Johnny Depp and Amber Heard: A Timeline of Their Relationship

TJohnny Depp’s defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard is currently on trial in Virginia.

Depp sued Heard in March 2019 over a column in which Heard wrote The Washington Post about domestic violence was defamatory and sought $50 million in damages. Heard has filed a $100 million counterclaim.

The process began with jury selection on April 11, 2022 in Fairfax, Virginia. The closing arguments are scheduled for May 27th.

Here’s a timeline of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s relationship, breakup and court battles, from when they reportedly started dating to the last trial:

2012: Johnny Depp and Amber Heard start dating

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard are believed to have started dating earlier this year after Depp split from his longtime partner, French actress Vanessa Paradis. Depp and Paradis have two children: a daughter named Lily-Rose and a son named Jack.

Heard and Depp reportedly met on the set of the 2011 film The rum diaryin which they both starred.

March 2014: Johnny Depp and Amber Heard got engaged

Johnny Depp confirms he and Amber Heard are engaged after a few months of speculation. “The fact that I’m wearing a woman’s ring on my finger is probably a sure sign,” he says while promoting the film transcendence. “Not very subtle.”

February 2015: Johnny Depp and Amber Heard marry

Amber Heard and Johnny Depp are getting married. Corresponding People Magazine, they had two ceremonies: the first at Depp’s Los Angeles home and the second at Depp’s private island in the Bahamas.

May 2016: Amber Heard files for divorce

Amber Heard files for divorce from Johnny Depp over irreconcilable differences. That same month, a Judge Heard issued a restraining order against Depp over allegations of domestic violence on his part.

In an affidavit, Heard alleges that Depp threw a cell phone at her during a fight, hitting her in the eye and cheek, and that he yelled at her, punched her, violently grabbed her face and pulled her hair. According to The Associated Press, she is submitting a photo of her injured face to the court as she seeks the restraining order.

Heard is seen during a court appearance with “a bruise on her right cheek below the eye,” according to the AP.

“Throughout our relationship, Johnny verbally and physically abused me,” Heard writes in the filing. “I endured excessive emotional, verbal and physical abuse from Johnny, which included angry, hostile, humiliating and threatening attacks against me whenever I questioned his authority or disagreed with him.”

She also writes, “I live in fear that Johnny will return unannounced to (our house) to terrorize me physically and emotionally.”

Depp has denied the allegations of domestic abuse. His attorneys alleged in a 2016 court document that Heard “attempted to obtain an early financial settlement through allegations of abuse.”

The LAPD said in May 2016 that officers responding to a radio call about a domestic incident on the 21st of the month found “no evidence of a crime.” Heard’s legal team has since subpoenaed the LAPD in connection with the same call as part of the ongoing defamation court case against Heard and Depp.

August 2016: Johnny Depp and Amber Heard agree to divorce

After months of arguments, Depp and Heard reach an agreement on their divorce.

“Our relationship has been very passionate and volatile at times, but always bound by love,” the two said in a joint statement at the time. “Neither party has made false allegations of financial gain. There was never any intent to cause physical or emotional harm.”

Heard promises to donate Depp’s $7 million to the American Civil Liberties Union and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. (In August 2021, a New York judge partially granted a motion by Depp to determine if donations were made.)

January 2017: The divorce is official

Depp and Heard officially finalize their divorce.

“We are all delighted to move on from this uncomfortable chapter in the lives of Mr. Depp and his family,” Depp’s attorney, Laura Wasser, wrote in a statement. “Having his application for registration of the dissolution judgment granted today made Friday the 13th a particularly fortunate day.”

Heard’s attorney told Los Angeles Superior Court Justice Carl H. Moor that his client “would be very happy to move on with her life.”

June 2018: Johnny Depp sued for The sun headline

On June 1, 2018, Depp sued the publishing company News Group Newspapers The sunfor allegedly defaming an article published in the tabloid in April this year, headlined: “Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be ‘really happy’ casting wife-beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts movie?”

Depp would eventually lose the case.

December 2018: Amber Heard posts a comment

On December 18, 2018, Amber Heard posted a comment The Washington Post entitled: “I spoke out against sexual violence – and faced the wrath of our culture. That needs to change.”

In it she writes, among other things: “Like many women, I was molested and sexually abused when I was in college. But I was silent – I didn’t expect that filing complaints would bring justice. And I didn’t see myself as a victim.

“Then two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic violence, and I felt the full brunt of our culture’s anger at women speaking out.”

Depp is not mentioned by name in the comment. The comment later became the basis of Depp’s $50 million defamation lawsuit, which named Heard as a defendant.

March 2019: Johnny Depp sued Amber Heard

Depp is filing a $50 million lawsuit against Heard, claiming she defamed him in her Washington Post op ed.

“The comment rested on the central premise that Ms Heard was a victim of domestic violence and that Mr Depp perpetrated domestic violence against her,” the complaint alleges in part, calling the allegation of domestic violence “categorically and demonstrably false.”

July 2020: Lawsuit against Johnny Depp The sun goes to court

The trial begins on July 7, 2020 in London. Johnny Depp and Amber Heard both appear before the High Court of Justice, with Heard to testify in support The sun.

Depp’s lawyers argue he is seeking “justification,” not money, and Depp himself denies the domestic violence allegations. A spokesman for Heard narrates vanity fair Heard “never asked for this procedure to happen” and “was trying to move on with her life.”

The trial lasts three weeks, with explosive allegations emerging as part of the evidence and testimonies. The process ends at the end of July.

August 2020: Amber Heard counters

Heard is filing a $100 million counterclaim against Depp in response to his defamation lawsuit, accusing him of allegedly organizing a “defamation campaign” against her and calling his own lawsuit a continuation of “abuse and harassment.”

In the filing, Heard asks the court to grant her immunity from Depp’s complaint and seeks damages of “no more than $100 million,” which is “twice the amount Mr. Depp claimed against Ms. Heard.” Has”.

November 2020: Johnny Depp loses his libel battle against The sun

The court decides in favor The sun in the defamation lawsuit. Judge Andrew Nicol said the defendants had proved their allegations against Depp to be “essentially true,” The Associated Press reported at the time.

“I have found that the vast majority of Ms. Heard’s alleged assaults by Mr. Depp have been civilly proven,” the judge wrote in a ruling.

A lawyer for Depp calls the verdict “so flawed that it would be ridiculous for Mr Depp not to appeal this decision”.

March 2021: Johnny Depp is denied permission to appeal loss The sun case

Two appeals court judges are deciding not to allow Depp to appeal the judge’s decision in his defamation lawsuit The sun.

According to the AP, Justices James Dingemans and Nicholas Underhill ruled that the original hearing was “complete and fair” and the judge’s rulings were “not even demonstrably flawed by any error of approach or law.”

Dingemans and Underhill noted that “the appeal has no real prospect of success and that there is no other compelling reason to hear it.”

“It is clear from reading the judgment as a whole that the judge based his conclusions on each of the incidents on his extremely detailed examination of the evidence specific to each incident,” they said.

“With such an approach, there was little need or room for the judge to weight an overall assessment of Ms. Heard’s credibility.”

April 11, 2022: Defamation trial in Virginia

The trial in Depp’s defamation case against Heard began on April 11, 2022 in Fairfax, Virginia. (The Washington Postin which Heard’s comment was published, has printing facilities in the state.)

Depp suffered a significant setback before the trial began when the case’s judge, Virginia Penney Azcarate, determined that Heard could argue that her comment raised a matter of public interest.

According to the AP, Depp’s legal team had tried to argue that Heard shouldn’t rely on Virginia’s anti-SLAPP legislation. Anti-SLAPP laws, which stand for Anti-Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, are designed to protect people from being sued for speaking out on matters of public interest.

Judge Azcarate ruled that Heard could in fact invoke Virginia’s anti-SLAPP legislation in her defense and argue before the jury that it should apply to her comment.