After an explosive six-week libel trial adopted by tens of millions on social media and reside TV, Johnny Depp and Amber Heard every face an uphill battle as they attempt to rebuild their photos and careers
After an explosive six-week libel trial adopted by tens of millions on social media and reside TV, Johnny Depp and Amber Heard every face an uphill battle as they attempt to rebuild their photos and careers
After an explosive six-week libel trial adopted by tens of millions on social media and reside TV, Johnny Depp and Amber Heard every face an uphill battle: attempting to rebuild their photos and careers.
Depp already has a head begin, with a jury verdict Wednesday largely favoring his narrative, that his ex-wife defamed him by accusing him of abusing her.
“Depp has a hill to climb. Heard has a mountain to climb,” mentioned Eric Dezenhall, a disaster mitigator in Washington with no involvement within the case. “If Depp keeps his expectations proportional and understands that he’s unlikely to hit his former heights, he can have a solid career if he takes things slowly. After all, he was vindicated in court, not declared a saint.”
The problem for Heard, Dezenhall mentioned, is that rightly or wrongly, some imagine she abused and maybe even tarnished a worthy motion, #MeToo.
With a he said-she mentioned edge to the drawn-out trial, the decision handed down in Fairfax County, Virginia, discovered that Depp had been defamed by three statements in a 2018 op-ed piece written by Heard, who recognized herself as an abuse sufferer. The jury awarded the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star greater than $10 million. Jurors additionally concluded Heard was defamed, by a lawyer for Depp who accused her of making a hoax surrounding the abuse allegations. She was awarded $2 million.
Given that such circumstances are notoriously exhausting to win, was the defamation route the way in which to go? Some observers with expertise in high-profile circumstances imagine Depp’s resolution to sue — despite the fact that it meant dragging his and Heard’s private lives by means of the mud — was a last-ditch try to bolster his star energy after his failed London libel lawsuit in opposition to The Sun for describing him as a “spouse beater.”
“I think the defamation case was a Hail Mary,” said David Glass, a Los Angeles family law attorney with a Ph.D in psychology.
Married just 15 months, Depp sued Heard for $50 million over the op-ed for The Washington Post in which she called herself “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” She didn’t identify Depp by name and it was published two years after she began making public accusations against him.
Heard countersued for $100 million, accusing the star of defaming her via the hoax accusations of attorney Adam Waldman. Many of the waning days of the trial focused on the aftereffects of both claims, with Depp testifying: “I lost nothing less than everything” and Heard accusing him of attempting to erase her potential to work.
“Now as I stand right here at the moment, I can’t have a profession,” Heard testified on the shut of the trial. “I hope to get my voice back. That’s all I want.”
But does a verdict of any sort maintain the ability to reverse the courtroom accusations: of Depp as a bodily and sexually abusive getting older drunk and drug addict, and Heard as unhinged and able to faking bruises allegedly inflicted by the person she mentioned she stayed with out of affection?
Despite all of it, Depp’s fan base stays strong. Fans usually camped out in a single day for the possibility to attend proceedings. But not like rockers and stand-up comedians ensnared in #MeToo moments who can nonetheless earn by means of reside reveals, Depp and Heard want the crisis-averse studio machines to make huge cash.
Rehabilitation is critical for each, whether or not it is dueling conventional sit-down interviews or one other secret weapon of their PR groups’ arsenals.
Heard, who was within the room for Wednesday’s verdict, plans to attraction. Depp, who wasn’t in court docket, mentioned “the jury gave me my life back. I am truly humbled.”
Danny Deraney, who’s finished disaster PR for a few of Hollywood’s #MeToo accusers, mentioned males generally are extra possible than girls to search out new work within the leisure business “when it comes to forgiveness and when it comes to the things that they’ve done.”
He added: “I think it’s going to be easier for Johnny. For Amber, whether she’s innocent or guilty or whatever it is, it’s going to be difficult. I don’t think her career is necessarily over. But I’m sure it’s going to take a nice hit because I think everyone now is going to look at her as a difficult woman to work with, seeing her emotions the way they’ve been, whether wrong or right. I think they’re going to look at that and say, ‘Do we want this on our set?’”
Danielle Lindemann, a Lehigh University associate professor of sociology who researches gender, sexuality and culture, said Depp’s ability to earn big had already been affected, whether due to his own self-destruction or fallout from Heard’s accusations.
“But I don’t think he’s ‘canceled,’” said Lindemann, author of “True Story: What Reality Says About Us.”
The damage to his career is also likely to be a lot less severe in Asian and European markets, where his popularity remains strong. And he is likely to still get work on indie productions like those that helped along his 38-year run.
Since the former couple began slinging allegations, Heard has faced intense backlash on social media. She said Depp fueled campaigns to get her fired as an ambassador for L’Oreal and cut as the character Mera from an “Aquaman” sequel, though a production executive testified she remains in the film due out next year.
Mads Mikkelsen replaced Depp as Gellert Grindelwald for “Fantastic Beasts 3.” Depp’s future is also uncertain in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, something he blamed on Heard’s allegations. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer has revealed that two more “Pirates” scripts are in development, but neither will include Depp’s Capt. Jack Sparrow, a role that earned the actor an Oscar nomination. His last appearance in the Disney-owned franchise was in 2017’s “Dead Men Tell No Tales.”
Dior has long used Depp to promote a men’s fragrance, Sauvage. The fashion house has been silent on the abuse allegations and is still using him in ads.
Attorney Brett Ward, a family law specialist in New York, said it could take years to know whether Depp’s case will eventually lead to his return as an A-list actor.
“And if he doesn’t? I believe he’s made a horrible mistake as a result of most individuals aren’t going to recollect his relatively distinguished Hollywood profession. They’re going to recollect this trial. It’s like O.J. Simpson. People know him extra for what occurred in that trial than they did for his soccer profession.”
Dezenhall disagreed. He mentioned the case that captured the world’s consideration may simply be a bellwether for folks and firms going through existential threats to their reputations and livelihoods. The outdated logic that bringing defamation fits was riskier than any advantages not essentially applies, he mentioned. They’re too exhausting to win as a result of proving malice is so tough, conventional considering went. Why publicly recycle the damaging when individuals are prone to overlook?
Today, he mentioned, the stakes have turn into too excessive to keep away from such defamation court docket fights. He wrote on Substack, “If you’re already covered in muck that is suspended online forever, what’s a little more muck if your life has been ruined?”
Source: www.thehindu.com
