Johnny Depp's defamation lawsuit with ex-wife Amber Hurd will be adjourned for a week until trial resumes on May 16. Last week, largely witnessed by Amber, the image of her sobbing as she stated the details of domestic violence in court made headlines for many days.
The testimony detailed Amber's allegations of depp's domestic violence and sexual abuse of her. But her cries and accusations were played as memes, cut into funny videos of ghost animals, almost forgetting that this was a serious trial.
The subject of the lawsuit was Depp's accusation that Amber had slandered him for domestic violence, so Depp's defense was to prove that he had no domestic violence, and Amber only had to prove that Depp had committed any domestic violence, and the defamation allegation would be difficult to establish.
By the first week of the trial, Depp had already made his own statement. His sister believes that Amber mentally controls Depp and abuses him like Depp's mother. Depp's lawyer also said that Amber is the stronger party in the relationship, and she likes fierce abusive relationships, so she uses various means to force Depp to do it.
And last week was the time when Amber mainly made her point, and she refuted Depp's claim. So let's see what Amber said at trial:
Depp was seriously addicted to drugs and left the engagement party to take drugs
Amber said that Depp's drug addiction is very serious, at the engagement ceremony of the two, Depp even asked Amber's father, who also has drug abuse problems, to take drugs together, and the two also left the ceremony in the middle of the ceremony because they did not have enough drugs to go out to buy more drugs.
Amber has provided evidence in previous years of trials that she had joined forces with her family and Depp's family to help Depp get rid of drugs. Depp himself wrote a thank-you text message to Amber's mother at the time, acknowledging Amber's act of helping him.
Depp's sister texted him asking him to quit drinking and drugs
Amber said that around 2013, Depp's drug addiction became so severe that his career plummeted. During the filming of the film Modiquet in London, Depp was "carried home like a baby" by security guards due to drug effects.
Amber said depp said at some point that she wanted to stop rehab, and she encouraged Depp to continue to do so, but perhaps because of the drugs, Depp's behavior began to become more and more uncontrolled and violent. A courtroom recording also shows Depp emitting an "animal-like howl" when he was delirious.
The above are all photos of depponsion provided by Amber
After the marriage, the two sides were full of contradictions, and Depp restricted Amber's acting career
Amber said that the engagement was a brilliant decision, not even a ring, but at the time she was very infatuated with Depp, so the two successfully went to the marriage hall.
Depp is 22 years older than Amber, and Amber said Depp often disciplined her, forbidding her to wear revealing clothes and forbidding her to play sexy roles. Amber thinks Depp doesn't want her to continue acting and tells her, "You don't need a job, I'll raise you, kids," but Amber doesn't want to give up her acting career.
Amber said it made her uneasy every time she got the script, because she was afraid that there were scenes in the script that Depp didn't like, and the two would have to quarrel again. After their relationship deteriorates, Depp will call her a "slut", always suspecting her of seducing others.
Amber said she didn't want the conflict to intensify at first, so she almost didn't respond when Depp accused her, but after more than a year of conflict, both began yelling and abusing each other. Soon Depp started hitting people: "Unfortunately, when Johnny started hitting me, he had the upper hand. ”
Frequent domestic violence stems from jealousy?
Amber said in court that Depp first beat herself two years before she got married, when she joked about Depp's tattoo and was slapped three times by Depp. Because it happened so suddenly, Amber's first reaction was to laugh, because she wasn't sure if Depp was joking when he hit her.
Depp then quickly knelt down to apologize to her and said that he had been fighting the monster in his heart. Amber said he had calmed down in the car for a long time before returning home. After the incident, Depp repeatedly called and texted to apologize, and also brought a few boxes of wine to apologize to her, promising that "this will never happen again."
"I knew it wasn't right, I knew I had to leave him. But the idea of leaving him breaks my heart because he's the love of my life and I don't want to leave him, but sometimes some of the things he does are scary. ”
Amber said Depp often suspected she was having affairs with others, such as her 2014 collaboration with James Franco, and said she cheated on Little Freckles, the star of "Danish Girl," and the director of Fantastic Beasts. Amber said she was exhausted every time to explain these things.
Amber and Franco on set
So the two broke out into the famous "airplane incident", Depp questioned her relationship with Franco on a private plane, slapped her after using big ma and alcohol, slapped her, threw ice cubes at her, kicked her, and finally fainted in the bathtub. These Depp were all denied in court.
Amber and Franco on set
Fell into madness after snorting ecstasy
The two had a serious altercation in Australia, and this time Amber described more details. She said Depp went crazy after taking 8-10 ecstasy pills. He started hitting her, tearing her clothes and smashing her phone to pieces. During the fight, Depp overturned the oil painting he had painted with his daughter Lily, leaving the house full of paint.
Amber said Depp beat her up and called her a prostitute, a slut, a fat ass. She was crushed onto a table, causing it to collapse, and the little bar in the house was full of broken bottles.
Depp was tired and hid in a room, playing a song loudly by his friend Mary Lien Manson. Amber says that Depp has become less like him, and this is the most frightening moment of his life.
After the fight, Depp scribbled around the room with lipstick, pen and his own blood, and Amber said he had written in blood on a pillow, which was difficult to read.
Amber was so emotional in his testimony that he choked up several times, in stark contrast to Depp, who was sitting on the other side laughing.
Amber gave other examples at the trial. For example, in 2013, Depp accused Amber of having an affair and hit her with the back of her ringed hand.
"I remember a little bit of my lips being punched between my teeth and some blood on the wall."
After the fight, Depp apologized again and promised not to take drugs again, and Amber said she would forgive him again.
But shortly after the 2014 met gala, Amber said she was beaten again. Depp punched her in the nose, her nose was red and swollen and bleeding, and in the process of the two pushing and shoving, Depp threw a bottle at Amber and broke the lamp in the house.
She said attending events after being beaten often required to cover the wound with makeup
Amber also provided photos of a bed that was damaged by Depp during a fight in 2015:
There are also photos of the family's sofas, sheets, and Depp's guitars covered with blood after the fight, and the corners of the walls are covered with broken glass:
Admitted to having acted against Depp to protect his sister
Unlike Depp, who denied that he had beaten Amber, Amber said he had beaten Depp in self-defense. For example, when she stopped him from drinking, she fell on a bottle in anger.
In another argument between the two, Amber said his sister was also present, and Depp began abusing and even violently threatening her sister. Amber mentioned at the trial that there had been rumors that Depp had a fight with supermodel Kate Moss that pushed Moss down the stairs (Depp was later arrested for damaging hotel facilities, but the harm to Moss was not confirmed), so she feared that her sister would be pushed down by Depp, so she punched Depp.
Amber and sister
In the previous weeks of the trial, Depp said the fight was instigated by Amber and that he had done nothing.
The court described being sexually assaulted after experiencing sobs out of control
Amber described two encounters of being assaulted by Depp, one in which Depp, jealous of her being too close to a female friend, smashed things in the exclusive motorhome where the two lived, and conducted a violent search of Amber on the grounds that amber had stolen his drugs.
The other was mentioned at the last trial, when Amber said he had been sexually assaulted by Depp in a wine bottle. She detailed the painful process at the trial, where she said Depp used foreign bodies to puncture her again and again, causing bleeding from her lower body.
"I pray that the bottle in my body is not the broken one, but I can't feel it anymore, I can't feel anything."
Amber said that before being sexually assaulted, Depp had raised a broken bottle in front of her face and threatened to cut her face. Depp yelled at her ," I fucking hate you. You ruined my damn life." Amber choked up at one point as he described the passage and kept wiping his face with a tissue, while Depp's expression became dignified.
Amber said that during the December 2015 beating, Depp threatened her with "if you dare to embarrass me in front of my children, I will kill you." Later, when they did quarrel and escalate into a fight, she thought she would die on the spot, thinking that Depp would definitely kill her, but Depp still apologized to her as before, after waking up, and promised never to take drugs again.
Amber said that this time she did not believe Depp's vows and finally made up her mind to divorce. She also explained in court why she endured multiple domestic violence. The actress said that Depp always showed his warm and charming side after the violence, changing back to the appearance of the Depp he loved, so it was difficult for his self who still loved him not to forgive him.
But each time I forgive Depp, Amber feels even less confident: "I want to stay with the Johnny I love, not in violence, and I choose to believe him again and again because I'm lucky to think — there's nothing worse than this one, right?" ”
Exposed Depp had cheated
In this trial, both accused each other of cheating. Amber said Depp fell asleep holding the tablet in her hand after a drug take, where she saw Depp's flirting text messages with another woman. The text message described the two starting dates after Depp and Amber were married, and Depp also went to the woman's house. Amber said he had confronted Depp as a result.
The first round of the trial was Depp's speech, and the second round was Amber's speech, so the jury needed to listen to a lot of testimony from both sides before reaching a final conclusion about whether the defamation allegations were established.
But before that, the trial was turned into a big entertainment program by short video bloggers and tabloids. People cut lawyers' statements in court into ghost animal videos, spoof Amber's silent appearance into memes, and some people mixed lawyers' words into music.
Some people even specifically cut out the "laughter points" in the trial to make a collection, similar to the "funny moments in the court", "Depp's cute moments" video has received tens of millions of clicks on the platform.
Perhaps not every creator's intention is malicious, but Amanda Brennan, a researcher on the internet hot search, says such a trend is cause for concern. Removing the star identities of the two and only looking at the narrative of the case, this is undoubtedly a heavy lawsuit about domestic violence and emotional abuse, but under the blessing of the culture of playing terriers, the pursuit of the truth has been greatly diluted by netizens.
"We didn't see two people in the case who were real, but like watching a TV show, watching the fragmented story, quickly took sides to support the stars they had never seen."
Researchers believe that many video bloggers have found that they can quickly get likes and attention by posting a funny or side video about celebrity trials, and more and more people are entertaining serious events in this atmosphere.
This could have serious implications for future domestic violence trials: "We should be worried that the jokes about the Depp and Amber trials are sending a message to victims of domestic violence around the world that you will be questioned and used as a laughingstock." ”
Therefore, regardless of the outcome of the confrontation between Depp and Amber, it is not worth advocating to use entertainment to dilute the seriousness of the matter. I believe that the court will give a convincing verdict, and we, as bystanders, should pay more attention to the essence of the case...