Johnny Depp Files $50 Million Lawsuit Against Ex-Wife Amber Heard
The battle between exes Johnny Depp and Amber Heard isn't over.
The Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them star is suing Heard, 32, for defamation, according to The Blast. He's seeking $50 million, court documents obtained by the outlet reveal. Depp claims in the lawsuit that Heard's "false allegations" of domestic abuse against him are "an elaborate hoax to generate positive publicity" for herself and "advance her career."
The focus of the suit, according to The Blast, is a December 2018 Washington Post op-ed, written by Heard. The legal documents state, "Ms. Heard purported to write from the perspective of 'a public figure representing domestic abuse' and claimed that she 'felt the full force of our culture's wrath for women who speak out' when she 'spoke up against sexual violence.'"
Heard never mentioned Depp, 55, by name in the story, but the documents state that the piece "depends on the central premise that Ms. Heard was a domestic abuse victim and that Mr. Depp perpetrated domestic violence against her." Per The Blast, Depp claims in the suit that the piece his ex-wife wrote cost him his role in Pirates of the Caribbean.
Depp's attorneys allege in the filing that "Ms. Heard is not a victim of domestic abuse; she is a perpetrator." The suit states, according to the outlet, that her May 2016 abuse allegations were "conclusively refuted by two separate responding police officers, a litany of neutral third-party witnesses, and 87 newly obtained surveillance camera videos."
The actor filed a separate defamation suit against The Sun, according to Us Weekly. He submitted new evidence in the case early this year, which included "security camera video clips of Ms. Heard's face in the days following her false beating claims, sworn depositions taken in 2016 from neighbors, eyewitnesses and building personnel who interacted with Ms. Heard in the ensuing days, and more."
Around the same time, The Hollywood Reporter published previously unreleased August 2016 documents in which Heard recounted being afraid of her ex-husband. In it, she said he had another "personality," which she and Depp referred to as "the monster." Heard said she was "petrified of the monster," in the documents published by the outlet.
Heard filed for divorce from Depp the same month she came forward with allegations against him. The pair had been married 15 months at the time.