Aquaman star Amber Heard thanked her fans and supporters ahead of facing her ex-husband, Johnny Depp, in court for a defamation trial.
In a statement shared on Instagram, Heard announced that she would be going “offline” ahead of the trial. “As you may know, I’ll be in Virginia where I face my ex-husband Johnny Depp in court,” she wrote. “Johnny is suing me for an op-ed I wrote in the Washington Post, in which I recounted my experience of violence and domestic abuse. I never named him, rather I wrote about the price women pay for speaking out against men in power.” Heard also stated that she hopes both her and Depp can “move on” when the trial has concluded.
“I have always maintained a love for Johnny and it brings me great pain to have to live out the details of our past life together in front of the world,” Heard continued. “At this time, I recognize the ongoing support I’ve been fortunate to receive throughout these years, and in these coming weeks I will be leaning on it more than ever.”
In December 2018, Heard wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post wherein she recounted her experiences with domestic abuse. Depp filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against Heard in March 2019 claiming that she lied in her piece; Heard filed a $100 million countersuit against Depp for defamation as well.
In November 2020, Depp was asked by Warner Bros. to step down from his role as Gellert Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore following his messy, public divorce from Heard. This led to a long legal battle between the actor and The Sun, who sued the British tabloid for libel after a headline referred to him as a “wife-beater,” a fight he would inevitably lose. Depp claimed that he was being blacklisted by Hollywood as a result, and the actor issued a statement taking a stand against “cancel culture” and implored his fans to do the same.
Heard is set to reprise her role as Mera in the upcoming DC Extended Universe sequel, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Despite a fan petition calling to remove Heard from the film following her divorce from Depp, it has clearly had little to no impact on the Aquaman sequel, which was confirmed by producer Peter Safran.
“I don’t think we’re ever going to react to, honestly, pure fan pressure. You gotta do what’s best for the movie. We felt that if it’s James Wan and Jason Momoa, it should be Amber Heard. That’s really what it was,” Safran said in a previous interview. “One is not unaware of what is going on in the Twitter verse, but that doesn’t mean you have to react to it or take it as gospel or accede to their wishes.”
Source: Instagram