Now Johnny Depp is suing his ex-wife Amber, heard for libel in the US
State of Virginia over an article she wrote for The Washington Post back in 2018.
Of course, there was also the case that happened in London recently.
We're going to get into that.
There's a lot going on, but before we cross to America, let's
take a quick look at what's happened at the trial so far.
They were
arguments on
things of that nature, but never
did.
I myself reached the point of
striking misheard in any way.
Nor have I ever struck
any woman with milk misheard.
He was triggered and they engaged in what a zzz mutual abuse.
It's not right what what she did and what happened for so
many people to get affected from this it it's insane.
how this has happened.
Joining us with very latest is US-based reporter
with the Daily Mail Harriet Alexander Harris.
Thank you so much for staying up for us.
Okay, We all know that Johnny Depp took a libel action in the
UK against The Sun after it branded him Ah, wife beater.
But he did lose that action against The Sun.
So what's happening in Virginia right now in this trial
between both Amber Heard and Johnny Depp?
So now we're in the second week of this trial, and it's a defamation case.
It's essentially Johnny Depp, sort of second crack at the with, If you were
because he is suing Amber, her for defamation, a za result of an article that
she wrote in 2018 in The Washington Post and that's why it's being held in
Virginia because that's where the Washington Post servers are.
Weather printers are and
he is accusing her of essentially causing him huge financial losses because of this op-
ed in which she said she was essentially the poster girl for for abuse victims.
And she's counter suing him for $100 million for calling her a liar.
Absolutely Yes, yes, I mean something quite astronomical.
But you really have to take into account that that Johnny Depp I mean,
he is absolutely one of the highest paid actors in in Hollywood.
At least he was if you remember back into 2010, he was the highest-paid.
He made a fortune through the pirates of the Caribbean franchise.
But after Amber Heard wrote this op ed, he was dropped from that Siris on.
That's essentially what this all comes down to on.
Of course, during this towards the end of their relationship,
he was going through financial difficulty.
He had been proven that or his accountants had
misappropriated money, shall we say, But in relation to this trial,
Harriet, there is so much every single day we're hearing so much,
we're getting an insight into their home lives.
Why is there so much audio and visual visual recordings of both Amber
Heard and Johnny Depp available on the Internet to us, right?
I mean, it seems that they were both recording each other.
I mean, the picture that we're getting so far is very much, of course.
Johnny Depp, side of the story.
He has been on the witness stand on Tuesday and Wednesday,
so he is talking about his troubled childhood.
He's talking about his version of events, and, um, it seems
that he was recording her and she was recording him.
They were texting friends about what was going on.
So there's a wealth of information about this relationship, which is really
all being aired in public, and that gives us an awful lot to dig into on.
Of course, there was detailed of abuse in the relationship between
both of them, so it's quite a toxic relationship anyway.
Oh, my goodness, I mean toxic really is the word when you get
all of these accounts from all of these different people.
So we've heard so far from people like the marriage counsellor who had 21
sessions with Johnny Depp and Amber Heard to try and resolve their problems.
We've heard from Johnny Depp's private medic staff, who reportedly he
was paying $150,000 a month to keep these people on his payroll.
On These are the people who were giving him a
lot of his prescription drugs, he says.
He had sciatica, and that's why he ended up with all of
these opioids that he then became addicted to.
So we're getting a real picture of of the entourage, and I think this comes
back to the point as to how we have so much recorded, because all of these
people were taking notes about what was going on with their incredibly
difficult clients on unlawful lot has been made, I suppose, of accusations
of physical violence between the two of them.
So what is going on there?
Has has anything been admitted by?
As you said, we're with Johnny Depp's testimony at the moment.
Has anything been admitted or conceded there?
Well, he has always said that he had a troubled past.
He's been open about his drug use.
He's certainly not claiming to be an angel in any way.
But he is insisting that he's never been violent, that he's
never hit a woman on, certainly not hit Amber Heard.
But on the other hand, he is insisting that she was the one who was attacking him.
He said that she would throw things at him ashtrays, wine bottles,
glasses of wine, anything that kind of came near her.
Hey says he gives incredibly vivid accounts, of course, being the
the master of storytelling, that years about what it was like living
together on how people would wince when she walked past.
And this is backed up by his friends who have been called in his defence,
who are pending painting a picture of this incredibly volatile and unpleasant
and just shockingly abusive relationship on both sides, and we're going
to see some high profile people taking the stand.
Yes, yes, indeed, we do expect so.
On the witness list for Johnny Depp is people like
Paul Bettany, his friend James Franco.
The actor might testify Ellen Barkin as well.
Now we had expected that Elon Musk might even be called because he and Amber Heard
were briefly in a relationship together after she was with Johnny Depp.
But that actually now seems unlikely because he's not a resident of Virginia,
so he can't be forced to testify in this case if he doesn't want to.
On I suppose, yesterday we were listening to the
accusations of, you know, abuse again.
We're with Johnny on, you know, we're talking about the severing of
his finger with a glass bottle that he was, as he was bent over.
He was kicked in the head when he tried to get away from a fight.
It seems, ah, lot of recordings I've listened to were like him trying
to get away from a fight so that nothing would escalate.
But of course, Amber Heard hasn't yet taken to the stand, Harriet.
And I think what's been so, so riveting is that is
that the camera work has been astonishing in this, So Johnny Depp
will be giving his side of this storey on quite often.
The camera will then cut to her on.
You will see her reaction as he is betraying his side of events.
So in the opening statements last week, when Amber Heard's lawyers were saying,
You know, that he was incredibly violent towards her, that he had done all
of these things, he was shaking his head and he was all you know.
He was saying no on.
You had Amber her looking very tearful throughout some of it.
So it's been really remarkable to see the two of them juxtaposed and
on reacting to each other's allegations in real-time.
The outcome of this like, so safe he's cleared or they say that
they not clear he'll never be cleared if he wins.
If he wins this case like what happens then,
obviously is like his name's not clearly.
Still, there's still a lot of mud around Johnny Depp now,
Yeah, it's going to be in there,
right?
I mean, financially, it's ruinous, isn't it?
I mean, it's huge amounts of money on it he has, he said.
It has already been in a lot of financial hot water, with his excessive
spending and huge amounts of money that he's been throwing around so
that the financial consequences are going to the enormous.
I mean, it's it's been reported that they've both already spent $20 million
on lawyers to get this far, because this is a long running pace.
This is a case that was originally filed back in 2019.
That's been going on for an awful long time, readying for this s o.
It's the financial implications.
He absolutely wants to rebuild his career, make himself back
to be one of the most marketable men in Hollywood.
Whether that is going to be possible, it remains to be seen on.
She wants to carry on this role as a champion of abused women, but also I imagine
she wants to get back to their action career on to land prize rolls again.
So it's going to be very interesting to see what happens to both of them.
Harriet Alexander from the Daily Mail have joining us from America this morning.
Thank you so much for joining us, Harriet.
Thank you.