Publicly Humiliating Amber Heard is Not the Progressive Move You Think It Is.
Nicknames such as “Amber turd” or labels such as abuser, sociopath and liar are what come to mind when you think of the 36-year-old actress, Amber Heard. The 58-year-old, Johnny Depp, however, is perceived as a Hollywood blueprint or, rather recently: a brave victim. One of them is far older than the other, which is a common trend in Depp’s dating pattern. Statistically, false accusations of domestic abuse are rare.
In spite of this, the pirate, his legal team, and his fans have conceptualised that Heard is attention-seeking or, more technically, that she is suffering from ‘Histrionic Personality Disorder’. This creates a motive behind her “psycho ex-wife” claims of abuse. Viewers of the Johnny Depp fan-cams and velocity edits of the trial have quickly arrived at the conclusion that Amber Heard is a drama queen. Not only have they started victim-blaming, but they have also started creating rumours such as, “Amber Heard sniffed coke in the middle of the trial”, “She’s posing for the camera”.
This kind of response extends to people who aren’t Johnny’s fans too, that’s proof his PR team is doing a good job. “Wow, a victim would totally beg their abuser to look at them,” a Twitter user adds. Policing how a victim should act is something you wouldn’t expect from mainstream media in post-MeToo movement 2022, but here we are. Spreading myths about how victims are supposed to behave will have devastating consequences for all victims and affect whether they are believed or not, especially working class and minority victims who are less privileged than Heard.
It’s common for the public to believe the calmer party, especially when he’s a man. According to Julia Fox, “She never had the power in the relationship to be abusive to him. Did she hit him? Yes. Was it abuse? No. You need to have power to be able to abuse it. She was 25. He clearly was always way more powerful, including physically and financially.” Johnny Depp is not the innocent angel you think he is, he's merely an A-list actor with charisma and a powerful legal team.
The History of Depp’s Problematic Behaviour
Marilyn Manson and Roman Polanski are both infamous perpetrators of sexual violence. Apart from that, they also have in common the fact that Johnny Depp is buddy-buddy with them. He defended
Polanski, a man who was charged with rape by use of drugs, perversion, sodomy, lewd and lascivious act upon a child under 14, unlawful sexual intercourse with a female under the age of 18, and furnishing a controlled substance to a minor. Depp has matching tattoos with Evan Wood’s abuser, Marilyn Manson, who has 13+ allegations against him. Albeit he was oblivious to Manson’s abusive behaviour, “After watching Evan’s HBO documentary you have to wonder how anyone could have remained friends with someone with so many strange behaviours.” says Kate Casey on Twitter.
A famous example of the aforementioned dating pattern is Depp's relationship with Winona Ryder, a pairing that his fans often romanticise.
An instance of his predatory behaviour was when he started dating Winona Ryder when she was 17 and he was 26. Winona stated, “When I met Johnny, I was a pure virgin. He changed that.” In the USA, this is statutory rape.
Another instance is when Depp started dating a Russian Model, Polina Glen, when she was in her early 20s and he was in his mid 50s. These are just a few examples of his relationships with younger women. Let’s move on to his relationship with Amber Heard.
In March 2013, Johnny texted Amber Heard, referring to an incident they had as a "disco bloodbath," and ended the text interaction by calling her the C-word. He accused her of having an affair during the confrontation, and she claims he slapped her so hard that blood from her lips landed on the wall.
In May 2014, Depp accused Heard of having an affair with co-star James Franco. He proceeded to kick her on a plane and sent her an apology later. This incident was confirmed by his assistant. In court documents, his former business managers verified the incident and alleged that they knowingly tried to cover it up on at least one occasion.
In February of 2015, during the ex-pair’s wedding, Amber’s sister testified that she begged Amber to not go through with the wedding saying, “him putting a ring on her finger was not going to stop him hitting her.”
Heard testified that in March 2015, Depp was on roughly 10 pills of MDMA and penetrated her with a liquor bottle while pinning her against a wall, “It looked like he was punching me, but I could just feel this pressure. It was, like, just pain and pressure on my pubic bone.” She recalls that she couldn’t breathe due to how scared she was. This goes on to be one of the most gruesome incidents that Amber would testify to.
Johnny claims the “severed finger” story resulted from Amber’s violent outburst. After the incident allegedly occurred, he sent a message to his doctor admitting he severed his own finger and again, accused Amber of having an affair with co-star Billy Bob Thorton.
From these examples, there is a common occurrence of Depp’s intimidation following his belief that Amber had been unfaithful. He throws jealous fits of rage and creates a notion that Amber is the perpetrator and portrays an image of a man interested in reconciliation, A classic case of playing the victim. In the trials, he seems like a calm and collected individual who has nothing to hide. This presents to the audience two sides to pick, a sassy actor who laughs during the trial, or an emotion-fueled woman with poorly worded testimonies.
“But Amber Heard Hit Him!”
In a power dynamic where Depp had the upper hand, Amber Heard committed reactionary verbal and physical abuse. This is a common response among domestic abuse victims. It is evident that Depp used typical tactics of an abuser to manipulate Amber Heard. He used love-bombing to reconcile and became overly apologetic after coercive control or temper tantrums.
In a series of texts from 2016, Depp wrote to Heard, “I have other uses for your throat which do not include injury.” Over here, he implies that he has injured her throat before so a non-injurious action is an “other” thing which needs to be specified. The promise of a sexually affectionate action after abuse is a classic example of love-bombing. Depp laughed at some of these texts in court and asked one to be repeated, as Heard visibly seemed scared.
“Would an ABUSER walk away from an argument?”
Yes, they would. Stonewalling is when someone walks away from a disagreement or refuses to communicate or participate. It's a type of gaslighting where the perpetrator acts as if your issues are unimportant. This makes victims, like Amber Heard, feel betrayed and powerless, and impairs their capacity to think properly. An example of Johnny Depp stonewalling is when Amber Heard shouted at him to put his cigarette out on someone else and he responded with “fatass” to shut her out. Of course, listeners of this audio recording let out a good chuckle from behind a screen.
Amber Heard and Johnny Depp did not “mutually abuse” each other. Domestic violence experts choose to use the term self-defence. Such was the case when Heard allegedly tried to protect her sister from being pushed down a flight of stairs. Johnny Depp being calm in this situation is not proof he’s blameless; instead, it shows the amount of power he must have to not worry.
For you this trial is momentary entertainment, for Amber, and other domestic abuse/sexual abuse victims, it is transformational. Depp punches kitchen cabinets and writes cryptic messages on walls using his own blood, yet Amber Heard is the insane one. Amber gets caught in a few lies, while the majority of Johnny’s lies get brushed under the rug. There is no such thing as a perfect victim, Amber Heard definitely isn’t one. We cannot expect human actions to be black and white, but the lesser of two evils is apparent here.
Suing victims for defamation is a trick that has been used since the dawn of pointing fingers. Donald Trump, the infamous former president of the United States, has tried to utilise this strategy. Ali Zafar, a Pakistani actor, has filed a defamation lawsuit against his victim. Evan Wood, Marilyn Manson's victim, was also sued for defamation. Now, Johnny Depp is suing his victim for defamation.
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