Amber Heard leaves the courthouse after the verdict on her defamation case with ex-husband Johnny Depp. Photo / Getty Images
Amber Heard leaves the courthouse after the verdict on her defamation case with ex-husband Johnny Depp. Photo / Getty Images
Centred around two stars with more money than sense, broadcast across the globe, and pulled apart by some of the most toxic corners of the internet, this was a trial that exposed celebrity culture – and those who consume it – at its very worst.
Johnny Depp, 58, brought the defamation trial against 35-year-old Amber Heard (to whom he was married between 2015 and 2017) following an op-ed in the Washington Post in which she described herself as a victim of domestic violence (but did not name Depp explicitly). Heard had countersued.
Over the course of the past six weeks, the court has heard disturbing accounts from both parties of emotional and physical abuse, while the couple has had some of their most private and humiliating moments aired out in public for all to hear.
On Wednesday the jury at Fairfax County Circuit Court Virginia ruled that Amber Heard had defamed ex-husband Johnny Depp. The jury also ruled in favour of Heard in some aspects of her counter-suit against Depp.
We look back at the most shocking moments from the trial.
The small matter of faeces in the bedroom
Depp was warned not to return to the LA home he shared with Heard after Coachella in 2016 because of a "discovery" in his bedroom. His security sent him a photograph of the couple's bed – and his side was covered in human faeces. Depp testified: "On my side of the bed was human faecal matter. I laughed. It was so outside, it was so bizarre and so grotesque that I could only laugh."
He has accused Heard or one of her friends of defecating in the bed; she denied it, and has blamed the matter on her teacup Yorkies. To that claim, Depp said: "I lived with those dogs for many years. That did not come from a dog. It just didn't."
Heard accused of withholding divorce money promised to charity
Following the couple's divorce in 2016, Heard pledged to give the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) $3.5 million of her divorce settlement. However, Terence Dougherty, the CEO of the charity, testified the actress had only donated $1.3 million so far: $350,000 personally, $100,000 through Depp, $500,000 through a donor-advised fund, and $350,000 through a different donor-advised fund.
"Ms Heard spoke with such clarity and expertise on issues of gender-based violence, that [the ACLU] decided she would be an appropriate person to ask to become an ACLU ambassador," he said.
Johnny Depp has won a $23m payout in the case. Photo / Getty Images
"Let's burn Amber!!!"
At one point in the trial, evidence revealed texts between Depp and actor Paul Bettany in which the pair joked about killing Heard. In the messages, sent in June 2013, Depp said: "Let's burn Amber!!!".
Bettany replied: "I'm not sure we should burn Amber. She is delightful company and pleasing on the eye. We could of course do the English course of action and perform a drowning test. Thoughts? You have a swimming pool."
Depp then said: "Let's drown her before we burn her!!! I will f*** her burnt corpse afterwards to make sure she is dead."
Bettany finished: "My thoughts entirely! Let's be CERTAIN before we pronounce her a witch."
Heard admits to hitting Depp
In one standout moment, a recording was played to the court in which Heard admitted to hitting her former husband.
During an argument, Heard could be heard saying: "I didn't punch you by the way… I'm sorry that I didn't hit you across the face in a proper slap.
"I was hitting you, I was not punching you. You're not punched," she added, before telling Depp to "grow up", calling him a "baby".
A smashed vodka bottle and a severed finger
Depp told the court that Heard once threw a large bottle of vodka at him that smashed on impact and severed his middle finger. He said Heard reacted violently after being asked to sign a postnuptial agreement, and threw the bottle across the room.
"What I felt was heat. I felt heat and I felt as if something was dripping down my hand," Depp said. "I looked down and realised the tip of my finger had been severed. I was looking directly at my bones sticking out."
Following the altercation, the actor said he suffered a nervous breakdown, and used his bloody finger and paint to scrawl messages on the walls. Depp said the messages were intended as "reminders" – they included the words "Billy Bob and Easy Amber" scribbled on a mirror, after Heard filmed London Fields with Billy Bob Thornton, and an alleged penis, although Depp said he could not remember painting the latter.
Axed by Pirates of the Caribbean
During his testimony, Depp told the court that being dropped from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise felt like "hurt, blinding hurt".
"It was like somebody hit me in the back of the head with a 2x4," he said.
"Captain Jack Sparrow was a character I built from the ground up and was something that I, of course, put a lot of [myself] into the character and also having worked on these films with these people and added much of myself, much of my own re-writing of the dialogue and scenes and jokes.
"I didn't quite understand how, after that long relationship and quite a successful relationship certainly for Disney, that suddenly I was guilty until proven innocent."
Heard speaks of the first time Depp allegedly hit her
Heard claimed that the first time she was hit by Depp was when she asked about a tattoo of his, reading "Wino", referencing his ex Winona Ryder.
"I will never forget it. It changed my life," Heard told the court. She said Depp was inebriated when the incident occurred.
The accusation was one of many claims of repeated abuse.
Depp detailed his childhood abuse by his mother
Physical abuse during his childhood was a "constant" at the hands of his mother, Depp said, as he detailed occasions when she would throw ashtrays or high heels at him, or hit him with a telephone. He said his mother, Betty Sue Palmer, would act in a "violent" and "cruel" way towards him, and said he was still learning how to process the trauma.
"The verbal abuse, the psychological abuse, was almost worse than the beatings. The beatings were just physical pain. The physical pain you learn to deal with. You learn to accept it ... But the psychological and emotional abuse, that's what kind of tore us [Depp has three siblings] up".
Kate Moss testifies
Kate Moss came to the defence of Depp, testifying that he had never pushed her down the stairs.
The British supermodel was called to give evidence after Heard made reference to the alleged incident in her testimony.
She appeared for just three minutes, but during that time firmly denied the allegation of violence, in what was claimed as a victory for the Depp team.
"I am a human being"
Speaking on the final day of the trial, Heard told the courtroom that she felt humiliated and faced death threats on a daily basis. Heard revealed she received "hundreds of death threats daily" and "thousands since this trial started". The Aquaman actress' daughter, who is 1, was conceived via surrogate.
"People want to kill me, and they tell me so every day. People want to kill my baby in the microwave, and they tell me that," Heard said.
"Perhaps it's easy to forget, but I am a human being.
"I know how many people will come out and say whatever for him.
"That's his power. That's why I wrote the op-ed. I was speaking to that phenomenon."
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