Editorial: Depp v Heard trial brings out the worst in celebrity narcissism

Amber Heard, left, and Johnny Depp in the courtroom at the Fairfax County Circuit Court in Virginia. Photo / Jim Lo Scalzo, Pool via AP

EDITORIAL

The defamation case brought by actor Johnny Depp against his former girlfriend Amber Heard will resume this week, inevitably with more sordid allegations and tearful scenes.

Heard is due to continue giving testimony late Monday night NZ time. She has already outlined terrible details about her troubled relationship with Depp and recounted alleged physical fights. The Virginian courtroom has heard a harrowing account of an alleged sexual assault during a brutal and bloody altercation in Australia in 2015.

It is speculated that Depp will also be called back to the witness stand as part of Heard's case. The jury will also hear from Whitney Henriquez, Heard's sister, and actor Ellen Barkin, with whom Depp had a brief relationship in the 1990s.

The claims and counter-claims so far have pulled the curtains back from one of the worst celebrity break-ups. According to the testimonies from both parties, the relationship was a train-wreck of physical and emotional carnage.

As with all high-profile splits, the public can only draw conclusions from the reports that emerge. In this case, some onlookers have aligned themselves as Team Depp or Team Heard, in line with where their sympathies fall.

Judging by the hard evidence of recorded messages and texts, it is very hard to reconcile how one could be proud to be Team Depp. It is clear he most vilely threatened his then-partner. She, of course, claims these threats were manifested physically.

The allegations around some of Heard's behaviour are also disgusting and reprehensible. Depp claims she was the aggressor.

These former acting elites have destroyed each other's reputations and appear willing parties now to a continued path of destruction, whatever the cost to themselves.

Heard has been accused of defamation by claiming she had been the victim of domestic abuse, without naming Depp as the perpetrator. Depp could have issued a statement of denial and dignified the situation with a note of sympathy for Heard. Instead, his lawyer issued a statement, saying her claims were a hoax.

Now, narcissism has been given its ruinous head and neither can get anything from this that anyone could call a victory. The trial, as they say, continues.