On Tuesday, actor Amber Heard said that it was difficult for her to keep her role in the upcoming film Aquaman 2, after ex-husband Johnny Depp‘s lawyer released statements about Heard, in relation to an incident from 2016.
Adam Waldman, Depp’s lawyer, released a statement from 2016, after Heard called the police alleging that Depp had attacked her and damaged her property.
Waldman’s statement on Heard was a part of a 12-page article in a publication that read, “The officers came to the penthouses, thoroughly searched and interviewed, and left after seeing no damage to face or property.”
He added, “So, Amber and her friends spilled a little wine and roughed the place up, got their stories straight under the direction of a lawyer and publicist, and then, placed a second call to 911.”
Heard claimed that during the ongoing defamation case, the online attention generated by the aforementioned statements, impacted her professional commitments. Cosmetic brand L’oreal had suspended using her material in its global campaign. Heard mentioned that aside from being left out from the press obligations of the series The Stand, she also did not hear from the makers of Aquaman 2, regarding the film’s schedule.
“They (the makers of Aquaman 2) released me from my contract, and I fought to stay in it. They kept me in it. I just don’t know how much I’m in the final cut,” said Heard, when she was questioned about the film by Depp’s legal counsel, Camille Vasquez.
Heard plays the role of Mera in the DC films, and appeared in the first instalment of Aquaman alongside Jason Momoa, in 2018.
“I auditioned, not Johnny. I worked really hard and I went to where we were filming the first movie, The Justice League. I went five-and-a-half months before filming commenced, when I heard that they wanted to fire me. I worked really hard and I had to prove myself. I did that. Even though I was filming for six days, I was there for six months,” Heard told the jury, during redirection from her team.
She added that she saw messages and mails which prove that Depp had tried to get her fired from the project, before the judge struck her statement as ‘hearsay.’
Both Heard and Depp have claimed that they have lost out on prospective work, owing to the current legal battle, which had begun when Heard filed for divorce in 2016, accusing Depp of domestic abuse. While the duo had reached a settlement on their divorce in 2017, Heard subsequently wrote the op-ed piece in question, in 2018, that earned her a $50 million defamation suit from Depp.
Heard filed a counter-claim of $100 million, and based it on Waldman’s statements.
Vasquez further noted that L’oreal had extended her contract in 2020 and 2021.
She further argued that Heard’s engagement on the projects was concealed because of the “ongoing negative publicity campaign” back then, around her relationship with Depp. Heard responded and said that it was an “orchestrated smear campaign” that she alleged was perpetrated by Depp’s team, including publishing a leaked audio tape.
Tuesday’s trial concluded Heard’s time on the witness stand.
Later, Heard’s legal attorney had filed for striking the motion, which was dismissed by Judge Penney Azcarate.
While dismissing the strike motion for a second time in the duration of the trial, Azcarate noted, “I know that a mere hyperlink without more cannot constitute republication. However, here, there’s additional content that could constitute republication in this matter. So, there is evidence of ownership and additional content that the jury could find constitutes republication, and that is a factual question that does survive a motion to strike.”
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The tweet in question was posted by Heard, in 2018, a day after the op-ed piece was published by The Washington Post. She had attached a link to the digital article to her tweet, and wrote, “Today, I published this op-ed in The Washington Post about the women who are channeling their rage about violence and inequality into political strength despite the price of coming forward.”
The headline of the article on Washington Post‘s online platform read, Amber Heard: I spoke up against sexual violence and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change.
Heard claimed that she spoke about a bigger issue than Depp in the op-ed, and that it primarily referred to the time after she had sought a restraining order against Depp in 2016.
After Heard, her friend IO Tillet Wright took the stand and testified virtually, on Tuesday. The trial that is expected to end on May 27, is being conducted at the Fairfax County Courthouse in Virginia.