I’ve been thinking a lot about the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation trial as of late. For those of you that don’t know the history, Johnny Depp was in a relationship with ‘Aquaman’ actress, Amber Heard between 2011 and 2016. They were even married for 15 month of that timeframe. When Heard filed for divorce in May 2016, she also filed for a restraining order against Depp, and accused him of domestic violence. In 2018, Heard wrote an op-ed letter about having survived domestic violence. Depp’s name wasn’t ever mentioned in the letter, but it was obvious who it was about.
Depp’s career was shattered when the allegations against him were made. He was fired from Disney altogether, as well as Warner Brothers, and the movies he did make since then were absolute failures. He did stay on board for ‘Fantastic Beasts’ after the bitter divorce, and though his stay was highly criticized, the people behind the making of the movie stood by him.
Now, Johnny Depp is suing his ex-wife for defamation in a $50 million lawsuit. His ex is suing him for $100 million in response. Depp previously sued British newspaper, The Sun, in 2019 for calling him a ‘wife beater’ in their article, but lost. The trial that’s happening now is public, and I’ve been following it daily. I know that it might not be the healthiest thing of me, or anyone for that matter, to do, but I’m intrigued. I’m an (urhm……actual) abuse survivor, unlike the disgraced Amber Heard. I’m a rape survivor, as well as a 2-time intimate partner violence (IPV) survivor. You can read more about my experience in my book, ’12 YEARS A WOMAN: MY JOURNEY TO HAPPINESS.’
Let me just say this as a real survivor of domestic abuse: Amber Heard is a disgrace and an embarrassment. She’s degraded those women who have actually survived such horror experiences. The only reason she started the whole web of lies is because in most cases, women are the ones abused by men, and practically no ones believes men when they open up about being abused. By the old fashioned society standards, men are supposed to be strong, masculine, and independent. Opening up about abuse takes away all these qualities that men are supposed to have. In a recording that was shown in court, Heard admitted to abusing Depp, and tells him that no one would ever believe him if he ever told anyone.
In reality, statistics show that 1 in 10 men are survivors of domestic abuse. Of course, it’s less than what the numbers are for women (1 in 4), but the numbers are too high nonetheless. I’m sure the numbers are even higher because so many people don’t report their incidents and keep their traumas all to themselves. I know I did for a very long time.
At the beginning of the trial, Johnny Depp said that no matter what the outcome would be, he’d already lost everything. For him, the trial isn’t about getting his career back on track. Instead, it’s about the truth. And the truth is definitely coming out. Though it’s still going on, Amber Heard is in hot water as she’s been caught lying under oath and changing her story of the abuse continuously. A new ‘Aquaman’ movie is coming out in 2023, and things aren’t looking so good for Heard. The director of the movie unfollowed her on Instagram, which is a terrible sign in 2022 as things are never official unless it’s on social media, and a petition to remove Heard from the sequel now surpassed 4.2 million signatures, which includes my own signature too.
I’ve been a big believer in and supporter of the #MeToo movement since the very beginning. Now I’m a big believer in and supporter of the #MenToo movement. Domestic abuse has nothing to do with gender. It has no gender. All it has is the truth.
Sign up to our newsletter if you want to see more content from The Graceful Boon! By signing up to our newsletter, you'll get an even more in-depth content from yours truly, Stacie Kiselman, who's our Graceful Boon, that you won't want to miss out on.