Johnny & Amber’s race to the bottom
AS the world watches in horror at the ongoing death and destruction in Ukraine, there is another battlefield on which war is raging – the court case between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard.
For, when looking at a fight of mutually assured destruction, it comes no more futile than Depp vs Heard.
After a stormy short-lived marriage, the former couple has become embroiled in years of acrimony and legal drama that have spanned three continents.
Now, in the latest unedifying chapter in their domestic dispute, the pair’s life together is hardly unravelling in a Fairfax County courthouse – it’s exploding.
Depp, 58, is suing his ex-wife for more than €45million, saying her domestic abuse claims against him have ruined his career and reputation. The actress, 35, has filed a countersuit against the actor, seeking almost €93million in damages and saying his legal team falsely accused her of fabricating claims against him.
Depp’s defamation case against his ex-wife Heard has become like the War of the Roses movie but on steroids – although with claims of class A drugs in this pair’s case.
The accusations between them are like nothing heard before.
The interactions between them are on a whole different level.
The words claimed in court to have been spoken are some of the vilest comments ever played out in a courtroom.
Bizarrely, the pair would even make recordings of each other in secret. Who does that?
They include, at one point, Depp telling a friend he wished his wife was found dead in the boot of a Honda Civic and that he would have sex with her decomposing body.
Meanwhile, the Pirates of the Caribbean star has claimed that Heard flew into fits of violence, once allegedly slicing off the top of his finger after throwing a vodka bottle at him.
He also alleged she used nail polish to pretend he broke her nose while repeatedly leaving him with cuts and bruises.
Heard is heard in one recording admitting she hit Depp, and there were photos offered to support his claims that she was physically abusive.
Over four days of testimony on the stand which ended this week, he delivered his version of their short life together in a soft and often halting voice, as his ex-wife looked on with a stony demeanour.
Depp depicted himself as a confused, melancholy, peaceful soul who somehow stumbled into global fame and ungodly fortune, bringing with it untold demons of drink and drugs.
Even the couples’ therapist, Laurel Anderson, has described in the court the couple’s dynamic as “mutual abuse”.
How humiliating to have your therapist testify to the world what awful spouses you were?
When Heard takes the stand, her version of events will undoubtedly differ wildly from Depp’s.