.
Yes, I have a feeling the majority of people are appalled at Depp’s behavior despite his few fans and paid minions who are posting over-time on these celebrity websites.
if depp is smart he sd have settled this once and for all – before everything – paid her off got divorced and gone their separate ways. not condoning the dv but at least amber wouldnt have to deal or be with him anymore and gone on with her life and career
People are asking about Disney and I can tell you Disney is pissed off right now and you don’t want to piss off Disney.
Whether or not Amber claims are the reason for ATTLG flopped, they are blaming him. They sold the movie on his name and he didn’t handle thing with Amber sooner nor did he keep her quiet. Disney is figuring out all their opinions, they have a brand and a family friendly image to protect and a wife beater does not fit that image.
One of those options is if they are going to continue the POTC series at all or without Johnny. Reboots are big right now in the comic world and are successful. Disney and can do a reboot with a Younger version of Jack sparrow and cut Johnny out completely. Don’t be surprised if the new POTC is pushed back and is reviled with a new clean looking Johnny.
They are also trying to figure out if they should buy out Johnny contract and be done with him or push back all projects with him until the DV claims and photos are not fresh in peoples mind.
I agree about Disney, flowerchild… They are not happy, and not to be trifled with.
Not only has JD screwed up, not handled his business discreetly, and cost them money, but there’s also the possibility that they’ve covered for JD on numerous occasions, and this case might expose that. The Mouse House does not want any of their dirty secrets revealed.
It’s not just about JD and money, it’s about a huge industry machine that’s been taking care of it’s own, probably in very very disgusting ways…
Disney is in lockdown and sweep under the rug mode.
Disney already were thinking along reboot lines weren’t they, with POTC? Isn’t that why Will Turner is back in the new one, because they were going to reboot it focusing on his son. I am sure I saw that written somewhere. I think they were planning on ditching Depp ages ago.
Disney already signalled their dissatisfaction with his antics back when he hurt his hand during POTC5 shooting and shut down production for more than a month. Disney made a point of saying the injury did not take place during production. At the time I thought they were telling him not to play quite so hard. Now I think it’s very possible they knew more, and their statement about how he was injured was a warning to him and his team that if he keeps costing them money with his BS, they will NOT cover for him anymore. Shutting down production costs a LOT, and this was a long interruption.
As much as I would like to believe this is about Amber I know it is most likely not. Hollywood is a business and they can’t continue to employ someone who shows up to industry events drunk and/or on drugs, delays very expensive film shoots with substance abuse related injuries or (God forbid!) is at risk of death during filming. He did not need Amber to sink his career-he has already done that himself.
Looks like Johnny’s been called to the principal’s office.
There are three Amber Heard movies on Netflix right now, and out of solidarity I have so far watched two of them. While she is no Meryl Streep, she is certainly a serviceable actress. I hope that all of this will result in some new opportunities for her. Fingers crossed.
Ha! I did the same thing this weekend. I also got All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (or whatever it’s called). She’s definitely improved since Pineapple Express, in which she was, frankly, dreadful. I thought she was great in Syrup, though, even if the movie itself isn’t spectacular.
I liked her in Drive Angry. A crap movie to be sure but she did a decent job in her role. Plus that movie had William Fitchner being all badass suave as Mephistopheles.
@I Choose Me, the first I ever heard of her was Drive Angry. That movie was truly awful, but she was such a stand out in it, I looked it up to see what else she’d done!
This. I haven’t seen Pineapple Express, but in the movies I have seen her in, she was fine. Even if she wasn’t a Meryl Streep, I always found her likable as an actress (and always felt like I was in the silent minority). I’m in the middle of watching All the Boys Love Mandy Lane again. I truly hope she’s able to come out on top in all of this.
I think she’s improving. She used to be dreadful, but I honestly thought she was fine verging on almost being good in The Danish Girl, even if it was a smaller role. I think she’s limited by always getting cast in smaller budget kind of films (I do love All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, I don’t say it in a mean way) due to her average acting skills. But I think when she is surrounded by better actors they help her step up her game and draw out a good performance from her like in The Danish Girl. If she continues to improve and is good in Justice League and Aquaman, then hopefully it will open some doors for her. Will be interesting to see what she’s cast in in the meantime, I’m guessing not much unfortunately :/
Go Amber!!
All the effort Amber when into documenting abuse would have been better spent by living Johnny.
I hope non-famous DV victim dont follow her example because one of them would end up dead.
Evidence isn’t worth your life.
They often end up dead, even without documentation. So document as much as possible.
Usually without evidence they are not believed, so their abusers keep on abusing. If the victim hasn’t left – and there are many reasons they don’t leave, so don’t go blaming them – the victim often ends up dead, and that ends up being the proof.
@OpenFlip, that comment is straight-up ridiculous. It’s of a piece with all the absurd misogynistic comments I’ve seen about how if Amber were a “real” victim worthy of our sympathy, she would have fled quietly in the dead of night with nothing but the clothes on her back and not asked for a penny so as not to risk the wrath of the great and powerful Oz… er, Johnny Depp. Abuse victims are not required to silently eat all the sh-t their abusers choose to shovel.
You know what? I dont feel sorry this happened to Amber, I say good that his happened to someone like her, because she will not back down, she will go all the way with this, as she should. Team all women that have been silenced for so long.
TEAM AMBER.
I hope she gets maximum compensation for all of this (not that money can ever undo what’s happened to her) and she starts a new life with the supportive people she clearly has around her.
Like other commenters I’m really sad that JD is not the amazing person everyone thought he was 10 years ago. Very sad. But TEAM AMBER all the way.
I will never forgive Johnny Depo for making me like Amber Heard…
LOL! Exactly.
Lol
😅😅😅 so true! Teamamber!
I don’t think filing this lawsuit was wise at all because that’s honestly wasted attorney fees that amber needs to fight depp in her divorce. This is America & defamation lawsuits are close to impossible to win because of that thing called freedom of speech so its very likely that amber will lose if this lawsuit goes to court & if she does lose people who believe depp will see it as a win that proves that amber is a gold digging liar after his money.
Like I said above He is providing her case against him for her. By asking his followers to cover up Amber’s People magazine cover with another magazine and then hashtag it with #OperationCoverUp and in return he like their comment.
As already pointed out in earlier comments, this is less about ‘winning’ than about sending a warning shot to anyone else on TeamDepp who might want to try it that she’s not going to take it quietly. And about the discovery process.
But if she hadn’t filed it, don’t you think everyone would be saying “Well if it isn’t true, why didn’t she file for defamation?”
As stated above, the lawsuit permits her attorneys to depose (get legally admissible statements from) a wide variety of people associated with Depp, in hope of exposing any direction they obtained from him or his lawyers. That in itself is extremely valuable.
Freedom of speech without government interference is a right but there are certain limits, even for public figures. If there is no settlement, then the court will determine whether Stanhope’s essay was within those limits.
Plus, she has a right to tell them they can’t shut her up. She was expected to shut up for several years and she’s probably had enough.
Depositions are often much rougher than giving testimony in court. There is almost no limit on what can be asked. An attorney does not have to prove relevancy.
And the record requests!! Every piece of paper you or your minions have touched, every communication of any sort, financial, medical (and in Depp’s case dental – ha!), travel records, almost anything.
Of course your attorney can and will fight some requests but that is where the money begins hemorrhaging. Where Depp will spend days and days sitting in a conference room ( with no go-fers) answering borderline rude questions that he as never had to answer before. And days and days on his attorney’s office preparing for the depositions.
Does anyone think he is even physically capable of that? Ten, twelve hour days with no “medication”? No flunkies agreeing with his every word?
I predict this will all come to a screeching halt for a three month “stay” in rehab. Getting a doctor to say he is not fit should not be too hard.
Cindy Lou (from Whoville?) – very interesting. So many people would want to be that fly on the wall.
Interesting scenario. He’ll lose his shit. He can’t keep himself together for a fraction of that period of time – sober or not – how will he do a full day of stress in the hot seat with no go-fers by his side? And this during daylight business hours – like when the sun is out. This guy’s used to slithering around in the dark.
Perhaps Mr. Depp will be hospitalized for “exhaustion” and give his deposition from his hospital bed, in a darkened Hollywood Vampire kind of room, wearing shades, and smoking a hand rolled cigarette.
Here’s the problem with your theories, one if what a lot of people assume is right and Johnny and his team are behind this article, you have a multi-millionaire who can pay the bill to make it expensive and go on for a long time if they want. Second not sure what people’s logic is here, but even if they claim this article was a Johnny PR plan and they somehow get their records, all of those things will be hard to do, what do you think is going to be so damaging to discover. Do you honestly think someone wrote up a PR plan to defame her, and if they did would be dumb enough to have some sort of written documentation. As far as depositions go, I don’t know how many you have been in but I have been in a fair amount. They are far from exciting especially civil suits, I sat in one where one person said I don’t recall too many times to count. In Johnny’s defense that might actually be the truth if he was as drunk and intoxicated as even Amber says he was, provided his lawyers don’t get him out of testifying until all this is over as he has the divorce case to worry about too.
I am sorry I only see two possible purposes with this lawsuit as I think it is almost impossible for her to win or gain anything probative that would help her divorce settlement. One she is just plain angry this low life lied about her. Two she thinks if she goes after Johnny’s friends he may settle quicker. I know people will get mad with the second idea, but even if this is true doesn’t mean Johnny didn’t hit her.
A deposition
” …during daylight business hours – like when the sun is out. This guy’s used to slithering around in the dark.”
Stop Mary Simon, please stop. I have fallen down and I can’t get up. “Like when the sun is out” oh nooo, stop thinking those words pleeease
*falls again*
GOOD FOR HER! I truly hope she has more even more evidence to produce and that she wipes the floor with both of them! It will be a victory for all abused women. What has horrifed me most about all of this is the misogyny displayed. I wonder how the people on team Depp, especially the ‘professionals’, sleep at night!
she has some big guts!
And his team instead of trying to prove Johnny’s innocence chose the road to discredit her (they’ve gone so far to even obliged to a twitter account, Shady Music Facts, to not only to delete a tweet supporting Amber that had more than 11k., but also it ended with the complete account deleted)
There’s a reason why the only way to counterattack her it’s been through mean stories on TMZ and not in the court. Why haven’t Johnny’s lawyer sued Amber for her claims like somebody before said? To call him “drug addict”, “alcoholic” and “woman beater” could be considered defamation too…
Easy answer: because they CAN’T. Because Amber has the proofs of Johnny’s abuses and because there’s no way Johnny could go through a drug/alcohol test ordered by a court with the results being “negative”
Even if Johnny told to Stanhope what he said (likely Johnny doesn’t even remember what he said, described in the article paranoid, full of anxiety, likely drunk or high) how is that Stanhope didn’t even stop to contemplate the chance that maybe Amber warned Johnny about a divorce and making public his abuses because Johnny- in fact- did abuse her and she had proofs?
Amber was seen (i have to agree with a comment before, she looks so thin that it worried me) at the building where the offices of the best lawyer of US (according to Obama) Gloria Allred are ” American civil rights lawyer who is noted for taking high-profile cases; she has been particularly involved with cases involving the protection of women’s rights” – something tells me that Amber may be thinking in taking a “civil case” against Johnny (outside the divorce)
And Page Six published this piece today, full of very incriminatory Johnny’s comments about his substance abuse, rage, destructive an erratic behaviour
http://pagesix.com/2016/06/05/johnny-depps-tragic-fall-from-heartthrob-to-washed-up-hobo/
great article! very reflected and well put together. journalist Maureen Callahan hit the nail on the head. thank you @mmm for the link.
+1
After all of the pro Depp stuff they’ve put up that was refreshing. Are they already back tracking? Also, still think River Phoenix’s death hugely still weighs on that group that was with him at the time. Many of them have had addition problems and other issues since its happened.
“Why haven’t Johnny’s lawyer sued Amber for her claims like somebody before said? To call him “drug addict”, “alcoholic” and “woman beater” could be considered defamation too…”
Because court filings are usually considered protected speech.
Ah, but of course. (How could any charges be laid if we couldn’t allege that people do bad things!)
Thank you again, lilacs (which just finished blooming here in Southern Ontario…mmm, smells good!).
@lilacflowers– but if Amber had a Doug Stanhope type friend who wrote an article saying, “Johnny depp’s a beater and here’s how I know” and directly conspired with Amber to write it, that could be defamation, right? The accusations are only protected in court docs, not in other speech? I’m trying to understand where the line is drawn.
Also, if Amber’s allegations in her sworn statement were proven false, that would open her up to criminal perjury charges. (Admittedly, perjury charges in a matter of this sort are quite rare.)
@Rapunzel, depended on how it is worded, yes. If the person couched it in “this is my opinion,” well, it is questionable, but if they put it forth as fact, than yes, defamatory.
@Rapunzel, truth is an absolute defense for defamation. He would have to be able to prove, definitively, that he never abused her.
Well if Johnny could prove that Amber lied to cause him damage, he could file if he wanted to. Now the court documents couldn’t be used for many reasons, one being she doesn’t control the release. The pictures of her beaten face if they weren’t taken from court filings, could be used if he can prove they are fake and she released them.
Keep in mind she has just filed, she didn’t win she has to prove this in court or settle. With the Stanhope case she has to prove Stanhope not Depp as he is not a party to this suit was intentionally trying to damage her because she is a public figure, and this is harder legally than you would think. His defense could be this is what his friend said and what he saw.
I re-read the column and I think the column has very little which could be used against him legally. He spends a lot of time talking about how this was a bad relationship and how everyone knew they were bad for each other, but no one said anything. All of that could be true and his and others opinions probably. He says Johnny told him Amber was going to accuse him of something to ruin him publicly. Well Johnny could have said that to him. Only once does he say Johnny didn’t hit her, and he can say that was his opinion as this is a commentary. He says she is blackmailing him well I know people won’t like this, but one if you believe Johnny didn’t hit her, obviously Stanhope will claim he does, and if you look at the timeline of her filings it could appear like she is leveraging her filings to achieve a better settlement or blackmailing as the average person would say. Timing: First domestic incident, -which Stanhope supposedly doesn’t believe happened that way, Second files for divorce asking for spousal support, Third Johnny’s lawyers refuse spousal support, fourth- she files for TRO. Just saying this is a reasonable scenario to believe and that is all he needs to prove. He can say he was stating an opinion only intended to curtail the media storm of bad press Johnny was getting not to maliciously hurt her.
Rapunzel, I’m not a lawyer. But it stands to reason that an accusation of illegality must be protected if presented to the justice system, otherwise no one would complain about others to the police or to the court because everything would be defamation. We’re all allowed to (and are supposed to) tell the police, the court, etc. “He robbed me!” or “He hit me!”
But, making those same accusations before the public without making them in court is different. We can’t print/post a public statement that “He robbed me!” or “He hit me!” without incurring the risk of being sued for calling someone names, ruining their reputation and otherwise causing damage. It has to be established first (or at least we hope that it is established; sometimes as we have all seen, the system is flawed) that he really did rob you, he really did hit you, etc. Then it’s not alleged fact any more. It’s viewed as established fact.
In this case, Amber Heard has spoken not through the media and not through third parties, but to the court directly and through her lawyers after they spoke to the court (IE filed suit).
Then all discussion is about the actions taken by or in court — the restraining order, which was granted; the defamation lawsuit, which was filed. Everything else was images, as far as I remember – photos, screen grabs. And it seems like some of the photos were used to obtain the restraining order. The screen grabs are still “up for grabs,” I guess.
But, again, I’m not a lawyer. All I did was take the law boards many decades back (tho I did real good!). It’s just fascinating and I’m trying to follow it along with the rest of you.
This is going to keep all us armchair analysts very busy for some time. We have to pace ourselves. I am very pleased about the defamation lawsuit because that article was a pathetic and juvenile piece of finger-pointing garbage. Beyond ashamed, he and the publisher should just be … embarrassed. But now they could face worse as it may all be reframed.
Thanks for the link. As everyone can see, his history of self-admitted rages goes all the way back to the beginning of his career. Yet there are those saying they never ever saw such a thing. How can that be? You can bet Paradis saw plenty of tantrums in her years with him. She says he never hit her, and that MIGHT be true, but breaking TVs around you is violence and intimidation as well. It raises fear in the witness to the breakage. because how can you not think you might be next? It’s clear that Vanessa provided him with the most stability he’d ever known and when he left her it’s even more clear that he went totally off the rails with the drugs and alcohol. It’s easy to see that he has escalated to violence against persons instead of objects. I really don’t understand how so many people act like it’s just impossible that good ole Cap’n Jack could do such a thing. The evidence has been there for YEARS. Only now he has met someone who isn’t going to cower and go quietly.
Amber Heard has called him to account for his actions. Instead of vilifying her, I hope we are thanking her in a year for the saving of him. She has held up a mirror he is going to have a hard time not looking into, hopefully he’ll see a man that needs help, desperately.
There is much good in Johnny Depp and I do not want to see his demons drag him under. Yes, his behavior is reprehensible but it is not unforgiveable. His mind is very sick, and I pray that both he, and Amber, are healed, and can move on from this very dark place that must be hell for both.
Yes! That’s what I said. She’s the only person in his life who’s not enabling or ass-kissing him! She might save his life. If he even admits that he needs to be saved first.
How Stanhope didn’t see this coming from a mile away is beyond me. The op-ed ran with an acknowledgment at the end that his book just came out with an intro written by Johnny Depp. Can we say “bought and paid for?”
That guy is as much a loose cannon as his buddy. I thought that too and then I though “wait- I am giving him credit for a reasonable person”. He didn’t see it coming because in his world women are garbage & rarely ever surface once they are discarded- if they do surface then you shut then down with a little public humiliation. That didn’t work this time but it, sadly, typically does.
Oof. The only thing that scares me for Amber is Wasser has been very, very quiet, like she’s been expecting all of this. You don’t catch someone like her unawares. Her plans have plans; she’s like the the freaking Batman of divorce attorneys. What does Wasser have that she’s sitting on, that she’s letting all of this happen? That’s my question.
@neal
Wasser may be quiet because she’s trying to shut this down. Especially if the rumored video is true, she might be trying to keep from provoking Amber’s team into releasing it. I suspect she knows she’s screwed.
I think Wasser has been caught a little off-guard by how messy this is, and I think she didn’t know how much her client was withholding from her initially. She isn’t usually this quiet, is she? And her cases aren’t usually this messy, they don’t usually escalate to this point. And I am not convinced she is coordinating with his PR team. I think they’ve gone rogue and she is crapping bricks over the level of stupid they’re bringing to this.
She’s going to regret ever taking this case, if she doesn’t already.
I believe that Wasser’s problem is that JD does not cooperate very much and she has to deal with his manager/team only. The article that was posted above was very enlightening. JD’s nirvana is a “I don’t care” place Marlon Brando highly recommended and I guess this is what this Hollywood Vampire tour reflects. It would had been easy to replace him so that he can come home to sort out the mess. If not for his sake than for his children. But hell no, JD preferred to continue his rock star schtick. And even drinks on the street in front of a hotel bar so the world can see it even though one of heard’s accusations is alcoholism as a route of his aggressiveness. I suppose with Disney in the mix now and the european leg of the tour ending JD will have to give in to save his career. anything else would be suicidal – and not only career whise.
BTW: there was a picture on instagram of the band in front of Bran Castle.. Tim Burton was there with them. As one has not heard a single sentence of support I wonder if that means something (like a true friend came to give JD a piece of his mind)?
Why should Depp listen to Wasser? Has he ever listened to a woman? Boy, does he seem to be in for a hard landing.
Remember Wasser was originally Brittany Spears attorney in her divorce from that gold digging slut so-called dancer. (Was that irony? Satire? Maybe just a bowl of sadness.)
Wasser withdrew from the case when Spears and her team kept going behind her back to get their crazy on. Then the other party would do the same which put her in an impossible position and also opened her up to some liability.
I agree that she might have been caught a little off guard. If Johnny is so out of it all the time and has no idea how much Amber has been documenting, then Wasser was also unaware of it. If he can’t really remember what he did to Amber, then he really has no idea what she has on him.
What a great line! Her plans have plans…
Going back to Disney, I think they’re definitely mad at JD because of this. While it’s true they might have already been planning a reboot of POTC, the Amber situation has definitely shined a spotlight on them that they cannot have wanted. At all. Few companies keep their shit tighter than Disney. The last thing they want is a lawsuit/criminal case that opens them up to scrutiny. Thinking otherwise is just naive.
I’m thrilled she’s suing Stanhope regardless of whether she wins. To me it cements that she’s telling the truth, has the receipts to back it up, and is not playing. That article in The Wrap was so inflammatory and disgusting.
I’m so glad she’s standing up for herself because it’s not just for her, but for every person who has been, or is currently a victim of DV, and is watching this case. They need to know that they will be believed and supported. I believe Amber.
What a freaking hero. I adore her now. Finish that shitstain Amber !!
I have one big problems with this and I think the glee from people on here about her suing him is a little strange. She has documentation of abuse and is willing to go after her husband’s big mouth friend but not after her husband who is the one who beat her. I saw the supposed card from the LAPD saying call later if you decide to pursue. Guess what it’s later file a police report and go after your husband for the crime he committed, and not his stupid friend for believing him. I know a lot of people on here think spreading the filth is as bad as the person who committed the crime. That is total b.s. the person most responsible for this is the abuser Johnny Depp. I just wish she would go after him with all legal means including criminal which she doesn’t seem to be doing yet. Hopefully, she will.
noway,
The Goldmans and Browns didn’t sue OJ until his criminal trial was over. I don’t see where suing him now for the DV stuff would serve Amber as she’s already suing him for divorce. Perhaps when everything is over she can sue him. Meanwhile, Stanhope did publicly accuse Amber of blackmail, which is a crime and she has every right to sue him. Regardless of the outcome I feel that shows she will not be trifled with by JD and his sycophants.
This is a means to an end. It’s not that of two battles, she chose this one and only this one. Earlier commenters said it best —
Samtha says:
“She’s likely not trying to “win” the suit outright. By filing, she’s firing a warning shot to other publications and to Johnny’s PR people that she’s willing to show how the sausage is made, so to speak. And if this DOES get as far as discovery, what comes out can only help her other cases, as well as her reputation in the court of public opinion.
So it’s basically a win for her no matter what, at this point.”
“… how the sausage is made…” stop now Amilu! Laughing too much.
Samtha gets the credit for that one!
As explained by an attorney above, the suit against Stanhope is a CIVIL suit brought by Heard herself. Any suit against Depp for abuse (and I include his dental hygiene, I mean would you put your mouth anywhere near that?) Has to be brought by the State because he (allegedly) committed a crime which makes it a CRIMINAL case.
The prosecutor would be the State not Heard as in “The State of California vs. Johnny Depp”.
STANHOPE wrote the smear piece and put his name to it. STANHOPE said she was blackmailing Depp. STANHOPE is the one making defamatory statements in that article. Therefore, Amber Heard is suing Stanhope. You can’t sue someone for something false that someone else said. If in the course of discovery it comes out that Depp was instrumental in putting Stanhope’s article together, she can move to amend the complaint to include him as a defendant.
Criminal charges are another thing entirely. She may still decide to press charges, or the DA may decide to charge him after investigating.
Puh-leeze everyone (with an interest) go read this:
http://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/resources/criminal-defense/criminal-offense/pressing-charges-a-criminal-act.htm
It is a good explanation of the difference between civil and criminal prosecutions. We have had at least two attorneys (lilacflower and LAK) give their own very good explanations of this issue. I hope that as many people as possible will be learning about the distinctions to prevent yoke out cries of “she was lying because she did not sue him” when it will not be her making the decision.
However if the State decides not to go forward, I think in a way that would be great too. The outcry of those who care about DV could very well be a game changer and finally some significant progress could be made. #WomensLivesMatter
Edit to the above. The attorneys are “lilacflower” and “lala”. LAK is simply very smart.
Thank you Cindy-Lou. My point above was that she has no GROUNDS right now to sue Depp for defamation, as it was Stanhope who wrote the hit piece accusing her of blackmail. Forgive me for not sussing out the finer points of exactly how the criminal charges would proceed, but that was not my focus, it was on civil vs criminal and why she was not suing Depp over the article.
As for suing him for assault, that would be another matter and case altogether, and also separate from criminal charges.
Go Amber! I really didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to her before (though I was NOT a hater, ever), but she has become super interesting to me and I am rooting for her.
I imagine representing JD is difficult for a lawyer because he very likely remembers very little of his outbursts/abuse if he is as much of an addict as he seems. He can tell an attorney that none of it is true because for him that is true. Then the receipts…
Team Amber all the way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Boo said:
–
“You know, I don’t know that many lawyers who take the time or have the time to make so many comments on celebrity gossip.”
“The same with doctors, nuclear scientists, finance experts,….”
Hmmm. More than you know! I’m a scientist myself (almost went into nuclear physics but found other interesting areas along the way in both chemistry and physics, have a joint Ph.D.). Just like everybody else, we have hobbies and sites like this are nice distractions during work breaks (I am usually doing some walk in place at the same time). Many of us are very fast writers, also…. 🙂 I also read and comment online about video games, comic books, cartoons, and junk food. As a translator, I have to read about science all day long… My brain needs a break from it along with my body.
You’re right, though, that people lie about their credentials on the net routinely to give an air of authority to their posts. But generally you can tell from how they express themselves and the kind of verifiable detail they provide, and just check things out yourself if needed. We all have to take each other at face value, realizing we have no idea if other people are who they say they are but just enjoying the discussion anyway. I could be a precocious five year old for all you know.
People also lie about their gender, but the writing style is a major clue. Men and women tend to write very differently, we’re raised in different cultures even side by side. Plus the “I’m a woman but [fill in the very male spin here]” posts raise a few alarm bells.
LOL I am a psych major and when I go online I go DIRECTLY for the celeb gossip sites. Hollywood and The Internet is where all the case studies and crazy people are!
And I think anyone who has studied psychology or behavioral science would have instantly looked at the past behavior of Johnny Depp and known or assumed that Amber was telling the truth. Her version of events fits into everything we know about him. His own defenders also make her story much more likely. If the people around him are willing to deny he even HAS anger or substance abuse issues it means they are more than willing to lie and cover for him.
Licensed psychotherapist here and spend my free time on Celebitchy and Michael Ks site. Need a break from the heavy stuff!
Director of marketing for a national corp. This so much more relaxing than listening to my kids squabble. Though they too often miss my point and are quick of point out typos. I may need to rename them. I am thinking of Ratters and Smackers. Glass of wine anyone?
“I could be a precocious five year old for all you know.”
I laughed aloud at this, and now the association with appropriate visual image ( and let me just say it is adorable ) is burned in my mind.
Ah, it is indeed a good day.
There are no sides to be taken in this sad story: Mr. Depp did not abuse the mother of his children, but he did hit and kick Ms. Heard. Can’t you see that Mr. Depp is seriously ill?
The article, “From Heartthrob to Hobo” chronicled Mr. Depp’s descent into frontotemporal dementia, although the author did not realize it.
His attorney and anyone who truly cares about him must get him to a neurologist before more damage is done.
Mr. Depp is no longer the man so many of us admired because that man is gone. It is time to take care of him now.
My guess is that he’s been getting worse, and the stress of his mother’s death could have accelerated his deterioration. Hence the apparent urgency in Amber’s getting a restraining order now and filing for divorce now. The iPhone throwing incident may have scared her more than previous ones. A restraining order suggests she has reason to believe that he is an ongoing risk to her, maybe due to some things he said. The fact that she tried to get a restraining order to protect one of the dogs is worrisome. I don’t think she’s just putting on an act. Something different happened.
Don’t know if other things are also going on, but the many years of alcohol and any other drugs could also explain Depp’s behavior. He’s older now and may just not be able to maintain any kind of control over it that he might have managed when younger. He looks very ill.
Excellent point, Jwoolman, about one of the dogs. People with the condition are known to abuse or neglect pets. Why didn’t they listen to Ms. Heard when she asked for her pet to be protected?
Chills Rose, just chills.
Unrelated but who the hell is the Boo posting above criticizing the excellent posters here?? That Boo is not me!!
FFS I have no idea what to do about this but just wanted to say, whoever that person is, I’m not happy you can’t come up with your own nickname. Now I have to pick a new one??
More importantly – GO AMBER! Johnny Depp is a horrible person and as sad as that makes me to know I’m glad to know as it matches his appearance. Good to have these tips in life for safety reasons. I hope no more pretty women align with idiots who look like this…it never ends well.
I have a question about legal fees. We know how much (little) Amber made last year which would be long gone now in fees to her lawyer, so how is she paying for all this? I ask because obviously JD has deep pockets and will not run out of money any time soon. Is there any way he can drag this out until she runs out of money? Will her lawyer be working for free now, on the assumption she’ll make a percentage of whatever Amber (hopefully) ends up with?
I wanted to share that I saw a few Amber’s films and the thing is… she isn’t necessarily a bad actress but she simply doesn’t have good roles, like EVER! She is constantly cast as the stunning hot stuff with a personality. She is definitely a working actress who doesn’t have access to better scripts and one of those cases where her looks while helping her in many ways also limit her because people want to cast her in the same type of roles over and over again. This fall into what Charlize said a few months ago even though worded in a weird way.
She’s actually been in films with bigger name players like Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman (Paranoia) and Carpenter (The Ward), but those films weren’t good. In the ward (Horror film) she is the lead and honestly I think she did a good job, but as with any actor there’s so much you can do when the character isn’t great and the story doesn’t help.
What I mean is that I guess I was a bit unfair before, because as far as I could understand and see (I didn’t naturally see all her films) she didn’t ruin anything and on the lead roles she was quite watchable.