- For nearly 30 years, Mr. Depp built a reputation
as one of the most talented actors in Hollywood,
a respected artist whose name was associated
with success at the box office.
Today, his name is associated with a lie,
a false statement uttered by his former wife,
the defendant Amber Heard, that falsely cast Mr.
Depp, falsely and unfairly, characterized --
cast Mr. Depp
as a villain,
a man who would violently abuse a woman.
This is a defamation case.
It's a case about how devastating words can be
when they are false and uttered publicly.
This is a case about the impact
of Amber Heard's words on Johnny Depp --
specifically, the words that she used in an op-ed published
in The Washington Post in December 2018.
You will learn during the trial that Ms.
Heard's actions were prompted by Mr.
Depp's request for a divorce --
he wanted out, which drove her to concoct,
to make up a story that was, at first, designed to keep him.
And then, when he made it clear that, finally,
after all he had endured, he was done,
was designed to recast herself as an abuse survivor,
with Mr. Depp
as the alleged abuser.
In five decades, no one had ever accused
Johnny Depp of being abusive of any kind with a woman.
That's why it was such a jolt.
Hollywood studios don't want to deal with the public backlash
from hiring someone accused of abuse,
even someone with the incredible body of work and record
that Mr. Depp can be proud of.
A false allegation can devastate a career.
And it can devastate a family.
And the evidence will show that Ms.
Heard's false allegations had a significant impact on Mr.
Depp's family and his ability to work.
This trial is about clearing Mr.
Depp's name of a terrible and false allegation.
- You're being asked to decide a very simple question,
and that question is,
were the words that Amber used in the December '18 --
2018 opinion piece that was published in The Washington Post
protected free speech under the First Amendment or not?
Mr. Depp's
team is going to try to turn this case into a soap opera.
Why?
I'm not really sure,
because the evidence isn't pretty for Mr.
Depp -- it's not.
You're gonna see who the real Johnny Depp is,
behind the red carpets, behind the fame,
behind the money, behind the pirate costumes --
you're gonna see who that man really is.
The article doesn't mention Depp by name.
It never once contains his name in that article.
It is not about Amber's relationship with Mr.
Depp.
There are no details of any abuse in that article.
The article is about proposed legislation
and strengthening of government, laws,
and policies designed to protect abuse victims
and people who report abuse -- that's what the article's about.
And it was written in the midst of a social movement
in which the American Civil Liberties Union,
the ACLU, asked Amber to use her platform
to speak on these important issues, and that's what she did.
To do so, she drew on her experiences
as someone who had reported domestic abuse.
And he chose to bring Amber to court here in Virginia,
where she has no ties, has never lived,
he's never lived, where they never spent any time,
because he wanted to make her life hard.
He wanted to ruin her life.
He wanted to destroy her.
And it's time to make Johnny take responsibility,
to tell him, "Mr.
Depp, stop blaming other people for your self-created problems."
No one else has the power to do that -- only you --
to tell him enough is enough,
to stand up for the First Amendment,
to stand up for the truth and Amber's right to speak it.