Johnny Depp files $50M defamation suit against ex-wife

FAIRFAX, Va. (CN) — Actor Johnny Depp brought a $50 million defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife Amber Heard, turning her #MeToo allegation on its head by claiming she was the perpetrator, not the victim, of domestic violence in their relationship.

Heard, an actress and co-star of the blockbuster movie “Aquaman,” penned an editorial in The Washington Post in December describing the backlash she experienced after speaking out about domestic abuse.

She wrote that she “felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women” after making allegations of abuse. Her editorial never identified Depp by name, but his lawsuit filed Friday in Fairfax County, Virginia Circuit Court alleges the article was clearly about the accusations she’d made against Depp as their marriage unraveled in 2016.

Now the 55-year-old actor, represented by lead attorney Brittany Whitesell Biles with Stein Mitchell in Washington, D.C., is attempting to clear his name.

“Ms. Heard’s false allegations against Mr. Depp have been conclusively refuted by two separate responding police officers, a litany of neutral third-party witnesses and 87 newly obtained surveillance camera videos,” according to the complaint, which was filed in Virginia because the Post is printed there.  

The 30-page filing describes the couple’s rocky 15-month marriage, along with Depp’s claims that he was victimized by her.

It states that one month after their marriage, Heard was “spending time in a new relationship with Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk.” While Depp was out of the country filming a movie, Heard allegedly “asked staff at the Eastern Columbia Building to give her friend Elon access to the building’s parking garage and penthouse elevator ‘late at night’ and they testified that they did so.”

According to the complaint, Heard also “threw a vodka bottle at Mr. Depp in Australia, when she learned that Mr. Depp wanted the couple to enter into a post-nuptial agreement concerning assets in their marriage. Ms. Heard’s violently aimed projectile virtually severed Mr. Depp’s middle finger on his right hand and shattered the bones.”

After Depp said he wanted to leave the marriage, Heard allegedly lured him to his penthouse to pick up personal items.

“Unaware that members of Mr. Depp’s security team (including an 18-year veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department) were mere feet away, Ms. Heard falsely began yelling ‘stop hitting me Johnny.’ The interaction culminated with Ms. Heard making false allegations that Mr. Depp struck her with a cell phone, hit her and destroyed the penthouse. There were multiple eyewitnesses to this hoax,” the lawsuit states.

Surveillance camera videos and depositions disprove Heard’s allegations, Depp claims.  

Heard’s lawyer, Eric M. George, released a statement calling the lawsuit a frivolous action that is “the latest of Johnny Depp’s repeated efforts to silence Amber Heard. She will not be silenced. Mr. Depp’s actions prove he is unable to accept the truth of his ongoing abusive behavior.”

Heard and Depp finalized their divorce in 2017.  

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