Latest news with #AmberHeard
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE How Amber Heard broke Elon Musk's heart is revealed in bombshell book as the tech tycoon was left 'hurt and depressed' by romance
A new book charting in unsparing detail, the car-crash marriage between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard has been teased. And in the upcoming release it has also been revealed how Amber broke Elon Musk's heart a decade ago.
Time of India
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Elon Musk faced 'similar drama' with Amber Heard as Johnny Depp, new book claims
A recently released book has claimed that Tesla CEO Elon Musk faced "similar drama" with Amber Heard as Johnny Depp did. The book named 'Hollywood Vampires: Johnny Depp, Amber Heard, and the Celebrity Exploitation Machine', written by Kelly Loudenberg and Makiko Whole, was released in June. This book has revealed that the world's richest man's relationship with Heard was also marked by turbulence and toxicity. The book, which details the marriage between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, also suggested that Heard "broke Elon Musk's heart" a decade ago. Initially, their romance appeared smooth; however, the book reportedly revealed that Heard and Musk's relationship was plagued by fighting, jealousy, and dramatic accusations. According to the book (as seen by Daily Mail), individuals within Elon Musk's inner circle later made strikingly similar observations about Amber Heard's character as those expressed by people close to Johnny Depp. How was Elon Musk's relationship with Amber Heard: A walkthrough as detailed by the new book As detailed in the book, shortly after a restraining order was granted to Heard against Depp in May 2016, a large plant was delivered to Amber's Los Angeles apartment. The card attached read: "I had a wonderful weekend with you – E." by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like The TV show spiralled out of control. Undo A concierge later testified in court under oath that Elon already had his own key fob for the penthouse garage and had been visiting Amber regularly for over a year—usually late at night, during Depp's absence, the book claims. In June 2016, Heard flew to the Tesla factory in Fremont, California, to surprise Musk on his birthday. On her way, she picked wildflowers, and upon arrival, his security team helped her hide in the back of a Tesla, the book noted. Later on, in July 2016, Amber and Elon were seen together in Miami. Amber was accompanied by her sister, Whitney. The three stayed in poolside villas at the Delano Hotel, and Elon later flew the sisters to Cape Canaveral to attend a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch, the book highlighted. Heard described the experience to biographer Walter Isaacson as "the most interesting date" she'd ever had. Their relationship, though just beginning, started gaining momentum. However, their relationship had its challenges, which were marked by arguments, jealousy, and serious allegations, the book mentioned. Those close to Musk would later share observations about Amber's behaviour that echoed what Depp's associates had said. Soon after Heard returned to Australia to shoot Aquaman, but this time she was accompanied by Musk instead of Depp. As per the book, concerns reportedly grew within Tesla and SpaceX. At that time, Musk had rented Heard a house, and those around him felt he was becoming increasingly distracted, the book alleged. A source claimed Heard would keep him up all night, showing little regard for his professional responsibilities. 'She did more to slow the advancement of electric cars than the CEO of Exxon Mobil,' the source said to the book writers. Musk later referred to the relationship as his most emotionally painful, calling it 'brutal.' Despite his difficulty with emotional expression, he admitted being deeply affected. In a Rolling Stone interview shortly after their breakup, he said, 'I was really in love and it hurt bad,' noting he had struggled to stay composed during the Tesla Model 3 launch just a day earlier. Though they continued seeing each other on and off in 2017, things grew more turbulent. A friend of Heard's recalled her describing Musk as controlling and paranoid, claiming he installed cameras and bugged her car. However, Heard's friend was sceptical and compared the claims to similar ones she had made about Depp, the book noted Their relationship finally ended during a December trip to Rio in 2017, following a confrontation in their hotel. Heard accused Musk of taking her passport and said she feared being harmed, though others present assured her she was safe and free to leave. After their final split, Heard messaged her agent expressing sadness. He replied, reminding her she had repeatedly said she wasn't truly in love with Musk and was just trying to fill a void. Google Pixel 10 Series Launch: Everything Coming on August 20 AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
How Amber Heard broke Elon Musk's heart and left tech tycoon 'hurt and depressed' by romance
A new book recounting the car-crash marriage between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard also charts how the actress broke Elon Musk's heart nearly a decade ago. While their romance started out smoothly, what no one knew until much later was that Amber and Elon's relationship was also turbulent and toxic, plagued by fighting, jealousy and dramatic accusations. Elon's inner circle would go on to state strikingly similar things about Amber's character as Johnny's people, according to the tome Hollywood Vampires by Kelly Loudenberg and Makiko Wholey. Soon after Johnny and Amber's relationship impoloded and a restraining order against Johnny was granted in May 2016, a large plant was delivered to Amber's Los Angeles apartment, with a card reading: 'I had a wonderful weekend with you – E.' According to the sworn testimony of the concierge, Elon already had his own key fob for the penthouse garage and had been visiting Amber regularly for over a year, late at night, when Johnny was away. In late June, Amber surprised Elon for his birthday. She flew to the Tesla factory in Fremont, California. On the way she picked wildflowers, and when she arrived, his security team helped her hide in the back of a Tesla. As Elon approached the car, Amber popped out of the back, clutching a bouquet. Two weeks later, in mid-July, Elon and Amber were spotted together in Miami, Florida. Amber was there with her sister, Whitney. The trio stayed in poolside villas at the Delano Hotel in South Beach, and Elon flew Amber and Whitney up to Cape Canaveral, where a SpaceX launch of Falcon 9 was scheduled to take place. Amber told Elon's biographer Walter Isaacson that it was 'the most interesting date' she'd ever been on. These were the first buds of a relationship that would grow into something serious. What no one knew until much later was that Amber and Elon's relationship was also turbulent and toxic, plagued by fighting, jealousy and dramatic accusations. As she was rebuilding her life and leaning into activism - when she briefly became an icon for the MeToo movement - things were heating up with Elon. Soon she'd be returning to Australia's Gold Coast to film Aquaman, only this time she'd be travelling with Elon instead of Johnny. In Australia, Elon rented Amber a beautiful home. Here, away from the office, his infatuation became problematic for executives at SpaceX and Tesla. For the first time, Elon was distracted from his life's work. 'It would be a Tuesday night and she would keep him up all night. There was a blatant disregard for the fact he had tens of thousands of employees and he had responsibilities,' said a source. 'She did more to slow the advancement of electric cars than the CEO of Exxon Mobil.' Elon himself later described the relationship with Amber as the most agonizing of all his romantic relationships. 'It was brutal,' he said. For a man who has trouble accessing his humanity, Elon found that Amber evoked the most human of emotions: he was lovesick. A few months after the Australia trip, during an interview for Rolling Stone, a flustered Elon excused himself and had a pep talk with his chief of staff, Sam Teller. A few minutes later, he confessed to the reporter that he and Amber had just broken up and he 'was really in love and it hurt bad'. In fact, he'd barely been able to function at the launch of his Tesla Model 3 the night before. 'I've been in severe emotional pain for the last few weeks. Severe. It took every ounce of will to be able to do the Model 3 event and not look like the most depressed guy around. 'For most of that day, I was morbid. And then I had to psych myself up: drink a couple of Red Bulls, hang out with positive people and then tell myself, "I have all these people depending on me. All right, do it!"' This breakup wouldn't be their last - Amber and Elon continued to see each other, on and off, throughout the rest of 2017. A friend of Amber's, who asked us not to use her name, remembered a conversation in which Amber told her Elon was crazy, possessive and jealous, and that he'd placed cameras in her house, bugged her car, and was following her. But Amber's friend was sceptical: 'This is exactly the same s*** we just did with this other guy, Johnny. How is no one seeing this?' On a trip to Rio de Janeiro in December 2017, Amber and Elon had a fight that ended their relationship for good. Amber locked herself in their hotel room and started screaming that Elon had taken her passport and that she was scared she'd be attacked. Hotel security guards and Elon's sister-in-law, who was also on the trip, assured Amber that no one was trying to hurt her, she was safe, her passport was securely in her bag. She could leave whenever she wanted. But Kimbal, Elon's brother, said Amber's ability to shift her own reality was shocking. 'She really is a very good actress, so she will say things that you're like "Wow, maybe she's telling you the truth' but she isn't."' After the split, Amber texted her agent, Christian Carino, who had arranged mediation between her and Johnny the year before: 'Dealing with break-up. I hate when things go public. See I'm so sad.' 'You weren't in love with [Elon],' Christian replied. 'You told me 1,000 times you were just filling space. Why would you be sad if you weren't in love with him to begin with?' Amber asked Christian to give Johnny a letter she wrote expressing her love for him and apologizing for what happened. 'God I miss him,' she said.
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
How Amber Heard broke Elon Musk's heart is revealed in bombshell book as the tech tycoon was left 'hurt and depressed' by romance
A new book charting in unsparing detail, the car-crash marriage between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard has been teased. And in the upcoming release it has also been revealed how Amber broke Elon Musk's heart a decade ago. While their romance started out smoothly, what no one knew until much later was that Amber and Elon's relationship was also turbulent and toxic, plagued by fighting, jealousy and dramatic accusations. Elon's inner circle would go on to state strikingly similar things about Amber's character as Johnny's people. It has been revealed that during the time when Johnny filmed the fifth instalment of the Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise, Dead Men Tell No Tales, some of his closest colleagues and friends saw the pair having lively disagreements. But despite the initial concerning behaviours sparked between the two, on May 22, 2015, Amber addressed Johnny as 'My One and Only' in the couple's shared love journal. She told him that in him she found 'the madness of passion' as well as 'the safety of peace'. Amber would later allege that five more incidents of violence occurred after writing those words. One of those incidents happened during their belated honeymoon trip in July 2015, aboard the luxury Eastern Oriental train through Malaysia. As evidence, Amber produced for the court a handwritten page from her diary in which she wrote that he had choked and hit her. Johnny denied the allegation and presented honeymoon photos showing himself with an injured eye. At the end of the honeymoon, Amber wrote in their love journal: 'What a beautiful, extraordinary, magical, memorable, wonderful, stunning, surprisingly evolving and impulsive adventure. I couldn't have imagined a more gorgeous honeymoon.' Not surprisingly, the honeymoon didn't last. Soon after a restraining order against Johnny was granted in May 2016, a large plant was delivered to Amber's Los Angeles apartment, with a card reading: 'I had a wonderful weekend with you – E.' According to the sworn testimony of the concierge, Elon already had his own key fob for the penthouse garage and had been visiting Amber regularly for over a year, late at night, when Johnny was away. In late June, Amber surprised Elon for his birthday. She flew to the Tesla factory in Fremont, California. On the way she picked wildflowers, and when she arrived, his security team helped her hide in the back of a Tesla. As Elon approached the car, Amber popped out of the back, clutching a bouquet. Two weeks later, in mid-July, Elon and Amber were spotted together in Miami, Florida. Amber was there with her sister, Whitney. The trio stayed in poolside villas at the Delano Hotel in South Beach, and Elon flew Amber and Whitney up to Cape Canaveral, where a SpaceX launch of Falcon 9 was scheduled to take place. Amber told Elon's biographer Walter Isaacson that it was 'the most interesting date' she'd ever been on. These were the first buds of a relationship that would grow into something serious. What no one knew until much later was that Amber and Elon's relationship was also turbulent and toxic, plagued by fighting, jealousy and dramatic accusations. Elon's inner circle would go on to state strikingly similar things about Amber's character as Johnny's people. As she was rebuilding her life and leaning into activism – when she briefly became an icon for the MeToo movement – things were heating up with Elon. Soon she'd be returning to Australia's Gold Coast to film Aquaman, only this time she'd be travelling with Elon instead of Johnny. In Australia, Elon rented Amber a beautiful home. Here, away from the office, his infatuation became problematic for executives at SpaceX and Tesla. For the first time, Elon was distracted from his life's work. 'It would be a Tuesday night and she would keep him up all night. There was a blatant disregard for the fact he had tens of thousands of employees and he had responsibilities,' said a source. 'She did more to slow the advancement of electric cars than the CEO of Exxon Mobil.' Elon himself later described the relationship with Amber as the most agonising of all his romantic relationships. 'It was brutal,' he said. For a man who has trouble accessing his humanity, Elon found that Amber evoked the most human of emotions: he was lovesick. A few months after the Australia trip, during an interview for Rolling Stone, a flustered Elon excused himself and had a pep talk with his chief of staff, Sam Teller. A few minutes later, he confessed to the reporter: he and Amber had just broken up and he 'was really in love and it hurt bad'. In fact, he'd barely been able to function at the launch of his Tesla Model 3 the night before. 'I've been in severe emotional pain for the last few weeks. Severe. It took every ounce of will to be able to do the Model 3 event and not look like the most depressed guy around. 'For most of that day, I was morbid. And then I had to psych myself up: drink a couple of Red Bulls, hang out with positive people and then tell myself, 'I have all these people depending on me. All right, do it!' ' This breakup wouldn't be their last – Amber and Elon continued to see each other, on and off, throughout the rest of 2017. A friend of Amber's who asked us not to use her name remembered a conversation in which Amber told her Elon was crazy, possessive and jealous, and that he'd placed cameras in her house, bugged her car, and was following her. But Amber's friend was sceptical: 'This is exactly the same s*** we just did with this other guy, Johnny. How is no one seeing this?' On a trip to Rio de Janeiro in December 2017, Amber and Elon had a fight that ended their relationship for good. Amber locked herself in their hotel room and started screaming that Elon had taken her passport and that she was scared she'd be attacked. Hotel security guards and Elon's sister-in-law, who was also on the trip, assured Amber that no one was trying to hurt her, she was safe, her passport was securely in her bag. She could leave whenever she wanted. But Kimbal, Elon's brother, said Amber's ability to shift her own reality was shocking. 'She really is a very good actress, so she will say things that you're like 'Wow, maybe she's telling you the truth' but she isn't.' After the split, Amber texted her agent, Christian Carino, who had arranged mediation between her and Johnny the year before: 'Dealing with breakup. I hate when things go public. See I'm so sad.' 'You weren't in love with [Elon],' Christian replied. 'You told me 1,000 times you were just filling space. Why would you be sad if you weren't in love with him to begin with?' Amber asked Christian to give Johnny a letter she wrote expressing her love for him and apologising for what happened. 'God I miss him,' she said. © Kelly Loudenberg and Makiko Wholey, 2025
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
How Amber Heard became a #MeToo poster girl until Johnny Depp turned the tables by convincing a jury his violent ex was the one betraying women
Hollywood Vampires is the sensational new book that chronicles Johnny Depp and Amber Heard 's toxic union. Today, in the final part of our gripping series, we chart the bitter unravelling of their marriage – and how Amber's transformation into a #MeToo icon would set the stage for one of the most explosive celebrity trials of the decade. On Monday May 23, 2016, three days after Johnny Depp's mother died, Amber Heard quietly filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. After just 15 months, their turbulent marriage was at an end. The next day, her lawyer sent to his lawyer what would become known among Johnny's friends as 'the extortion letter'. Amber stated that Johnny had been violent toward her three times. 'Although Amber is afraid of Johnny, she strongly insists that we do everything possible to keep this matter out of the media spotlight,' the letter read, explaining that this was why she had not yet sought a restraining order. It listed Amber's immediate requests: appropriate temporary alimony (eventually requested at $50,000 a month); exclusive use and possession of a black Range Rover owned by Johnny; exclusive use and possession of three of his five downtown LA penthouses where she and several of her friends were living (rent-free); and a contribution to Amber's legal fees in the amount of $100,000, plus $25,000 for 'forensic accounting costs', to be paid by Friday. While the letter was on its way, Amber was frantically trying to reach Johnny, who was in New York, begging him to call her, texting him 'please' over and over again, and 'emergency' and 'I'm dying'. That night, having not made contact, Amber sent a further text. 'We can take as long or quick as we want. And do this or undo this as we see fit. You and I have the control. And love each other.' Today, in the final part of our gripping series, we chart the bitter unravelling of their marriage – and how Amber's transformation into a #MeToo icon would set the stage for one of the most explosive celebrity trials of the decade She ended with: 'I'm sorry if I've hurt you. I have nothing but love for you.' She was suggesting she could 'undo' the legal wheels she'd set in motion. But while she was declaring love for Johnny, Amber was also collecting evidence. On Wednesday, Johnny filed his response, rejecting all of Amber's requests for spousal support. Within hours, countless media outlets, from Page Six to Vanity Fair and the BBC, were breaking the news of the divorce. On May 27, Amber filed for a temporary restraining order. She presented the court with multiple photos documenting injuries to her cheek and eye area from a fight at her apartment which had ended with the police being called. In a sworn declaration she said: 'During the entirety of our relationship, Johnny has been verbally and physically abusive to me… which has included angry, hostile, humiliating and threatening assaults to me whenever I questioned his authority or disagreed with him.' She added that she was scared: 'As Johnny's paranoia, delusions and aggression increased throughout our relationship so has my awareness of his continued substance abuse. 'Because of this, I am extremely afraid of Johnny and for my safety. I am petrified he will return at any moment to the Broadway residence, to which he has full access to despite my repeated pleas to his security team to prevent otherwise and to protect me.' Later that day, TMZ, a celebrity news website, splashed with the headline: 'Amber Heard Claims Domestic Violence, Gets Restraining Order Against Johnny Depp.' Her allegations of domestic violence were now out in the world. A few days later, People magazine hit the newsstands with an explosive cover story featuring exclusive photos of Amber's injuries. 'Inside Their Toxic Marriage,' the headline read. The cover showed a pale and forlorn Amber with discolouration under her eyes and a lesion on her lower lip. The photo was credited to a friend of Amber's and dated from December 2015. Bruce Witkin, who was on tour in Denmark with Johnny and their band, the Hollywood Vampires, at the time, remembered the moment they saw the story. 'We're on the road. You know, he was freaked out. And I'm like, 'What is this?'' Bruce thought it looked suspicious. 'Do I think they both hit each other? Yeah. But do I think it was to the extent that she said? Absolutely not.' Johnny later said he 'felt ill' when the People story dropped. 'I felt sick in the sense there was no truth to it. There was no truth in it whatsoever... Then you notice people looking at you differently. And then you notice calls stop coming from agents and producers.' He'd finish a show and then go to the back of the tour bus: 'I just sat in the back of the bus and cried.' The following week, on June 7, 2016, TMZ published another shocking story – this time about Amber and the girlfriend she had been seeing when she first met Johnny, Tasya van Ree. 'Amber Heard Arrested for Domestic Violence Against Girlfriend,' the headline read. In 2009, the same year she met Johnny, a police officer had seen Amber and Tasya arguing, then Amber had lunged at Tasya's neck as if she was going to choke her. No charges ensued but the case remained on file for two years. It had never before been made public. Despite having got a restraining order against him, Amber kept pleading with Johnny for a meeting. Eventually, against the advice of his friends, he agreed. His bodyguard, Malcolm, believed he was being 'set up'. Bruce Witkin insisted on sitting nearby until the early hours of the morning, ready to intervene if things got too heated. She secretly recorded their conversation on her phone. At one point, she told Johnny she just wanted to touch him. 'After all the s*** you f***ing accused me of? You wanna touch me? You're f***ing nuts,' he said. Amber cried and told Johnny she didn't want things to end badly. She tried to take his sunglasses off to see his eyes. 'Don't take my f***ing glasses off,' he spat. 'You will not see my eyes again.' There were revealing moments in the recording that demonstrated a more honest side to their relationship: that they emotionally tortured one another, and that Amber had hit Johnny more than once. The following week, on June 7, 2016, TMZ published another shocking story – this time about Amber and the girlfriend she had been seeing when she first met Johnny, Tasya van Ree Johnny reminded her why he left her on her 30th birthday, because she 'haymakered him' and 'came around the bed and was punching' him. Later, Amber would say she didn't deny this in the moment because she was 'not having that conversation with Johnny' and just wanted to get out of the room. 'Booze does not make me crazy. Drugs do not make me crazy,' Johnny told her. 'Here's the deal. You make me crazy.' At one point, he pulled out a knife and threatened to cut himself. It was the turquoise-handled knife that Amber had given him as a birthday gift. 'Want to cut me somewhere?' Johnny asked Amber. 'Please do not cut yourself,' she pleaded, begging him to 'put the knife down.' Enough dirty linen had been aired: three months later, after much wrangling, the warring parties reached agreement. The dissolution of their brief marriage would result in three phonebook-sized volumes of family law records. Amber was awarded $7million (£5.2million). She said she would donate the entire amount to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Children's Hospital Los Angeles, a promise she did not fulfil. Johnny retained all of his properties. Amber would keep their dogs, Pistol and Boo, and the horse, Arrow, that he had given her. Neither would receive spousal support. A confidentiality agreement barred them from ever discussing the details of the divorce publicly. They released a joint statement: 'Our relationship was intensely passionate and at times volatile, but always bound by love. 'Neither party has made false accusations for financial gain. There was never any intent of physical or emotional harm.' And that should have been that. But the image of Amber's bruised face remained in the public memory. When #MeToo took off, she became an icon for women sickened by the way actresses had been mistreated in Hollywood. Whether you believed #MeToo was a new dawn for feminism or a new satanic panic, Amber was poised for the moment. Her public persona transformed from silenced, persecuted victim to outspoken survivor and advocate. As a Hollywood activist, Amber's celebrity grew to new heights. In May 2018, she was selected to be a global ambassador at L'Oreal, a role that A-list actresses Dame Helen Mirren, Julianne Moore, and Eva Longoria also held, and which involved, in Amber's words, being 'a spokesperson for this dynamic, world-loved beauty brand that's been telling women 'we're worth it' since before I was born.' The ACLU (slated to receive $3.5million – £2.6million – of her divorce settlement) appointed her an ambassador of women's rights, with a focus on gender-based violence. Amber was a star guest at the 2018 'Incredible Women' gala in Hollywood, which celebrated the one-year anniversary of #MeToo and Time's Up. She took to the stage in a red velvet tuxedo jacket and black cigarette pants to read aloud an open letter she had written entitled 'To My Silent Sisters'. The letter didn't name Johnny, but it discussed the stigma of coming forward as a victim of domestic violence in Hollywood. 'No matter how terrible or terrifying surviving trauma may be,' she read, 'the truth is, it can pale in comparison to what happens after'. In private, Amber had been vocal about the fact that she believed her career and reputation had suffered because she went public as the abuse victim of an ultra-famous and beloved star. Though the headwinds of #MeToo were against him, Johnny wasn't exiled – yet. His reputation had taken a hit, but JK Rowling was still in his corner (he was playing Gellert Grindelwald in the Harry Potter spin-off, Fantastic Beasts), he was still working on new films and his nearly $22.5million (£16.7million) pay cheque for Pirates Of The Caribbean 6 was on the horizon. Then, on April 27, 2018, the tabloid newspaper The Sun printed a story with the headline 'Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be 'genuinely happy' casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts Film?' The article challenged JK Rowling on her decision to keep Johnny in the cast, and The Sun ran the same photo of Amber's bruised face that had appeared on TMZ. Something shifted for Johnny with this article. Seeing his name in print, attached to the word 'wife beater', in a major news publication was a bridge too far. He sued for libel. In the months that followed, Johnny was photographed looking unrecognisable. Headlines described him as 'gaunt', 'pale' and 'shockingly thin'. He took to wearing a black fitted cap that said 'FUGLY' in large block letters across the front. In November 2018, the ACLU approached Amber to write an article asserting that survivors of gender-based violence had been made less safe under the first Trump administration. It would debut Amber's new role with the ACLU and conveniently coincide with the US release of her new movie, Aquaman. The film, which had already been released in the UK, was shaping up to be a huge hit at the box office. The ACLU suggested the piece should 'interweave her own personal story, saying how painful it is as a survivor to witness these setbacks' and helped by ghost-writing it for her. The piece was published by the Washington Post on December 18, 2018 under the headline: 'Amber Heard: I spoke up against sexual violence and faced our culture's wrath. That has to change.' Again, she did not mention Johnny's name, but the media was quick to fill in the blanks. 'Amber claims accusing Johnny Depp of domestic abuse lost her jobs,' ran a headline in Elle magazine, while People magazine ran with: 'Amber Heard says she was dropped from jobs after making Johnny Depp allegations.' The blowback came swiftly for Johnny. Two days after the article was published, he was dropped from the forthcoming instalment of Pirates Of The Caribbean. In January 2019, Amber graced the cover of Glamour's final print issue, wearing a low-cut, baby-blue satin suit and leaning against a shiny red convertible. The headline: 'Amber Heard: Silence Is Complacency.' Two months later, she was served with papers. Johnny was suing her for $50million (£37million) for defaming him in the Washington Post. Johnny's lawsuit categorically denied that he ever abused Amber, claiming that her allegations were part of an 'elaborate hoax to generate positive publicity.' He stated that her story had been 'refuted' by two police officers (who had seen no injury to Amber the night they were called to her apartment), multiple third-party witnesses, and 87 surveillance camera tapes. But the lawsuit was also a plot twist in the wider #MeToo movement: Johnny was turning the tables on his accuser. 'Ms Heard is not a victim of domestic abuse; she is a perpetrator,' he claimed. 'She hit, punched and kicked me. She also repeatedly and frequently threw objects into my body and head, including heavy bottles, soda cans, burning candles, television remote controls and paint thinner cans, which severely injured me.' He added that she committed these acts 'while mixing prescription amphetamines and non-prescription drugs with alcohol.' Here was a powerful male celebrity, who had been publicly accused of domestic violence, not only asserting that the allegations were false, but claiming he was the true victim, and that his much younger wife, a #MeToo advocate, was a systematic abuser. 'I have denied Ms Heard's allegations vehemently since she first made them in May 2016 when she walked into court to obtain a temporary restraining order with painted-on bruises that witnesses and surveillance footage show she did not possess each day of the preceding week,' his filing continued. 'I will continue to deny them for the rest of my life.' The following month, Amber hit back: she was now claiming 13 incidents of domestic violence, described in painstaking detail over 14 pages. Her version of what happened behind closed doors was distressing and graphic. Amber described bloody gashes, being dragged through broken glass, bruised and swollen noses, black eyes, hair pulled from her scalp, being held against the wall by her neck, being suffocated on their marital bed, clothes torn clean off her body, repeated punches to her head, and being dragged up sets of stairs by her hair. Johnny's lawyer called the document listing the incidents a 'public firebomb'. Unless a settlement could be reached, Amber and Johnny would be headed to court in Virginia. But first, they would square off at the Royal Courts of Justice in London for Johnny's defamation case against The Sun. Amber had a trove of pictures, videos, audio recordings and witnesses to support her claims of abuse before the judge. But Johnny's lawyers had unearthed new evidence of their own. In January 2020, two months before the trial was due to begin, Johnny's old friend and colleague Stephen Deuters was on his work computer when a file popped up labelled 'AVM' (for 'Amber voice messages'). He opened the folder and scrolled through the audio recordings, all more than five years old, and totalling more than six hours. 'Holy s***!' he said. He knew he'd found gold. Hours of recordings (consensually recorded on Amber's phone) capturing their bitter fights were now in Team Depp's possession. A Daily Mail headline dropped: 'Exclusive: 'I can't promise I won't get physical again, I get so mad I lose it.' Listen as Amber Heard admits to 'hitting' ex-husband Johnny Depp and pelting him with pots, pans and vases in explosive audio confession.' #JusticeForJohnnyDepp started trending across Twitter and TikTok, and would continue to grow through the forthcoming trials. Amber's Instagram comments, meanwhile, were mobbed by angry Johnny supporters. The internet was starting to take Johnny's side, with Amber becoming the poster child of #MeToo's overreach. More lurid evidence about the couple's life together surfaced in court – including the accusation that Amber had once defecated in their bed (she insisted it was their dogs) – but Johnny lost his case in London. His lawyers accidentally disclosed some appalling texts he had sent to actor Paul Bettany ('Let's burn Amber', 'Let's drown her before we burn her!!! I will f*** her burnt corpse afterward to make sure she is dead'). The judge found Johnny guilty of 12 of the 14 violent incidents to which Amber had testified: therefore The Sun had not libelled him when it called him a 'wife beater'. In November 2020, Johnny began his pre-trial deposition for Depp vs Heard in front of Amber's lawyer, who asked him if he would have felt vindicated if the UK ruling had come down in his favour. Johnny replied that it didn't matter. He lost when Amber made the accusations, the damage was done. 'My continuing to demand the truth is not for me to win,' he explained, 'but it's for the people out there, the women, the victims of this type of thing who are not believed, who are being lied to by your client pretending to be some new messiah of the women's movement. She is a fraud.' The trial would not get under way for a year: originally scheduled to begin in May 2021, it was delayed due to the Covid pandemic. While he and Amber waited in limbo, they both went through big life changes. In April 2021, Amber's daughter Oonagh was born by surrogate. She posted branded content for L'Oreal on Instagram, along with videos chronicling her intensive diet and exercise regimen for Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom, which she'd film over four months in the latter half of 2021. Johnny, meanwhile, unveiled a new vocation as an artist. In January 2022, his artwork entered the world in the form of a digital collection of Warhol-like portraits, entitled Never Fear Truth. As anticipation mounted ahead of the trial, legal experts opined that the odds weren't in Johnny's favour. This time around, he was suing Amber directly, not a tabloid. In order to prove that Amber knowingly made defamatory statements about him, he had to prove a negative – that he never committed domestic violence. It would be a much tougher legal challenge than in the UK, where defamation law should have favoured his case, and yet he'd still lost. Celebrity trials have always captured the public's imagination, playing out like soap operas in the media – and this one was no different, being fully televised. Scores of 'Deppheads' turned the suburban Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse into a freaky festival: there was a pair of stinky alpacas wearing rainbow pom-pom necklaces and countless Jack Sparrow impersonators. Someone even managed to get a truck converted to look like a pirate ship into the courthouse grounds. The sheriff's office tracked the IDs of every spectator who waited in line to get a wristband for entry to the courtroom; they logged driving licences from 41 different states and passports from 15 different countries. During the trial, Johnny gained 9.56million new followers on Instagram, 100 times more than Amber, who gained 91,511. By now, 13 years had passed since Johnny and Amber had met, when she was 23 and he 46, and five years since #MeToo had sparked a global reckoning. But the world had changed since the zealous, hardline early days of the #MeToo movement. The refrains of 'Believe Women' were no longer at a fever pitch. Now almost everyone knew someone who'd been cancelled or de-platformed. To some, distinctions between inappropriate comments, harassment and assault no longer seemed clear or even relevant. To others, frustrations with 'cancel culture', the erosion of due process and #MeToo's perceived excesses simmered. People seemed more willing to acknowledge the grey areas: a relationship simply not working out isn't the same as an abusive one. This time Johnny won his case. The jury found unanimously that he had proved defamation and that Amber had defamed him with 'actual malice'. They awarded him $10million (£7.5million) in compensatory damages and $5million (£3.7million) in punitive damages. The punitive damages would later be reduced to $350,000 (£261,000) due to a limit imposed by Virginia state law. Ruling on Amber's defamation counterclaim for $100million (£74.5million), the jury found just one statement, made by Adam Waldman, Johnny's lawyer, to be defamatory and false and made with 'actual malice'. She was awarded $2million (£1.49million) in compensatory damages from Johnny but no punitive damages. Before, during and after the trial, it was clear that Depp vs Heard had become a vehicle for myriad divergent political and personal causes. The world wanted a black-and-white story: villain vs hero, abuser vs victim, liar vs truth-teller. It had never been that simple. © Kelly Loudenberg and Makiko Wholey, 2025
