Dropping names. Johnny Depp and Amber Heard‘s high-profile defamation trial has not only focused on their messy marriage — multiple A-listers have also been dragged into the legal drama.
Heard and Depp started dating after meeting on the set of The Rum Diary in 2009. They tied the knot with two wedding ceremonies six years later. The Never Back Down star filed for divorce after 15 months of marriage and obtained a temporary restraining order against Depp after accusing him of domestic violence. The Nightmare on Elm Street star, for his part, has denied the claims.
The pair’s tumultuous relationship became a topic of discussion again after the Oscar nominee sued his ex-wife for an op-ed she wrote in December 2018 which referenced her experience as a survivor of domestic abuse. Heard penned the article two years after she filed for divorce from Depp, but she didn’t mention his name.
When the former couple’s trial began in Virginia in April 2022, their past relationship wasn’t the only one discussed in court. Heard’s dating history was brought up during an early hearing when Depp’s legal team used a pre-recorded deposition from their joint former agent Christian Carino, who claimed that Heard didn’t see her romance with Elon Musk as being very serious.
According to Carino, the Pineapple Express actress allegedly told him that she was “just filling space” by dating Musk following her split from Depp. The talent agent’s text exchanges about the romance were read by Depp’s lawyers during the trial.
“I hate that yet again a man lets me fall on the spikes by myself,” a text from the Aquaman actress allegedly read. “Meaning, they are mad at me for leaving them and put things like this out there.”
After Carino suggested Heard move on with someone who isn’t famous, he recalled his former client attempting to gain contact with her ex-husband again. “I don’t know how or where to start,” she texted Carino. “There’s no way to begin. Finally I am single, clear in my heart and mind. I just want him to know I love him and that I am sorry.”
Amid their messy court battle, Heard and Depp both claimed that their careers in Hollywood took a turn due to their public divorce. The recent trial in Fairfax, Virginia, comes after Depp filed a libel lawsuit against the U.K. newspaper The Sun for referring to him as a “wife beater” in a 2018 article. (In November 2020, the High Court of Justice ruled that The Sun‘s article was not libelous because Heard’s allegations were “substantially true.”)
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support.
Scroll on for a breakdown of all the stars mentioned during the defamation trial:
