The defamation trial between Amber Heard and Johnny Depp took another eyebrow-raising turn over the weekend, when 6,000 pages of court documents were unsealed that shed new light on the proceedings.
And while Depp not only won the trial, but also generally held court over public opinion, these latest revelations make the actor seem like decidedly less of a victim.
What happened during the Depp-Heard defamation trial?
In February 2019, Depp sued Heard for defamation over a December 2018 Washington Post op-ed in which the actress claimed to have spoken up against sexual violence “and faced our culture’s wrath.” Though Heard did not call out Depp by name, the 59-year-old sued her for $50 million, stating that he had been dropped from upcoming projects over the piece.
In turn, the following year Heard countersued Depp for $100 million, claiming that he had coordinated an online harassment campaign in an attempt to get her dropped from from the film Aquaman as well as a L’Oreal campaign.
After the six-week trial, a jury found in favor of Depp, ultimately awarding him $10.35 million in damages, while Heard was awarded just $2 million. She has since filed to appeal the verdict, after a judge dismissed her motion for a mistrial.
How do these new court documents factor in?
The documents, which were obtained by The Daily Beast, reveal evidence that was kept out of the trial for various reasons but seem like they could have potentially skewed the verdict in favor of Heard.
One revelation, in particular, debunks the popular narrative that Heard was allegedly a “gold digger” who married Depp for his money. Though the 36-year-old was awarded $7 million in the couple’s divorce settlement, she had previously pledged to donate the money to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
By the time of the trial, Heard had not finished donating the money, which she was paying in installments. When the issue came up in court she understandably explained that she had paused the charitable donations when Depp had sued her.
However, one piece of evidence that had been rejected on grounds it had been related to their divorce proceedings does indeed seem to indicate that Heard was actually the opposite of a gold digger.
The court documents reveal that during their divorce proceedings, Heard’s lawyers begged her to reconsider her decision to walk away from “tens of millions of dollars”—since Depp shot the fifth Pirates of the Caribbean movie during their marriage, and therefore it was considered a “community property asset” with Heard entitled to half the income from the asset.
Since Depp had earned over $33 million from Pirates 4, it stood to reason that the number would be that or higher for No. 5. But Heard refused, leading her lawyers to tell her via email that she was being “amazingly true to your word, that this is not about the money.” The judge, however, rejected the inclusion of any evidence related to their divorce proceedings in the defamation trial.
It’s unclear if any of the revelations from the leaked documents will be able to be used in Heard’s appeal, but at the very least they should help repair her damaged reputation — and perhaps, give pause to some of the folks who blindly threw their support behind Depp.