ACLU Says Amber Heard’s Domestic Violence Op-Ed Aimed to Capitalize on ‘Aquaman’ Press

Johnny Depp allegedly said he could "punch Amber Heard in the face" after they married in February 2015.The Pirates of the Caribbean star is in the middle of a court battle against his ex-wife after an op-ed she wrote in the Washington Post about experiencing domestic violence. While she didn't name the alleged perpetrator, Johnny launched a £40.29m ($50m) libel lawsuit against her, claiming the article damaged his career and prevented him from getting roles.

Johnny Depp questioned the truthfulness of Amber Heard's claim that Depp sexually assaulted her with a liquor bottle.Heard was cross-examined Tuesday after her testimony in Depp's libel suit against her.Depp is suing Heard in Virginia's Fairfax County Circuit Court over a December 2018 op-ed she wrote in The Washington Post describing herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” His lawyers say he was defamed by the article even though it never mentioned his name. The trial is now in its fifth week.Depp's lawyer, Camille Vasquez, questioned Heard about a variety of incidents in which she says she was assaulted by Depp.Questioning was particularly intense over a March 2015 fight the couple had in Australia, shortly after they were married, while Depp was shooting a fifth film in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise.It was during that fight that Heard says she was sexually assaulted.

(CNN)Actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, best known, perhaps, for their performances as a swashbuckler and a sea warrior, respectively, currently find themselves starring in a contentious defamation trial in Virginia. Depp is suing Heard, his ex-wife, for $50 million as he alleges that she defamed him with a 2018 Washington Post op-ed in which she wrote about her experience with domestic violence.Depp was not referred to by name in Heard's piece, but he has said it's cost him work.In testimony this week, Depp was asked by his attorney about some of the film franchises he has starred in beyond his work as Capt. Jack Sparrow in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films."Boy, um, 'Alice in Wonderland'? I'm so pathetic when it comes to knowing what movies I've done.

Amber Heard has taken the stand in the defamation trial between her and ex-husband Johnny Depp. She testified (4 May) that the actor performed a cavity search on her to find his lost cocaine, which he accused her of hiding from him.

UPDATE, 12:45 PM: “I will never forget it, it changed my life,” Amber Heard told a Virginia courtroom today of the first time Johnny Depp allegedly hit her in the winter of 2011.

NOTE: This article contains details and descriptions that are graphic and disturbing. Please read at your own discretion.

“I am here because my ex-husband is suing me for an op-ed I wrote,” Amber Heard said today in Virginia within seconds of taking the stand in the Johnny Depp $50 million defamation trial

A day after a forensic psychologist testified about instances in which Amber Heard was subject to domestic and sexual violence by Johnny Depp, the actor’s attorneys attempted to undermine her knowledge of their relationship.

Amber Heard must be immediately discounted, a prominent psychologist has said. Dr Taylor says similar arguments can be made about borderline personality disorder which she branded ‘yet another junk diagnosis thrown at women’ Dr Jessica Taylor’s warning comes after a psychologist hired by Johnny Depp’s legal team to evaluate Ms Heard, his ex-wife, testified she has borderline personality disorder and histrionic personality disorder.

Amber Heard’s 2018 op-ed on gender-based violence ignited her current legal battle with ex-husband Johnny Depp, now it’s been revealed the piece was timed to coincide with the release of her film “Aquaman.”Terence Dougherty, general counsel and COO for the ACLU, said in a pre-recorded deposition played Thursday in Depp’s defamation trial against Heard, that the actress worked directly with the individual rights organization on what the op-ed would say, where it would be published and when it would be released.“Placing op-eds about matters such as this is the kind of thing that is the bread and butter for the ACLU,” Dougherty explained in the video played Thursday in a Fairfax, Virginia courtroom.He noted that Heard was asked to share her story because she was an ACLU ambassador working on women’s rights issues, particularly those surrounding gender-based violence, and the group wanted someone with “authentic stories” to speak publicly on the matter.“There were a number of things Amber expressed from her personal story about her having been a survivor of gender-based violence,” said Dougherty in the video recorded on Dec. 2, 2021.

Elon Musk is thought to have donated half a million dollars to the American Civil Liberties Union in Amber Heard's name. On Wednesday, amid Johnny Depp's ongoing defamation trial against Heard, Terence Dougherty, the Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel of the ACLU, testified about what donations the organization has received from and on behalf of the former couple.

The general counsel of the ACLU testified that the foundation believed that billionaire Elon Musk was behind a $500,000 payment to help the actress fulfill a $3.5 million donation pledge to the organization.

Amber Heard has so far failed to deliver on roughly half of her pledge to the ACLU of $3.5 million, an amount that represented half of her $7 million divorce settlement with Johnny Depp, according to testimony Thursday from the org’s head lawyer and COO.Terence Dougherty, ACLU general counsel and chief operating officer, told the court in a video deposition from December that Heard has donated $1.3 million – though not all of it has come directly from her.Dougherty said Heard has directly paid $350,000, ex-husband Depp paid $100,000, and another $500,000 was sent from Elon Musk, Heard’s one-time boyfriend. Dougherty said another $350 came from an anonymous donor, who the ACLU believes to be Heard.“We understood that the other half [of the $7 million settlement] was going to a children’s hospital in Los Angeles,” Dougherty testified.The ACLU donation was to be made in installments over a 10-year period.

Johnny Depp took to the stand to testify in his civil defamation case against his former wife Amber Heard - and the allegations keep on coming. The 58 year old Hollywood actor married Amber in 2015, but they split acrimoniously only one year later, with the actress claiming the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory star had been violent towards her, filing for divorce and a temporary restraining order.The feuding exes engaged in a war of words via the press, and when their divorce was officially finalised in 2017, Amber received a $7m settlement, which she pledged to split between a children's hospital she was a patron of and a domestic violence charity.

Actor Johnny Depp scoffed at the notion during court testimony Wednesday that his constant quarrels with ex-wife Amber Heard would ever prompt him to hit her, and insisted on cross-examination that her allegations devastated his career.

Johnny Depp has told a court his ex-wife Amber Heard showed "pure hatred" for him and she would "escalate into violence" - with a slap, a shove or a "glass of wine in my face". Speaking on the sixth day of the libel trial, the actor said Heard would call him a "bad father, a terrible father, an awful father" and tell him he had no idea how to parent. The actor said his former partner, who he is suing for defamation in a US court, had a "need for conflict" and "couldn't be wrong".