The A-lister of Hollywood, Johnny Depp on Monday lost his libel court case with the British tabloid The Sun which had branded him as the "wife-beater". This happened after a London High Court judge ruled that allegation made by The Sun's were substantially true.
Judge Andrew Nicol said that he accepted the claims made by Johnny Depp's former wife, actress Amber Heard that he would get violent and physically assaulted her on several occasions when the two were in a relationship. This ruling could severely damage, Johnny Depp's reputation as an actor and a star.
"I have found that the great majority of alleged assaults of Ms Heard by Mr Depp have been proved to the civil standard. It follows that this claim is dismissed," Judge Nicol stated while accepting that 12 of the 14 assaults had taken place as mentioned in a report by Reuters.
The Johnny Depp-Amber Heard controversy
Johnny Depp and Amber Heard had worked together in The Rum Diary. Depp rose to fame with a series of successful films such as Pirates Of Caribbean, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Edward Scissorhands, Alice In Wonderland to name a few. Both Amber and Johnny were taped by the Australian authorities when they illegally brought their dogs to the country. In the video, Johnny looked particularly awkward, while Amber tried to ease the tension.
Almost six months later from that awkward video moment Johnny Depp and Amber Heard started being on the news again and this time the latter claimed that Depp had been abusive as a partner. Almost immediately, Johnny Depp's daughter, Lily-Rose Depp and former partner Vanessa Paradis defended Depp from their respective social media handles.
Depp later sued The Sun, and one of the journalists hailing from the paper, Dan Wootton, over a 2018 article which stated he had been violent towards Heard. The newspaper had also questioned JK Rowling, Warner Bros and team for casting him in an important role in the "Fantastic Beasts" movie franchise. The author had later clarified that she was genuinely happy having Johnny Depp in her team.
This was around the time when MeToo moment in Hollywood was at its peak. Director David Yates, who had been associated with the Harry Potter franchise for the longest time had said that Depp's situation appears to be different from that of Kevin Spacey and Harvey Weinstein, who were accused on sexually harassing many actors and actresses in Hollywood.
'With Johnny, it seems to me there was one person who took a pop at him and claimed something. I can only tell you about the man I see every day: He's full of decency and kindness, and that's all I see. Whatever accusation was out there doesn't tally with the kind of human being I've been working with," Yates had said.
For nearly three weeks, the London High Court heard both sides of the story, Depp and Heard where both accuse the other of being violent. A report in Reuters stated that Amber Heard had said that Depp would turn into a monster after consuming drugs and alcohol and sometimes threatened to kill her. Depp had told the court that he was never violent towards her and her claims were false. He had also stated that he had lost the tip of a finger after Heard lost her temper and threw a bottle of vodka at him in Australia after a ferocious fight.
Johnny Depp filed a $50 million defamation case against Amber Heard
Earlier this year in February, Daily Mail had released an audio where Amber was heard telling Depp, "You can please tell people that it was a fair fight, and see what the jury and judge thinks. Tell the world, Johnny, tell them, Johnny Depp, I Johnny Depp, a man, I'm a victim too of domestic violence. And I, you know, it's a fair fight. And see how many people believe or side with you," Johnny Depp then breaks in the conversation, saying, "It doesn't matter; fair fight my ass."
"Because you're big, you're bigger and you're stronger. And so when I say that I thought that you could kill me, that doesn't mean you counter with you also lost your own finger. 'I, I'm not trying to attack you here, I'm just trying to point out the fact of why I said call 911. Because I was, you had your hands on me after you threw a phone at my face. 'And it's got crazy in the past, and I truly thought I need to stop this madness before I get hurt," Heard continued.
The judge, however, rejected Depp's version of Heard where he called her a gold-digger and his allegation that her claims were a hoax. Johnny Depp has also filed a 50 million dollar defamation case against Amber Heard in a Virginia court where she wrote an opinion piece in The Washington Post.
Meanwhile, a few fans are quite upset with the ruling of the UK Court.
