Amber Heard to share domestic abuse evidence against Johnny Depp in private as she is terrified of bad press
It was recently revealed that Amber Heard's testimony on sexual abuse allegations against Johnny Depp will be heard in private during the actor's libel trial against The Sun newspaper. Heard's been known to be deeply displeased over the prospect of sharing evidence of sexual abuse suffered on the hands of ex-husband Johnny Depp before media for the fear of acquiring a bad reputation.
Despite the 'Pirates Of The Caribbean' actor's claims of making the allegations public, a judge in the case declared via a remote Skype hearing on Wednesday, April 8, that Heard will be allowed to testify behind closed doors. The actress, as well as a host of other celebrities, are slated to offer testimonies as part of the evidence in Depp's lawsuit against publisher News Group Newspapers (NGN), and it's executive editor Dan Wootton over an April 2018 article which referred to him as a "wife-beater."
"I stress that nothing in this judgment will pre-judge the issues that I will have to decide at trial. Neither party will be disadvantaged by the fact that part of the trial will take place in private. Either in public or in private, the claimant (Mr Depp) will have a full opportunity, so far as is proper, to challenge the evidence of Ms Heard by cross-examination," the judge said, Daily Mail reported.
The verdict was given after the lawyers for NGN applied for the privacy of the testimony. Adam Wolanski QC, one of their attorneys argued that the 'Aquaman' actress was terrified at the prospect of making her testimony, which would pertain to personal matters in her life, public, as it would directly affect her reputation.
"Your lordship will know this case has generated a great deal of publicity already and one of Ms Heard's concerns... is that she has been the subject of a great deal of vilification in the press, in particular on social media. She is very concerned that the nature of these allegations is such that that would be the case if this confidential material is reported," he said.
On the other hand, David Sherborne, who was representing Depp, said that Heard was "no ordinary witness" and that physical and sexual abuse allegations made by her have previously been aired in open court.
"She has consistently promoted herself as a victim... and characterized her allegations as being not just about physical abuse, but sexual violence," he said, adding that Heard had already "promoted herself as an activist" during an appearance before the United Nations General Assembly in 2019 and in a Washington Post that indirectly slandered Depp, for which he had slapped her with a separate $50 million defamation lawsuit.
However, the judge, before handing down his verdict, said that the nature of allegations that Heard is slated to make in the NGN lawsuit was "of a different order" to the accusations that were already out there in public and hence upholding the newspaper's application was "necessary and proportionate." However, the exact nature of the allegations remains unknown.
"We welcome Mr Justice Nicol's decision to allow evidence relating to 'sexual violence' to be heard in closed court. There is simply no reason for such sensitive evidence to be exposed to the world's press. We are pleased that the court made this order despite Mr Depp's troubling argument that Amber should not benefit from the right to privacy in relation to sexual violence, because of her public association with the #metoo movement and her advocacy for victims of sexual violence at the United Nations," a spokesperson for Heard said.
The libel lawsuit against NGN as due to start in London on March 25 but was put on hold due to the ongoing coronavirus lockdown.