Shortly after news got around that Johnny Depp won the case against Amber Heard, she released a statement on her social media accounts on Twitter that reads:
“The disappointment I feel today is beyond words. I’m heartbroken that the mountain of evidence still was not enough to stand up to the disproportionate power, influence, and sway of my ex-husband”
“I’m even more disappointed with what this verdict means for other women. It is a setback. It sets back the clock to a time when a woman who spoke up and spoke out could be publicly shamed and humiliated. It sets back to the idea that violence against women is to be taken seriously” she adds. She further writes: “I believe Johnny’s (Depp) attorneys succeeded in getting the jury to overlook the key issue of freedom of speech and ignore evidence that was so conclusive that we (Amber and her attorneys) won in the UK”
“I am sad I lost this case. But I am sadder still that I seem to have lost a right I thought I had as an American – to speak freely and openly” she concludes.
However, her statement was received with mixed reviews. Some Twitter users sympathized with her while a majority touted her as playing a victim, a liar, and a narcissist. Amber Heard and Johnny Depp’s tumultuous relationship began in 2012 after they both met in 2009 at the filming of the movie: ‘The Rum Diary’, after which they got engaged in 2014 and wedded in a private ceremony in Australia in 2015.
Trouble began in paradise in May 2016, when Amber Heard filed for a divorce and was granted a temporary restraining order against Johnny Depp after claiming that he (Depp) threw a phone at her leaving her with wounds. The divorce was finalized in 2017 and in 2018, Amber wrote an op-ed: ‘I have become a public figure who will represent domestic abuse, and I feel the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out. In 2019, she sued Johnny for defamation and in 2020, audio of Amber Heard allegedly saying that she hit Johnny Depp came out. Finally, in 2021, Amber Heard countersued Johnny Depp for 100 million dollars after which in April 2022, the defamation trial began.
