Hollywood veteran actor Johnny Depp will be under intense scrutiny when his defamation lawsuit against former wife Amber Heard is broadcast on television on 11 April 2022.
Johnny Depp defamation trial will be televised
A Fairfax County Circuit Court, in Virginia, US, granted the media limited privileges to broadcast some aspects of the trial, where Depp has accused Heard of derailing his career in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed in which he was sublminally labelled a rapist and wifebeater.
In the opinion piece, the Aquaman actress described her relationship, and subsequent marriage to Depp, as a horrific nightmare, where she was allegedly forced into having sex and supposedly assaulted and verbally degraded.
In response to the op-ed, Depp filed a $50 million (est. R769 million) lawsuit against his ex-wife, describing her allegations as falsehoods that resulted in the derailment of his career, where he was stricken off the role as lead actor in The Pirates of the Carribean.
Heard has since filed a counterclaim, seeking $100 million (est. R1.53 billion) in damages for the alleged torment she supposedly endured in her marriage. The actress also claims Depp “threatened to kill her and otherwise harm her in private messages to friends.”
“These threats were realized in the form of rampant physical violence and abuse Ms. Heard suffered at Mr. Depp’s hands before and during the marriage,” Heard’s legal representatives told the court.
For the most part, the media will be granted access to broadcast the general aspects of the defamation lawsuit. However, witness testimonies dealing with claims of sexual assault have been barred from public consumption.
In the court’s words, the broadcasting of the defamation lawsuit will be held on “a tight leash.”
Depp and Heard fell in love on the set of the 2009 film The Rum Diary. The couple officially went public with their relationship in 2011, and tied the knot in a privately held ceremony in 2015.
However, their love affair would end a year into their marriage. Heard filed for divorce in 2016 accusing the actor of physical abuse.
