All language subtitles for Johnny vs Amber The US Trial s01e02 Ambers Story.eng

[Amber] Johnny is an icon,

yes, but more than that,
he's a good person.

He's smart.

He's fiercely, fiercely
intelligent and very creative.

And working with him,
I really do see why he is the icon that he is.

[Johnny] Meeting an actress like Amber Heard was.
.. was just a dream come true.

He's brilliant at his job
and he's kind of mastered

the Hollywood machine
and done so in his own way.

And I think that
I would be silly not to take advice from him,

and he's been very generous.

I also have to thank my wife,

Amber, for...
for putting up with me,

for living with
all these characters...

[chuckles]
...which can't be easy.

[reporter 1] She said he beat
her up, he choked her, headbutted her,

kicked her
on 14 different occasions.

[reporter 2] In a story
about him and his then wife, Amber Heard,

a U.K. newspaper called
Johnny Depp "a wife beater".

Amber was stuck
in a relationship that actually seems nothing

short of a nightmare.

A lot of the case
on behalf of Johnny Depp

was that Amber Heard
was lying.

Somebody had to be lying.

Either Johnny Depp was lying
or Amber Heard was lying.

So,
credibility was really key.

[Amber speaking]

He grabbed...

He grabs my head,
takes a fistful of my hair and says,

"I hit your eye?
I hit your eye, huh?

Let me see your eye."

He pulled her by the hair
so hard that clumps of her hair

were actually removed.

Are you crazy?

[Amber] Have you drunk
this whole thing this morning?

[Johnny]
Oh, you get this going?

- You got this going?
- [Amber] No, I just started it.

[Johnny] Motherfucker!

Motherfucker!

[song playing]

[narrator] At the high court
in London,

the Hollywood actor
Johnny Depp is suing The Sun newspaper

and its executive editor,
Dan Wootton.

[reporter 3]
As the actor faces 14 domestic violence

allegations against him
from his ex-wife, Amber Heard.

[reporter 4] And The Sun newspaper
claims that he was "a wife beater".

He's now suing the newspaper
for 39 million pounds.

[Minnie] It was difficult not to have
a huge amount of empathy for Amber Heard,

you know,
with this immense pressure.

And for her to have to relive

some of the most
difficult moments of her life

in a case that
she never wanted to happen.

It was Johnny Depp that
brought the libel action against The Sun.

And with it, it brought up
some of the most harrowing moments of her life.

And you couldn't help
but feel sorry for her.

I traveled here to the UK
to testify as a witness to assist the court.

I did not file this lawsuit,
and despite its significance...

I would have preferred
not to be here in court.

[Melanie] For Amber to come out when
she did and talk about her experience

to go against
the Hollywood system,

to go against her spouse,
who was much more famous

and had a bigger voice
than her,

even though people were
telling her

that she was lying
and not believing her,

took a lot of courage.

[Amber] It has been
incredibly painful

to have my motives,
my truth questioned.

I stand by my testimony
and I now place my faith in British justice.

[indistinct crowd chatter]

[crowd booing]

[Minnie] There was
a huge amount of inherent misogyny

around the courtroom.

I think there was
a feeling that, you know,

why would Johnny Depp
take Amber Heard to court?

He doesn't need this.

You know,
he's got everything he needs.

Why would he unless
she was lying?

And it was said
by some people,

you know, why didn't
Amber Heard leave earlier.

Why did she then go on
to marry Johnny Depp

when she had been victim
to abuse?

She then stayed with him
for two more years.

As we know, in abusive relationships,
people become entrapped.

It's very classic to not be
able to leave your abuser.

But there were definitely
problematic opinions

surrounding this trial.

[indistinct shouting]

[Minnie] There were even,
you know, feminists saying

it's for all the other women
that are telling the truth,

this case might do
loads of damage.

You know,
there were lots of women

who were out to get
Amber Heard.

You know, she was
in a very difficult situation.

[indistinct chattering]

[Minnie] Amber Heard
was an incredibly beautiful,

famous young woman
whose star was rising.

But now she was up against
the force and the might of

one of the biggest megastars
in the world.

It was clear this case
might do loads of damage to her career.

[Sasha] Over the period of
my career,

I have been involved
in defending

and prosecuting cases
of domestic violence,

which range from, what unfortunately
is termed as low-level assaults,

although they're very serious
to the people suffering them, to murder.

This case involves not just
one incident of domestic violence.

This case involves
14 pleaded cases

over a course of years.

My job in this case
was to prove a pattern of abusive behavior.

Many cases of
domestic violence amount to, he said, she said.

But the Depp case is unusual

in that there is
so much supporting evidence.

And he's got me
by the hair and...

[Sasha] Throughout
the three-year period of the abuse allegations,

Ms. Heard would record
what was happening to her at the time.

[Johnny] Motherfucker!

Motherfucker!

[Amber] It happened...

[objects clattering]

[Sasha] There were photographs
of her injuries.

There were medical records.

Texts to her mother
and her friends.

Diary entries
in effect on email.

So you have a document
that is timed and dated.

And there was
the text messages.

We have the story told
by the texts themselves.

And it tells a story
that it's very difficult to contradict.

[crowd cheering]

[Minnie] David Sherborne,
who represents Johnny Depp,

is one of the most
famous barristers in the world.

He has represented
Princess Diana, Elton John, the Beckhams.

He is also the man that
celebrities go to when they're in crisis.

He has a sort of debonair,
smooth energy about him,

and he was always
by Johnny Depp's side.

You got the impression
that they got on very well.

The lot of the case
on behalf of Johnny Depp

was that Amber Heard
was lying.

Somebody had to be lying.

Either Johnny Depp was lying
or Amber Heard was lying.

So credibility was really key.

And there were a number
of ways in which we said

it was obvious to the court
that Amber Heard was lying.

And that was very important
to our case.

It happened before
I was involved in the case

that a very large number of
text communications

from Johnny Depp to, um,
a number of other people

were provided by mistake
to the defendant,

to the newspaper
by his former solicitors.

The defendants were
able then to pore over

a very large number
of communications.

[Sasha] The story
the texts tell is that drugs,

alcohol and regret and apology

played a very large part
in their relationship

and that supported her account

and didn't support
his account.

I mean, those text messages
were his downfall.

[Sasha] In March 2013,
they had an argument

which became
a violent argument.

Mr. Depp had spent some time

at Ms. Heard's place of
residence at the time.

He was under the influence
of drink or drugs

and photographs existed
of what he was taking

and putting up his nose.

Mr. Depp had lined up cocaine,

been drinking whiskey
all night,

really been
extremely inebriated.

Mr. Depp took objection
to a painting

done by
Ms. Heard's ex-partner,

which Ms. Heard used to
hang on the back of her bedroom wall.

Mr. Depp was jealous.

Mr. Depp tried to set fire
to the painting with his cigarette lighter.

And when she tried
to stop him,

he hit her
with the back of his hand.

Amber Heard gave a very graphic
account of how she said it happened,

but was unable
when she was challenged

to really explain some of
the... of the details of it.

[Sasha] Amber Heard sent
a series of texts

describing the violence
that she had suffered at the hands of Mr. Depp.

"JD fell off the wagon
last night, hardcore.

He's on hour 24
of a major binge.

Trying to escape here
soon though

and will head over to yours."

Ms. Heard texted her
mother saying,

"He's nuts mom.
Violent and crazy.

I'm heartbroken
that THIS is who I love."

There were other incidents
in March, several incidents in March.

And there were further texts
describing the violence

that she had suffered
at the hands of Mr. Depp.

Ms. Heard took photographs
of her injuries.

What is apparent
from the texts

is there was a wealth of
evidence supporting Ms. Heard's claim

that she was
beaten by Mr. Depp.

[Minnie] What many people
had assumed is that,

you know, there was
a honeymoon period

and that Johnny Depp
had charmed and been amazing at the beginning

and Amber Heard
had fallen in love.

What we realized by observing

the trial is that
actually there had been

a very short period of
love bombing of Amber Heard.

And that very, very early on,
Amber Heard said

that the abuse
and the jealousy

and the coercive control
had begun.

[Melanie]
The Amber and Johnny relationship is about power.

It's about power imbalance.

Johnny was a lot more famous.

While on the outside,
they look like this fairy tale A-list couple,

was actually very,
very dark behind the scenes.

And Amber was stuck
in a relationship

that actually seems
nothing short of a nightmare.

I'm an old curmudgeon
and I don't get wowed very easy by actors.

And Amber didn't wow me.

I thought she had potential.

As I got to know her,

I thought she had
special insights.

I thought she had
a seriousness and she had determination.

This is a storage unit
with a lot of stuff from my past.

Acclaim had a lot of people
in this movie.

That's one of the few
I was proud of.

And so, we got
a lot of actors' work.

See, there's a Rolling Stone
with Margot Kidder who...

Oh! Amber Heard right here.

The early contracts.

Warner Brothers,
one of her first contracts.

$745 a day, plus 10%.

Amber was determined
and serious.

So, she didn't start out
that savvy.

She started out wanting to
go to LA and start a career.

There's one for you.

Even at 16,
she had penetrating eyes.

A little bit later,
there she's about 18.

She's not giving you that
fake glam stuff.

I thought, this girl has it.

She has what it
takes to make it.

[Melanie] From the outside,
it kind of looked like

she has this like
picture-perfect childhood.

Her father worked with horses,
so she ended up riding horses a lot as a child

and loves being around animals
and being in nature.

What we now know, though,
about that childhood

is that her father
was an alcoholic,

that he had
a very difficult relationship with her mother,

and that it wasn't
a great experience for her.

In fact,
it was quite traumatic.

When she got
into her teenage years,

she actually ended up modeling
and that's, kind of, how she made money.

[Jeffrey] Talent scouts would
come from Milan.

They liked Amber.

She had a good look,
but she was a half inch too short.

And I said,
"But maybe you can act."

What the fuck
were you thinking?

- Thought it'd be funny?
- No, I thought...

What was that...
I was gonna be fucking cute?

And then when she was 17,

she got her first film role in
a B-movie called Side Effects.

Look, you don't actually
believe this guy, do you?

You should call the cops.

All right.

We knew
we were making a low budget horror film,

and so we thought, well,
we just need a really good looking cast.

- You sick fuck.
- No.

[Patrick] And she was
very natural.

See, there's blood dye
underneath her fingernails.

She was, you know, funny,
and that had a really positive outlook.

And that's a huge thing.

You know, when you're doing
something for no budget,

we're not gonna have trailers
and, you know,

everybody's gonna have to
be a team and work together

and be able to deal
with a lot of long hours.

She's smart, she's sharp,
she's witty.

She makes you feel
comfortable.

Anybody that
makes you feel comfortable

you want to work with
because, you know,

you kind of wanna trust
the people

that you're working with.

Amber was just
my friend's sister.

So, when we went out,
she would come

and, you know,
we'd all hang out.

And... she's gorgeous,
she's just as beautiful.

And she would walk in a room
and just light up the room

and just tons of friends
and super outgoing and super charismatic.

[man 1] Hi, we're here
with Amber Heard.

Hi.

[man 1] And you're here
with your movie The Informers.

Yes.

[man 1] Um, this is your
first time at Sundance?

Yes.

This is my first time
at a film festival at all

with a movie that I worked on.

And, um, what better place
to start than Sundance.

In 2008, Amber met
Tasya van Ree, her girlfriend,

and they had this
very long relationship.

And Amber was very,
very much in love.

In 2009, of course,
is when Johnny met Amber Heard,

and that's when he made
The Rum Diary.

He was a producer
on that film as well,

and it was a film
that he took very, very seriously.

And Amber Heard
was cast in it,

and that pairing,
that meeting is,

you know, part of the story of
where we are today.

Johnny was with
Vanessa Paradis, his partner at that point,

and Amber was with
Tasya van Ree, her girlfriend.

She says that
he doggedly pursued her.

[indistinct chatter]

[Johnny] Amber is so good.

And she's...
she's such a sweet kid,

you know,
she's such a great girl.

We just sort of, you know,
tried to laugh it off, you know.

He's...
he's such a pleasure.

He's such a pleasure
to work with.

He's... he's even better than
I could have imagined him to be

which is saying something.

[woman 1] Johnny!

[cheering]

[man 2] Johnny,
are you dating Amber Heard?

[woman 2] He and Amber
are now an item.

She actually broke up
with her girlfriend.

You know,
when Amber and Johnny first came out as a couple,

Johnny was the biggest
movie star in the world.

The first time that I met him,
I'll never forget this.

We were at this, like,
very fancy restaurant.

He's sitting opposite me.

And then he like
reaches in his bag

and starts rolling cigarettes
on the table.

He didn't even order anything
on the menu.

He just, like,
grabbed some snacks, like, from his bag

when we were all just ord...
eating like three or four-course meals.

He's just like snacking.

I mean, older guy,
hot young girl.

I mean, it's not like
a crazy, uh, thing

to have happened in Hollywood,
especially.

[Melanie] You know,
I think it's kind of been surprising to us that

the abuse between
Johnny and Amber started

just a year after
they got together.

They were together
for that whole time,

we thought,
in this perfect relationship,

and then A-list marriage.

And actually things
weren't great for them.

It was actually very,
very dark behind the scenes.

There was definitely
a sense that, you know,

this age gap between
Amber Heard and Johnny Depp

was an issue
in the relationship.

He had real problems with
Amber Heard being a very beautiful,

successful woman
that her star was rising

and that Johnny Depp
wanted to be the only star in the house.

He wanted to contain her
and control her.

And when
he couldn't control her,

he would go
into violent rages.

[indistinct radio chatter]

In May 2014,
Mr. Depp chartered a plane

to take himself
and Ms. Heard back to LA.

Um, her account was that
he was paralytically drunk

and drugged up and had taken
serious quantities of drugs.

[indistinct radio chatter]

[woman on radio]
Prepare to take off.

[indistinct radio chatter]

Johnny had always been jealous
of Amber's relationships with men and women,

so whenever she would
go out with girlfriends or guy friends,

there was always something
in the back of his head that made him anxious,

that made him uncomfortable,

where he just became
very jealous

and very paranoid
about what was going on.

She had been filming
in New York

with an actor called
James Franco.

He was a much younger man,
much closer in age to Ms. Heard.

[director] Cut.

And Mr. Depp was very jealous
of James Franco.

You know, we were
kind of thrown into it.

I mean, you know,
with a movie like this, it's like, you know,

you know what the script is.

And it's like inevitably,
you have, you know,

some intimate scene
for your very first scene.

Fortunately, we were cool.

- At least we got thrown
in the deep end there. - Yeah, yeah.

- Yeah.
- It was the first scene.

Yeah, but it's the easy way.

I guess it helped break
the ice.

[Sasha] And from the time
he was on the plane,

he was raging at her,
calling her offensive words,

um,
hit her one occasion over...

slapped her across the face
and kicked her in the back.

The evidence of the people
on board was very clear

that they had had an argument
that it had been started by Amber Heard.

It was Amber Heard
who stands up.

She goes to the toilet.

And I think
Johnny Depp went playfully

to put a foot out
just to tap her.

All the people who saw it said
he didn't make contact,

and the suggestion
he could some how have done all the things

she says just
couldn't have happened.

[Sasha] His account was that
he was well-behaved on the plane.

He had been sketching
in his sketchbook, which he liked to do.

Um, unfortunately for Mr. Depp,
his texts tell a very different story.

Mr. Depp himself wrote, um,

a text to one of
his actor friends.

"I'm going to properly stop
the booze thing, darling.

Drank all night

before I picked Amber up
to fly to LA this past Sunday.

Ugly, mate.

No food for days, powders,
half a bottle of whiskey,

a thousand Red Bull
and vodkas, pills,

two bottles of champers
on the plane.

And what do you get?

An angry aggro Injun
in a fucking blackout,

screaming obscenities
and insulting any fuck who got near."

And then, um,
went to the bathroom, toilet,

the back of the plane
where he passed out.

[Johnny groaning]

[Sasha] So,
a very different story from the account

that he was quietly sketching
on the plane.

After listening
to the recording,

Mr. Depp said
he didn't recognize himself.

It sounded more like
an animal in pain.

It's alleged that before
he blacked out,

he called Amber Heard
a slut and a whore

before slapping her
across the face

and kicking her in the back.

When there
was another allegation of violence.

There were exchanges
between Mr. Depp and one of his friends

about the rather
unpleasant things

they fantasized about doing
to Ms. Heard.

[cell phone beeping]

The details of
this relationship

really kind of paint a picture
of a nightmare, really.

Two people that
we thought were in love,

but we now know
because of the testimony in the high court

that there was
a lot of violence against Amber Heard

and that it was
an incredibly,

incredibly
traumatic experience.

[Amber speaking]

[Johnny speaking]

One of the stranger practices
of both, Ms. Heard and Mr. Depp,

is that they would have
an argument and record it.

And the idea was that
they could learn from this.

It was regarded as part of
their marriage guidance therapy.

[Amber speaking]

[Johnny speaking]

There is this kind of
simplified view with Hollywood,

which is that the person that,
you know in the public eye

is the same person
that you think they are in private, too.

How could this person
that I've grown up to love,

whether it's on my TV screen
or in movies,

be anything other than
the characters that they play.

To them, Johnny Depp
is this amazing, famous,

beautiful man that
they're used to seeing on film

and they have fallen
in love with.

There is no way that he can
possibly be the person that

Amber Heard has said he is or the
person that The Sun reported him to be.

[Johnny speaking]

[Amber speaking]

[Minnie] There was a lot of
psychological abuse

that weren't necessarily

just the blood
and the violence

and all of them
very graphic signs of abuse.

There was also some
much more subtle controlling

levels of his personality,
which are demonstrated.

[Johnny speaking]

[Amber speaking]

[Johnny speaking]

- [Amber speaking]
- [Johnny] Cut me.

- [Amber speaking]
- [Johnny speaking]

- [Amber speaking]
- [Johnny] Cut...

- [Amber speaking]
- [Johnny groaning]

- [Amber speaking]
- [Johnny speaking]

[Amber speaking]

[Johnny speaking]

- [Amber speaking]
- [Johnny] [bleep]

In the press,
there was definitely,

you know, a lot of reporting
of the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard trial as,

you know, they were just
in a very tempestuous relationship.

It was a toxic pairing,
and that's a dangerous road to go down

because it abdicates
Johnny Depp of any responsibility

and it also washes away
this idea that he's a domestic abuser.

In December 2015,

Mr. Depp came to the Eastern Columbia
building where Ms. Heard was living.

They had an argument.

He, uh, uh, started becoming
physically violent towards Ms. Heard,

which became
a violent argument.

And he wrote graffiti
on the kitchen surface.

"Why be a fraud?"
"All is bullshit."

He threw her onto a bed
throwing himself on top of her

breaking the frame of the bed.

He pulled her by the hair

so hard that clumps of
her hair were actually removed

or part of her scalp
with reddening

where hair had been removed.

And in fact seen on the floor
and photographed later by her.

During the course of this,
headbutted Ms. Heard

and injuries
that she had afterwards, which were photographed.

A cut to her lip, um,
and a, um, bilateral bruising,

which is photographed
at various times coming up,

um, which is consistent
with a bang to the nose or a headbutt.

Um, and these photographs
were taken on the day and on the day afterwards.

Ms. Heard had to go on
to a chat show

the following day
and had said to her publicist

she might
not be able to attend

because she said she'd had an accident
rather than that she had been beaten up.

[James] In the movie,
you play a ballerina.

Did you...

did you study ballet,
did you already do it?

No.

[Sasha] She did appear
on the James Corden show.

Makeup was applied
to her face,

and the makeup disguised
the injuries.

The makeup artist
did give evidence

and she said
what she had seen,

which was bilateral bruising,

a cut to the lip
and swelling around the eyes.

So,
there was supporting evidence,

all of which fitted in
with her account.

[Minnie] And then in the court
was played a recording of

Amber Heard and Johnny Depp.

And in that recording,
Johnny Depp concedes

that he did actually
headbutt Amber Heard.

[Johnny speaking]

[Amber speaking]

Then that is a hugely
shocking moment in a trial

where he basically says
he wasn't violent at all.

Here comes a moment
when Sasha Wass QC dissects him at the stand.

This is a masterclass
in cross-examination.

He had always denied
causing her any injury.

And then we have
a complete about turn in his evidence

when he accepted
he was responsible,

he accepted that
he headbutted her, but said it was an accident.

[Minnie] And in the court of
public opinion and in the high court,

this was a moment
you could see

where a lot of sympathy
was directed towards Amber Heard.

[indistinct shouting]

[reporters clamoring]

[Sasha]
After he headbutted her,

she started
divorce proceedings almost immediately

and she went to get
a domestic violence restraining order.

[Minnie] You could visibly see
that she had bruises on the side of her face.

[Melanie]
Johnny and Amber's marriage

was a massive strain
for the American press in general.

You know, they had seemed like
this perfect couple.

[reporter 5]
How are you feeling?

[reporter 6] Amber,
how are you feeling?

[Melanie] And then it completely
exploded, everything had gone wrong.

I was completely bombarded
on social media by fans of Johnny

telling me that
Amber was a gold-digger.

[reporter 7] Depp is worth
an estimated $400 million

and the couple reportedly
did not have a prenuptial agreement.

And then when I saw
the pictures of her face,

I felt really, really
sad for her.

When you see evidence,
it can be incredibly heartbreaking.

It just reminds you that there is
this visual receipt of what has happened.

And it just made me
really, really sad

that somebody had the courage
to come out and speak about it,

but then had been called
a liar immediately.

She is a woman that literally
just thinks the world will believe her

because she's a woman.

Do I feel that she is

a victim of a physical,
abusive relationship?

No. I don't feel that at all.

[Amber speaking]

[bleep]

On or around the time of
the actual divorce,

Mr. Depp wrote
a series of... vile texts...

describing her in
really very misogynistic terms

and vowing that
he was going to damage her,

if not destroy her.

My company focuses on
disinformation online, targeted attacks.

And so, we're kind of like
online investigators for celebrities

and high-profile figures.

Early 2020, we were contacted
to look at activity on Twitter

and we were able to determine

close to 6,000 fake
or inauthentic accounts

that were targeting Ms. Heard,
Amber Heard.

Definitely the smear campaign,
definitely the coordinated influence campaign,

really didn't have
to be a pro to see it.

If you just looked
at the tweets and see that,

hey, this account within
10 minutes tweeted 30 times

or so that Amber Heard
is an abuser.

Amber Heard is a gold-digger.
Amber Heard is a slut.

And that's
all this account is doing.

And then you amplify
that with dozens of other accounts doing

the same exact thing.

And it appeared to us
that it wasn't just some disgruntled fans,

you know, banding together
to attack Ms. Heard.

It was a targeted operation,

and it was one of
the most sophisticated

online targeted attacks
we had seen.

[Minnie] Leading up
to the judgment,

definitely the court of
public opinion and the journalists outside,

and, you know,
swathes of people

started to start to
believe Johnny Depp's side.

You know, I don't think
people were entirely convinced by Amber Heard.

When we see these tabloids,
we really need to think and reflect,

is this true
or is this not true?

[Sasha] There were assertions
being made about Ms. Heard, about her character,

about her reliability,
about her integrity.

Ms. Heard was a fantasist.
She was a liar.

She was a drunk.
She was a drug addict.

She was a promiscuous woman,
so that her character was, in effect, destroyed.

I've watched every...
every blog, every Twitter,

every YouTube figure,
every paper.

Yeah, there's not much
I have missed.

There's absolutely no evidence

towards her
so-called evidence.

Oh, I think
she's very, very deceitful.

Very, I think
she's manipulated it,

the whole situation
very, very well.

[woman 3] You are a piece of
human garbage! Get hit by a truck, Amber.

[camera shutter clicking]

[reporters clamoring]

I don't think
he did this, personally.

This can only go now
in Johnny Depp's favor.

[reporter 8]
And now the relationship ends

as it began
with the world watching on.

[reporter 9]
Whoever emerges the winner,

there's been a lot of
dirty laundry aired

and a lot of damage done to
reputations on both sides.

[man 4]
Johnny, we love you!

[Minnie] You had
a huge army of fans that supported Johnny Depp.

[cheering]

[Minnie] For Amber,
the fans were definitely much harder to find.

[crowd booing]

There were no fans for
Amber Heard outside of the court.

[Melanie]
For Amber to go to court

when she had been
absolutely harassed by the Johnny fans

and then also being
a victim of a smear campaign

in the press took
a lot of bravery.

Johnny Depp
has lost his fight with a British tabloid.

A London court sided
with the paper,

saying that the 2018 headline
that read Johnny was a wife beater was true.

[reporter 10] Judge
Mr. Justice Nicol found that

twelve of the fourteen
alleged incidents of domestic violence were,

in his words,
substantially true.

Johnny Depp lost
his libel case against The Sun.

Just when you saw that
flash up on Sky News and BBC News,

there was huge kind of gasps.

The judge said that
Amber Heard was no angel,

but that she was the victim
of an abuser.

And this was
an earth-shattering moment

and vindicated Amber Heard
and was catastrophic for Johnny Depp,

who, of course, had brought
this action himself.

It was his decision
to take this libel action, nobody else's.

[reporter 11]
Today, the judge ruled

that the article was
substantially true

and that a majority of
the alleged assaults

had been proved
to the civil standard.

[reporter 12] The judge dismissed the idea that Ms.
Heard was a gold-digger

and accepted her career
probably being damaged by the revelations.

It has been incredibly painful
to relive the breakup of my relationship,

to have my motives,
my truth questioned...

and the most traumatic
and intimate details of my life with Johnny

shared in court and broadcast
to the entire world.

[crowd cheering]

[reporter 13] Lawyers
for Depp said the court's verdict was

"as perverse
as it is bewildering."

"Most troubling is the judge's reliance
on the testimony of Amber Heard."

[Melanie] Johnny was somebody
who was used to getting his way.

He'd been famous for
an incredibly long time.

He was used
to being surrounded by

people who would give him whatever
he wanted, say yes to whatever he needed.

I don't know if he thought
that this was going to be any different

because he was Johnny Depp.

He was used
to getting his way.

And I'm not sure that he even possibly
contemplated that he might not win.

[reporter 14] Johnny Depp
is stepping down from his role

in the Fantastic Beasts
franchise

just days after
losing his libel lawsuit.

[Minnie] The case started
because of a story in The Sun

about Johnny Depp being cast
in The Fantastic Beasts movie

and days after he lost his libel
trial, Warner Brothers announced

that he would leave
the franchise.

[Melanie] This was obviously
very, very bad for him

and could be
incredibly damaging for the rest of his career.

[man] Confident, Miss Wass?

Yeah?

Two judges heard the appeal,
um, and rejected it.

They are set to go to trial
in Virginia next February,

the judge believes
it's gonna take about 12 days.

[Melanie] The fight goes on
for Johnny Depp.

His lawyers continue
to fight for his innocence.

And that's exactly
what we're gonna see in Virginia as well.

[reporter]
It is a landmark moment

for survivors
of domestic abuse.

It shows if you're an abuser,
you're gonna be found out.

[Sasha] Many, many
domestic violence cases

depend on one person's word
against the other.

In this case,
there was a wealth of evidence

entirely independent
of Ms. Heard,

but evidence which supported
what she said.

The judge was persuaded
by not only Ms. Heard herself,

but by that independent
supporting evidence.

So, I wasn't, um, surprised.

[Minnie] Whether you like
Amber Heard or not it is completely irrelevant.

This case was about
domestic abuse,

and I think it shows us
domestic abuse

and coercive control
can happen to anybody.

I think people have
this idea that, you know,

because Johnny Depp
was charming

and quietly-spoken
and was handsome

and, you know,
that he couldn't possibly be a domestic abuser.

And as we know,
abusers have redeeming features,

so, do all human beings
and I think this really was a moment for people

to realize that
it can happen to anybody.

You have given me
so much strength...

and I send it back to you.

Thank you.

[indistinct shouting]

[song playing]

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