Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation case: Key events

CHENNAI: Finally, the verdict of the Johnny Depp – Amber Heard case came in favour of the Pirates of the Caribbean star and the six-week-long trial consisted of startling moments as both actors made explosive revelations about their relationship.

The verdict of the case has left the netizens discussing the case online of how it started and what leads to Depp’s victory. Let’s take a look at the key events of the case and how they unfolded over the past few months.

* 2009: Johnny Depp and Amber Heard met for the first time on the sets of “The Rum Diary”

* 2011-2012: Depp and Heard officially separated from their partners, namely Vanessa Paradis and Tasya van ree respectively.

* 2014: Depp confirmed in an interview that the couple had headed to the engagement.

* 2015: The year saw the couple getting married at a private ceremony in Los Angeles and a grand private party on Depp’s private island in the Bahamas.

* 2016: The marriage turned into a sad chapter of their life as Heard was seen with a purple bruise mark, filing a restraining order against Depp. She even alleged that Deep threw a phone in her face.

* 2017: The marriage was officially ended as the divorce was made legalised and final.

* 2018: Amber Heard wrote an opinion editorial in a tabloid of Washington Post on how abusers were saved by the institutions, claiming that she speaks on behalf of the oppressed ones who were abused.

* 2019: Depp sued a USD 50 million defamation lawsuit against Heard, claiming that her op-ed cost him the role of the Pirates of the Caribbean. Heard, in turn, detailed several events of her undergoing physical and verbal abuse by Depp.

* July 2020: The actor filed a lawsuit against the publisher and the executive editor of Sun Magazine from News Group Newspapers for publishing an article in 2018 labelling Depp as a “wife-beater”. Winona Ryder and Vanessa Paradis both gave statements in favour of Depp. The trial went on for three weeks where he alleged that Heard had affairs when she was still married, which was denied by the actress.

* November 2020: The court ruled against Depp and Sun Magazine was justified in calling him a “wife-beater”. The actor was then asked to leave his role as Grindelwald from the Fantastic Beasts franchise.

* March 2021: Depp’s appeal to contest the High Court’s ruling by the Court of Appeals was denied, for the second time.

* April 2022: After a long delay due to the pandemic, Depp and Heard’s USD 100 million lawsuit for defamation started on April 11 in Fairfax, Virginia. Depp acknowledged that he and Heard had an argument in their relationship and said, “Never did I reach the point of striking Ms Heard in any way nor have I ever struck any woman in my life."

He even testified about his experiences growing up with his abusive mother.

* June 2, 2022: A Virginia jury on Wednesday ruled that actor Amber Heard indeed defamed ex-husband Johnny Depp in a widely watched six-week trial. The jury also ruled in favour of Heard in some aspects of her counter-suit against Depp. The jury awarded Depp USD 15 million in damages from Heard. The panel awarded Heard USD 2 million in damages.

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