The vicious legal battle between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard took a decisive turn last month when a British judge ruled that her allegations were credible and that it wasn’t libellous for The Sun newspaper to describe Depp as a “wife beater.” Since then, his fortunes have fallen.
He was almost immediately booted off Fantastic Beasts 3, his indie movie Minamata was removed from film festival lineups, he’s apparently lost the role of Harry Houdini in a prestige TV show and is now described as “radioactive” by industry insiders. Heard, on the other hand, has seen her star rise.
A fan campaign to get her fired from Aquaman 2 has amounted to nothing, she’s reportedly being offered parts in other major franchises, and next week will be seen playing a key role in CBS’ adaptation of Stephen King’s The Stand. Now, she’s got another nice money-spinner on her hands as she’s been hired by The Harry Walker Agency as a speaker. As written on their website, Heard is:
“An outspoken advocate for women’s rights and for the civil rights of survivors of all gender-based violence around the world, Amber works with organizations that encourage survivors both personally and politically to come forward and reclaim their power. Amber makes frequent trips to DC to lobby and fight on behalf of the civil rights of women and the innumerable silent survivors of gender-based violence.”
If you’d like to hire her to speak at your event, she can be booked for the princely sum of $33,000. The agency describes her talks as “deeply moving” and says that hiring her is an excellent choice for a group or organization that’s looking for “some much-needed inspiration from a woman who walks day-to-day looking to be a contribution.”
Of course, Heard is a divisive figure online and I’m betting there are many people seething with barely contained rage at the prospect of paying her tens of thousands of dollars to talk about being a victim of domestic violence. It remains to be seen how many organizations will indeed pay up for her to make an appearance, but the site notes that she’s already spoken at the Global Citizen Festival, the Social Good Summit and the L’Oreal Women of Worth awards.
However, there’s still ongoing legal action in the domestic courts, so if Depp wins a future case, public opinion might start to swing back in his favor. But for right now, at least, Amber Heard is riding high.