Johnny Depp and Amber Heard — who got married in 2015 and stayed together for 15 months — are currently embroiled in a highly publicized courtroom battle.
Depp is suing Heard for defamation, citing an op-ed she penned for the Washington Post back in 2018.
The article was headlined: “I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change.” In it, Heard claimed to be “a public figure representing domestic abuse.”
Despite her not naming her ex-husband in the piece, Depp’s legal team argue that she indirectly framed him as an abuser and significantly damaged his career as a result. It’s for that reason that the actor filed the $50 million defamation suit in 2019.
In turn, Heard then issued a $100 million defamation counterclaim of her own — which brings us to the present, where the case is headed into its 19th day on trial in Fairfax, Virginia.
With two public figures at its center and a handful of other celebrities attached, Depp and Heard’s defamation case has become one of the most highly visible legal battles in recent history.
So much so, in fact, that spectators have been gathering outside the courthouse each day to catch a glimpse of the proceedings since they began on April 11.
According to People, some onlookers have gone to great lengths to be in such close proximity, with several camping overnight to secure their spot.
For many of the spectators, it would appear that the brief moments when Depp and Heard arrive and depart from the courthouse provide an opportunity for them to express their support while the pair drive past in separate vehicles.
However, new footage appears to suggest that a large majority of onlookers reserve their cheers for Depp, while directing verbal abuse toward Heard.
A legal correspondent for CourtTV, Chanley Shá Painter, shared video footage from outside the courthouse on May 17, depicting fans’ cheers as Depp leaves the courthouse in a vehicle with heavily tinted windows.
JUST NOW: #JohnnyDepp leaving the courthouse @CourtTV
In the short clip, Depp can be seen waving from the rolled-down window of the vehicle, acknowledging fans’ cheers and screams, which intensify as he drives past.
Some of the spectators are holding signs, and one fan even appears to be dressed as Depp’s Pirates of the Caribbean character, Captain Jack.
Chanley shared a second video taken from the same spot in the crowd about 20 minutes later — this time showing what appears to be Heard leaving the courtroom.
#AmberHeard departing the courthouse after 4 days on the witness stand @CourtTV #DeppVsHeard
While Heard can’t easily be seen in the footage, it is evident that the fans have been alerted to her presence, launching into loud booing and heckling.
The onlookers in the video can be heard calling her a “liar” and “gold digger.” Another repeatedly yells: “Where’s the money?” — seemingly in reference to the $7 million divorce settlement that Heard failed to donate to charity after previously vowing to give the funds to ACLU and the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.
The video then cuts to a clip of a vehicle — presumably the one transporting Heard — driving out of an exit farther down the road, seemingly in an attempt to bypass the crowd’s heckling. The spectators can be heard booing as the vehicle drives away.
These clips were taken the day after Heard testified about the harassment she faced from Depp’s fan base when she first accused him of being “verbally and physically abusive” in 2016.
Speaking on the stand a day prior on May 16, Heard testified that she faced “vitriol from the media and Johnny Depp’s supporters” after she spoke out about his alleged abuse, going on to claim she had to “fight” for her career amid the backlash.
“It was hard for me to work. I was harassed. I am harassed on a daily basis, death threats,” she said.
“At the time, I thought it couldn’t be worse,” she said, referring to the public response at the time of their split. “Obviously now, from where I sit today, I know it gets a lot, a lot worse.”
Heard also said that the Washington Post op-ed at the center of the case was inspired by the public hate women are often faced with when they speak out about abuse.
“There was a greater cultural conversation being had around gender issues,” Heard responded when asked what she had been intending to accomplish with the publication of her opinion piece.
“I was happy to weigh in on what I saw as a unique phenomenon that typically women experience in our culture when they come forward against somebody more powerful, when they speak up about gender-based violence … and I had something to say about that,” she added.
In the legal filings for the suit, Depp’s attorneys refute the claims of abuse and instead suggest that the op-ed was part of an “elaborate hoax to generate positive publicity for Ms. Heard and advance her career,” adding that she “is not a victim of domestic abuse” but a “perpetrator.”
