Judge asked to dismiss Depp lawsuit
FAIRFAX, Virginia — Actress Amber Heard has asked a judge to dismiss a $50-million US defamation lawsuit her ex-husband Johnny Depp filed over an article about domestic violence she wrote in the Washington Post and provided new evidence toward her allegations of abuse.
In the motion filed in the Circuit Court of Fairfax, Virginia, on Thursday, Heard describes in new detail more than a dozen instances before and during their marriage when she says Depp slapped her, shoved her, pulled her hair or choked her.
Depp has denied any such abuse. The allegations have appeared in the couple’s divorce and other legal fights.
Heard includes exhibits such as photos of her with bruises on her face and scars on her arms, images of damage she says Depp did to their home, and newly revealed screenshots of text messages describing the incidents at the time, and excerpts of her divorce deposition describing domestic abuse.
“Johnny Depp physically and verbally abused Amber Heard,” her lawyer, Eric George, said in a statement. “Since their divorce, Mr. Depp has continued to publically harass Ms. Heard, and attempted to gaslight the world by denying his abuse. It is long past time for Mr. Depp’s despicable conduct to end.”
Depp’s lawyer, Adam Waldman, said Friday, as the original lawsuit did, that Heard’s allegations are false and it was, in fact, she who was abusive to him. “The only way for Amber Heard to sustain her hoax is with more lies,” Waldman wrote in an email.
Waldman said he and Depp have collected dozens of videos, photographs and eyewitness to back up assertions she was abusive toward Depp and others, including punching him and throwing a can of paint thinner at his head.
The Post piece by Heard, published in December, does not mention Depp by name nor does it describe any incidents, but it discusses the societal plight of those who speak up about domestic abuse.
“I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath,” the 32-year-old actress wrote, adding that she felt as though she was “on trial in the court of public opinion.”