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LONDON: Hollywood star Johnny Depp lost his defamation battle to a British tabloid that labeled him a “wife beater” on Monday (November 1) after a London High Court judge ruled that he had repeatedly assaulted her ex-partner and had made her fear for her life.
In a ruling that could seriously damage Depp’s reputation and career, Judge Andrew Nicol said he accepted claims by the actor’s ex-wife, actress Amber Heard, that he had violently assaulted her during their stormy five-year relationship.
“I have discovered that the vast majority of the alleged assaults of Ms. Heard by Mr. Depp have been proven to civil standards,” Nicol said. “The plaintiff has been unsuccessful in his defamation action.”
Depp’s attorneys described the ruling as “perverse and perplexing” and said it would be ridiculous if he did not appeal.
Depp, 57, a star of movies including Pirates of the Caribbean and Edward Scissorhands, had sued News Group Newspapers, the Sun’s editors and one of its journalists, Dan Wootton, over a 2018 article that said it had been violent. with Heard, 34.
The newspaper also questioned his involvement in the “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” movie franchise.
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Nicol ruled that the newspaper’s allegations were “substantially true.” “It follows that this claim is rejected,” he said.
Over the course of three weeks in London High Court in July, the judge heard evidence from Depp and Heard about their fiery marriage, alleged love affairs, their hedonistic lifestyle and battle with drinking and drugs, and their furious disputes.
Each accused the other of violent outbursts.
Heard said Depp would turn into a jealous alter ego, “the monster,” after bingeing on drugs and alcohol. He had often threatened to kill her, he said. Heard detailed 14 instances of extreme violence when she said the actor choked, hit, slapped, head butted, strangled and kicked her.
Nicol said she accepted that 12 of these accounts were true, including the assault after her 30th birthday party and another incident that left her black-eyed. It also supported their description of a three-day ordeal of “multiple and sustained assaults” while in Australia.
‘Terrifying’ fury
“It’s a sign of the depth of his rage that he admitted to scribbling bloody graffiti from his injured finger and then, when that was insufficient, dipping his seriously injured finger in paint and continuing to write messages and other things,” Nicol said.
“They must have been terrifying. I accept that Mr. Depp made him fear for his life.”
The couple met while making The Rum Diary in 2011 and married four years later, but divorced in 2016.
Depp had told the court that he was never violent towards his ex-wife, saying his claims were a hoax and that he had lost the tip of a finger after she threw a bottle of vodka at him during the particularly fierce fight in Australia.
But Nicol rejected his version of how he lost his finger, as well as Depp’s characterization of Heard as a gold digger and his claim that his claims were a hoax.
The judge also said it was “unlikely” that Heard or one of his friends had defecated on his bed as Depp had claimed.
Defective
Depp’s attorneys said it was “concerning” that the judge had relied on Heard’s testimony while rejecting evidence from police officers, his former assistant and other witnesses who they said had undermined his evidence.
“The sentence is so flawed that it would be ridiculous for Mr. Depp not to appeal this decision,” said the Schillings law firm.
“In the meantime, we hope that, in contrast to this case, the ongoing defamation proceedings in the United States will be fair, with both parties providing full disclosure rather than having one party strategically choose what evidence can and cannot trust.
Depp also filed a $ 50 million defamation lawsuit against Heard in a Virginia court for an opinion piece he wrote in The Washington Post.
“For those of us present at the London High Court trial, this decision and ruling is not a surprise,” Elaine Charlson Bredehoft, Heard’s US attorney, said in a statement.
“Very soon, we will present even more voluminous evidence in the United States. We are committed to obtaining justice for Amber Heard in the United States Court and upholding Ms. Heard’s right to free speech.”
The Sun said the ruling was a “stunning victory” for press freedom.
“Victims of domestic abuse should never be silenced and we thank the judge for his careful consideration and we thank Amber Heard for her courage in testifying in court,” the newspaper said in a statement.
