Ten moments that defined the Depp-Heard trial
Netflix is to re-examine the impact of the high-profile, televised defamation case between actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard in a new docu-series released overnight on Tuesday.
For six weeks in 2022, the court in the US state of Virginia heard the tawdry details of Depp and Heard’s volatile relationship, and its ultimate, unhappy end.
Depp sued his ex-wife for defamation over an opinion article she wrote for the Washington Post, alleging she was a domestic abuse victim, though it did not mention him by name. Heard counter-sued.
Jurors awarded Depp – who denied abusing Heard – $15m (£12m) in compensatory and punitive damages.
Heard won one of three counter-claims against Mr Depp and was awarded $2m in compensatory damages.
But the case, dubbed the first ‘trial by TikTok’, became almost as infamous for the conversations it sparked across social media as the legal proceedings themselves.
As the series airs, we look back at 10 key moments from court, which helped define this closely watched stand-off.
This story contains descriptions of violence readers may find upsetting.
‘Mutual abuse’
To some observers, the relationship between Heard and Depp could be summed up in these two words: mutual abuse.
This was the description used by clinical psychologist Laurel Anderson, Heard and Depp’s former marriage counsellor.
Called to the stand by Depp’s team, Dr Anderson described a volatile relationship, with both parties threatening to walk out of sessions amid arguments. But in Dr Anderson’s view, Heard was often the instigator of these fights.
Depp had been “well controlled” for decades before meeting Heard, Dr Anderson said, and did not engage in violence with past partners. “With Ms Heard, he was triggered. They engaged in what I saw as mutual abuse,” she told the jury.
On more than one occasion Heard initiated violent interactions in an effort to prevent Depp from leaving, she said.
“It was a point of pride to her, if she felt disrespected, to initiate a fight,” the court heard.
‘Burn Amber’
Over four days of testimony, Depp was pressed on a number of his text messages and emails featuring graphic insults of his ex-wife.
In one instance, he was asked about a 2013 text exchange with British actor Paul Bettany.
“Let’s burn her,” Depp had written, referring to Heard. “Let’s drown her before we burn her”. He then made a further obscene suggestion “to make sure she is dead”.
The actor told jurors he was “ashamed” of the messages, and that they were an attempt at humour based on a Monty Python sketch.
“This is a film we’d all watch when we were 10 – it’s just irreverent and abstract humour,” he said.
Personality disorders or post traumatic stress?
Called to the stand by Depp’s team, forensic psychologist Dr Shannon Curry told jurors she believed Heard suffered from twin diagnoses: borderline personality disorder and histrionic personality disorder.
Dr Curry said she had reached her conclusion after spending about 12 hours with Heard in December 2021, conducting mental health tests and reviewing her medical records.
Borderline personality is a disease of instability, Dr Curry said, marked by “a lot of anger, cruelty toward people less powerful and attention seeking”.
The behaviours are “driven by an underlying fear of abandonment”, she said, following audio shared in court of Heard begging Depp not to leave her.
But Dr Curry’s diagnoses were rejected by psychologist Dr Dawn Hughes, who was called by Heard’s team. Instead, Dr Hughes diagnosed Heard with post-traumatic stress disorder, caused by “intimate partner violence by Mr Depp”.