Top 10 Post Depp v Heard Revelations

Neither the plaintiff nor the defendant came out of the trial unscathed. However, the jury only found Depp liable on one count of defamation while Heard was found liable on all three of hers. Heard’s team announced plans to appeal shortly after, with attorney Elaine Bredehoft sounding optimistic about their chances. One month following the trial, Heard’s lawyers asked for the verdict to be overturned. Seeking a new trial, they argued that Heard wasn’t behind the headline, Depp urged the jury in his favor, and one juror was seemingly misleading about his age. Judge Penney S. Azcarate turned down Heard’s request, noting that the jury followed the rules and the juror in question was vetted. “There is no evidence of fraud or wrongdoing,” Azcarate wrote.

Not long after Azcarate declined Heard’s mistrial request, over 6,000 pages of court documents were released. According to these court documents, Heard’s divorce settlement was only a fraction of what she could’ve received. While he was still married to Heard, Depp filmed “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.” Heard would’ve been entitled to half of this “community property asset,” which was valued at “tens of millions of dollars.” Against the advice of her attorneys, Heard walked away from this payout. Heard’s lawyers told her that she was being “amazingly true to your word, that this is not about the money.” Heard pledged to donate the $7 million she did receive to charity, although she’s yet to give the full sum.

Testifying for Heard, actress Ellen Barkin accused Depp of chucking a wine bottle at her during their courtship. Dr. Dawn Hughes and Dr. David Spiegel supported Heard as well, believing that Depp had caused her trauma. Dr. Amy Banks also claimed that Heard was a domestic violence victim. Depp’s attorneys sought to have these testimonies excluded from the trial. Additionally, his legal team didn’t want Depp’s “burnt corpse” text conversation with Paul Bettany to be presented. It’s been reported that Depp’s lawyers were successful in blocking some of the evidence from the jury. However, sources also suggest that Azcarate didn’t sign off on these motions, meaning that they were still taken into consideration. In any case, it’s all out in the open now.

During the trial, Depp’s legal team accused Heard of doctoring photos to make her face appear redder. This has been publically discussed at great length, but Heard’s legal team also made similar accusations against Depp. Forensic expert Julian Ackert analyzed metadata from audio and photos that Depp submitted into evidence. Ackert testified that he uncovered “anomalies that call into question the authenticity of the multimedia documents,” such as “missing creation dates and/or modification dates.” Heard’s side claimed that these items “were ‘Modified’ days before their production in this case,” noting that some of the audio clips weren’t submitted in their entirety. On more than one occasion, Heard’s team asked to have the originals released, but their requests were repeatedly rejected.

As a teenager, Heard lost a friend named Logan in an automobile accident. During an interview with Whitney Henriquez, Depp’s legal team asked various questions about her sister’s connection to Logan. They inquired if Heard had ever been romantic or violent with Logan, which Henriquez denied. Henriquez also claimed that Heard had never been violent towards her. Depp’s team remained fixated on Logan, asking if Heard had seen him the day of the crash, if she was in the car when it happened, and if her suspended driver’s license was linked to his death. Henriquez shot all of these questions down, insisting that Heard was “devastated” by the loss. This deposition wasn’t spotlighted during the trial, but it’s since come out with the unsealed court documents. As it turns out, Heard’s suspended license was due to speeding tickets, and her arrest was due to her driving with her suspended license - not vehicular manslaughter.

Tracey Jacobs, Depp’s former agent, testified at the trial, although some topics were off limits. Heard’s legal team wasn’t permitted to question Jacobs about an alleged incident where Depp was drunk and high on TV, prompting Disney studio executives to ask, “What the hell was wrong with your client?” The TV appearance itself wasn’t specified in the unsealed documents, but Disney apparently had similar issues with Depp on “Pirates 5.” Disney supposedly told Jacobs that Depp’s behavior was not “going to be tolerated” and that the company was “not going to put up with this.” Heard’s team further asserted, “there was no love between Johnny and Disney, given the Pirates five situation.” Jacobs also couldn’t discuss allegations that Depp “lied to the LAPD.”

While multiple doctors have analyzed Heard’s mental health, Depp’s legal team barred their client from receiving similar treatment going into the trial. According to the newly released documents, Depp’s team argued that he “is not alleging harm based on a specific physical or mental injury.” Depp’s attorneys went on to claim that Heard’s actions didn’t cause him “a specific psychiatric injury” or “to experience unusually severe emotional distress.” They thus concluded that Depp didn’t require a psychiatric examination. However, some would debate that this contradicts Depp’s testimony, as he discussed several specific alleged incidents that left him injured and distressed.

Following the verdict, Heard spoke with Savannah Guthrie in an NBC interview. Heard claimed that around the same time that her relationship with Depp commenced, she started telling her therapist about the alleged abuse. According to Heard, her doctor wrote enough notes to fill a binder over the years. Guthrie found that Heard had been seeing her therapist since 2012, making accusations of hitting, death threats, and more. The therapist’s notes weren’t shared with the jury, though, as they were declared hearsay. It wouldn’t be until after the trial that Heard was able to make the notes public. In response, Depp’s representatives accused the defendant’s team of “repeating, reimagining and re-litigating matters that have already been decided by the Court…”

The unsealed documents have divulged several topics that Depp’s legal team didn’t want touched upon. Arguably the most eyebrow-rasing is any “references to and evidence regarding Marilyn Manson.” Various women, including ex-fiancée Evan Rachel Wood, have accused Manson of abuse, which he denies. Depp’s attorneys feared his relationship with the heavy metal artist would make him appear guilty by association. While Manson came up during the trial, Depp’s team managed to omit text conversations between the two. In 2016, Manson reportedly texted, “I got an amber 2.0” and “Lindsay just puled an amber on me…please delete,” apparently referencing his current wife, Lindsay Usich. In a follow-up text, Depp sympathizes with Manson, who goes on to ask for “asylum,” believing the cops are after him.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few other revelations.

Heard’s “Comparable Actors” List
Heard’s Team Claimed Her Stature Had Been on Par with Jason Momoa, Zendaya, & Others

Russian Interference Claims
Depp’s Team Sought to Exclude Alleged Evidence of a Russian Bot Campaign

Heard’s Team Asked Depp to Describe Detailed Violent Incidents
Depp’s Team Argued This Was “Unlikely to Lead to the Discovery of Admissible Evidence”

This trial was more than personal for Depp and Heard, but it almost went a step further. Heard’s counsel pointed to several pieces of evidence that they wanted to be excluded, deeming them “irrelevant personal matters.” This included footage of a reality show featuring Whitney Henriquez and details on dating histories. Most notably, nude photos of Heard had allegedly been entered into evidence along with information concerning her short time as an exotic dancer years before first encountering Depp. According to Heard’s team, this evidence seemed designed to imply that she had once been an escort. None of this was presented to the jury, but these unsealed documents paint an even more bizarre portrait of the trial that we ultimately got.