Full Opening Statements of Both Sides (DAY 1, Johnny Depp Defamation Trial)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: all right are we ready with opening statements yes all right go ahead sir [00:00:06] Speaker 2: good morning my name is Ben Chiu my colleagues and I from Brown Rudnick are truly honored to represent the plaintiff in this case Johnny Depp some of you may recognize Mr. Depp from seeing him portrayed characters such as Edward Scissorhands or Captain Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies for nearly 30 years Mr. Depp built a reputation as one of the most talented actors in Hollywood a respected artist whose name was associated with success at the box office today his name is associated with a lot a false statement uttered by his former wife the defendant Amber Heard that falsely cast Mr. Depp falsely unfairly characterized cast Mr. Depp as a villain a man who would violently abuse a woman this is a defamation case it's a case about how devastating words can be when they are false and uttered publicly under the law a person who makes a false statement about someone else can be held responsible for the harm that results from that falsehood that's because words matter they paint a picture in our mind based on what we have experienced and what we know or what we think we know and because of that words can evoke strong emotions in the listener and cause irreparable harm to a person's reputation and when like Mr. Depp your career depends upon your image and your reputation or whether movie producers want their films associated with you that harm can be particularly devastating this is a case about the impact of Amber Heard's words on Johnny Depp specifically the words that she used in an op-ed published in the Washington Post in December 2018 which is shown on the screens and the op-ed was published and this is no accident the evidence will show on the eve of her first major acting role in the movie Aquaman the evidence will show that's no coincidence the evidence will show the words that Miss Heard used which are the subject of Mr. Depp's defamation suit against her and there are three statements that we respectfully ask each of you to focus on Statement number one: "I spoke up against sexual violence and faced our culture's wrath." Statement number two: "Two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse." And I want to repeat that because you're going to hear that throughout the case, because the timing here is critical. Two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse. Statement number three: "I had the rare vantage point of seeing, in real time, how institutions protect men accused of abuse." Ms. Heard did not use Mr. Depp's name in the op-ed. She didn't have to. She didn't have to because the evidence will show that everyone in Hollywood, where Mr. Depp and Ms. Heard both have their careers, and many others outside Hollywood, knew exactly what she was talking about. When she used the word "two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse." That's because, as the evidence will show, and you will hear, two years earlier, on May 27, 2016, Ms. Heard had publicly accused Johnny Depp, her husband at the time, of domestic abuse. You will learn during the trial that Ms. Heard's actions were prompted by Mr. Depp's request for a divorce. He wanted out, which drove her to concoct, to make up a story that was, at first, designed to keep him. And then, when he made it clear that finally, after all he had endured, he was done, was designed to recast herself as an abuse survivor, with Mr. Depp as the alleged abuser. The evidence will show that six days after Mr. Depp requested a divorce, and he did so politely, and three days after Ms. Heard's lawyer threatened Mr. Depp with claims of abuse, if he did not agree to her financial demands, Ms. Heard arrived at the courthouse in Los Angeles, California, to file for a restraining order alleging abuse. Ms. Heard, the evidence will show that Ms. Heard showed up with a mark on her face that mysteriously appeared six days after she last saw Mr. Depp. And six days before she publicly filed a request for a domestic violence restraining order alleging abuse. The evidence will show that her publicist and the paparazzi were there at the courthouse to document the event, to make sure that Johnny Depp's name was forever associated with the image of an innocent person. It was a jolt. It was a shocking story splashed across front pages across the country. No one had ever, in five decades, accused Johnny Depp of being violent with a woman. No one had ever accused Mr. Depp of being violent with a woman. He had been in other long-term relationships. He had children. [00:07:25] Speaker 1: Objection, Your Honor. May we be approached. [00:07:28] Speaker ?: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [00:08:27] Speaker 2: No one, as I stated before, no one had ever in five decades, no one had ever accused Johnny Depp of being abusive of any kind with a woman. That's why it was such a jolt. He had been in other long-term relationships, as I said, he had two children. And no one had even suggested ever that he was capable of something like this. By choosing to lie about her husband for her own personal benefit, Amber Heard forever changed Mr. Depp's life and reputation. And you will hear him tell you the dreadful impact that it has had on his life. The evidence you will hear at this trial contradicts the story Ms. Heard presented to the world in May 2016 and again in December 2018. The evidence will show that the last time Mr. Depp and Ms. Heard saw each other before Ms. Heard showed up in court on May 27, 2016 was May 21. And that's a very important date. And I will ask you please to remember that through the trial. Mr. Depp's mother, Betty Sue, passed away on May 20, after a long illness, when Johnny and his sister, Christy, had been taking care of his mother for a very long period of time. And for reasons that Mr. Depp will personally explain to you throughout the course of this trial, he had resolved to divorce Ms. Heard. So on May 21, Mr. Depp came by the apartment that he shared with Ms. Heard in the Eastern Columbia Building, or the ECB as some people refer to it, to tell her that, to pick up his things and to say goodbye. There is no dispute that soon after Mr. Depp ended things with Ms. Heard and left the apartment on May 21. He got on a plane to head out on a European tour, a music tour for months with his band, the Hollywood Vampires. And Ms. Heard knew that he was going off on tour and out of state when she walked into court to get the restraining order, which she obtained ex parte. It's a Latin word, fancy word, but all it means is that Mr. Depp and his lawyer were not there and had no opportunity to be heard. That's what an ex parte order is. You will hear from the police officers who responded to a 911 call on May 21, after Mr. Depp left. The police officers will testify that they saw no injuries on Ms. Heard. Both police officers will testify that they saw no injuries on Ms. Heard. Nor did the police officers see any of the property damages that you will hear Ms. Heard claims existed in the apartments that evening. And you will hear those officers under oath testify that there was no violence and there was no crime. You will also hear from multiple witnesses who, like the police officers, saw Ms. Heard between May 21 and May 26. Those are the crucial days between the alleged incident and the day she walked into court with her lawyer and got an ex parte order. And those witnesses will testify that they saw her without any marks, any signs of injuries on her face. And you will hear from multiple witnesses, including Brandon Patterson, who is the manager of the Eastern Columbia Building, where Mr. Depp and Ms. Heard, and Ms. Heard lived together. You will hear Mr. Patterson say that they, that he saw, and others will say as well, that they saw a surveillance video from the week of May 21st that showed Ms. Heard's sister, Whitney, throw a fake punch at Ms. Heard's face. Now let's just stop there. This is a surveillance video you will hear about where the sister of the alleged victim threw a fake punch at her sister allegedly, which allegedly occurred this incident only a couple of days earlier. Ms. Heard acting out being punched, responding to the fake punch, and the two laughing about it. And then the two laughing about it. So you have the alleged victim and the sister laughing about a fake punch, and you will have to decide for yourself, or we asked that you please decide for yourself. Would anyone ever joke about that if there had been actual abuse, much less ask yourself, would a sister ever joke with an alleged victim about being punched by her husband? Of course, none of this contradicting evidence was publicly available when Ms. Heard walked into court on May 27th and got her restraining order. Instead, as you can imagine, the media storm was instantaneous. You will hear about and see some of that media coverage, which published pictures of Ms. Heard walking into court and other pictures supposedly showing injuries supposedly caused by Mr. Depp, a man who had never been accused of abuse of a woman. The evidence will show that Mr. Depp and Ms. Heard eventually settled their divorce out of court. Thereafter, Ms. Heard dismissed her restraining order against Mr. Depp. But Ms. Heard's false claim that Mr. Depp had abused her remained in the public sphere. It didn't go away, it didn't go away, the images were permanent. And the evidence will show that two years later, which is why we're pointing to that, that reference in the op-ed, in the wake of the Me Too movement, and just before the release of Ms. Heard's role in the movie Aquaman, Ms. Heard chose to remind the world about the festering allegations, this time under the banner of a national, international newspaper, the Washington Post. In the op-ed, in her op-ed, Ms. Heard again painted herself as the innocent victim of abuse. But this time, this time with a wider audience primed to take action against an industry powerhouses accused of abuse. The evidence will show that the clear implication in Ms. Heard's op-ed that you have in front of you was that she was the victim of domestic abuse perpetrated by Mr. Depp. The evidence will show that that was a lie and it remains a lie when it was repeated and republished two years later. Hollywood studios don't want to deal with the public backlash from hiring someone accused of abuse. even someone with the incredible body of work and record that Mr. Depp can be proud of. A false allegation can devastate a career. And it can devastate a family. And the evidence will show that Ms. Heard's false allegations had a significant impact on Mr. Depp's family and his ability to work in the profession he loved. And love to bring joy to everyone. Ultimately, this trial is about clearing Mr. Depp's name of a terrible and false allegation. We ask you in the next several weeks to please, please carefully consider the evidence, assess the reliability and credibility of that evidence, and to make your own determination about what actually happened between Mr. Depp and Ms. Heard. And to tell you more about that, I am going to turn it over to my colleague, Camille Vasquez, who you had the pleasure of meeting yesterday. Thank you all for your attention. [00:18:22] Speaker 1: Ms. Vasquez. [00:18:24] Speaker 3: You may have to turn it up a little bit. [00:18:54] Speaker ?: Thank you. Hello. Now, where may I approach? Sure. [00:18:58] Speaker 4: There we go. Just for myself. Thank you. Thank you, Ben. And good morning. Good morning. Over the course of this trial, you're going to have an opportunity to get to know Johnny Depp. Not the characters he's portrayed, but the man himself. You will hear from Mr. Depp directly, but you will also hear from his friends, his family, and employees. You will hear from people who have known him for decades. They have seen him at his best, and they have seen him at his worst. And they will tell you, each of them, that he is a kind soul who has never, and would never, raise a hand to a woman. You will hear that Mr. Depp learned at a very young age how to coexist with an abusive woman. You will learn from Mr. Depp's sister, Christie, and from Mr. Depp, that their mother, Betty Sue, lived in a constant state of anger that would boil over daily in vicious words and violence directed at her husband and their children. And you will hear how Mr. Depp, who had the personality of his father, coped with that abuse in the same way his father did. He just took it. The evidence will show that Mr. Depp learned that the best way to deal with violence was to leave, to get away from it, give her time to cool down. But he never turned his back on his mother. Mr. Depp loved his mother, and he cared for her, until the day she died. You will hear how Mr. Depp came to Los Angeles as a teenager. He first planned to be a musician, then became an actor. And eventually, thanks to his talent, his dedication, and a lot of hard work, grew into one of the biggest movie stars in the world. He had relationships with major figures in Hollywood and elsewhere, like Winona Ryder, Kate Moss. And before he met Amber Heard, he was with the same woman, Vanessa Paradis, for 14 years. He had two children with her. And even though he was a megastar, they had a quiet, domestic life. In fact, you'll hear, as Mr. Chee already told you, that in Mr. Depp's 58 years, not a single woman has ever accused him of violence. And nobody in Hollywood or the world had any reason to believe he was an abuser, until Ms. Heard publicly accused him in 2016. You're also going to hear evidence about Ms. Heard. You're going to learn that she's a profoundly troubled person, who manipulates the people around her, just like she manipulated Mr. Depp. Ms. Heard and Ms. Heard came to Los Angeles and sought a career in acting after Mr. Depp was well-established as a movie star. Mr. Depp and Ms. Heard first met in 2009 on the set of the film The Run Diaries. There was a significant age difference between them. And at first, he avoided her advances. But she pursued him. She wooed him. The evidence will show that Ms. Heard went to great lengths to win him over by playing the doting girlfriend. And it worked. He fell head over heels in love with her. Those who watched this relationship develop saw red flags all over the place. You will hear from them in this trial. And over time, the real Ms. Heard began to emerge. She would berate him, scream at him. He would try to appease her. And sometimes, just sometimes, things would get better. But it would always happen again. The evidence will show that Mr. Depp started coping with Ms. Heard in the same way he did as a child. He would try to get away, avoid the conflict. But his trying to leave enraged Ms. Heard. She would resort to physical violence, throwing things at him, hitting him. She would tell him he was a coward. She would tell him he wasn't man enough. Because he wouldn't stay and fight with her. You will see that Ms. Heard equated anger and violence with passion. She would apologize with poetic excuses. As if the violence just proved how fierce and overwhelming her love for him was. And you are going to hear that when Ms. Heard got violent, Mr. Depp would just retreat. Just as he did with his mother. He would try to leave, to get away from her. In her words, Ms. Heard's words, he would split. Mr. Depp would often retreat into bathrooms, lock the doors, wait out Ms. Heard's Russian. But his leaving just provoked her more. You will hear from Mr. Depp's security people, like Sean Bette, about how they often had to remove Mr. Depp from scenes with Ms. Heard, screaming at him, chasing him, trying to keep him from leaving. You are going to hear evidence that when Mr. Depp and Ms. Heard traveled together, his team routinely had to book an extra room for him, so that he had somewhere to go when Ms. Heard became enraged. You will hear from other witnesses, including Mr. Depp and Ms. Heard's marriage counselor. Her name is Dr. Laurel Anderson, who perceived Ms. Heard as the aggressor in the relationship, the one who would strike Mr. Depp to try to keep him from leaving. You will hear from medical professionals who were with Mr. Depp and Ms. Heard often on a daily basis for years, including their doctor, David Kipper, and Ms. Heard's personal nurse, her personal assigned nurse, Erin Beren Filotti, who did not see any signs of injuries that Ms. Heard later testified to in graphic detail. Ms. Heard wants you to ignore the testimony of these medical professionals who saw her in real time. Just as she wants you to ignore the testimony of the police officers who testified under oath, who saw her on May 21, 2016, without any injuries. But it is up to you, ladies and gentlemen of this jury, to judge the credibility of these witnesses and that of Ms. Heard. In this trial, Ms. Heard will undoubtedly present photos that supposedly show injuries she sustained as a result of the claimed abuse by Mr. Depp. Here's what you should keep in mind when you see these photographs. First, the evidence and expert testimony from a forensic pathologist, a doctor, will show that the injuries reflected in these photographs are not consistent with the brutal allegations of abuse Ms. Heard has alleged. Second, there are multiple, multiple witnesses, including medical professionals and police officers, who will testify that they did not observe the injuries supposedly reflected in these photographs. And you may be wondering, how can that be? Well, you will hear expert testimony that none of these photographs are the originals. Not one. And many were stored in an editing program. So they could have been manipulated and cannot be confirmed as authentic. Importantly, you will not see a single photograph of the vast majority of the abuse alleged by Ms. Heard. Not one. And there was not a single photograph or video showing Mr. Depp becoming physically violent towards Ms. Heard. The only medical report of an injury during their relationship was a severe one, and it was sustained by Mr. Depp. After an argument shortly after their marriage while the couple was in Australia, you will hear evidence that the people who cared about Mr. Depp were encouraging him to have a prenuptial agreement with Ms. Heard. But she rushed the wedding date, and he agreed to get married without one. After the wedding, again, people close to Mr. Depp encouraged him to consider a postnuptial agreement. When the topic came up, Ms. Heard became outraged, as she always did, at the suggestion that Mr. Depp might leave her. She berated him, and when he tried to leave, she became violent. She became so violent, in fact, she threw a vodka bottle at him that hit his hand and exploded. She severed the end of one of his fingers. You'll see pictures of Mr. Depp's severed finger, and learn about his emergency medical treatment for that injury. And then you'll learn, and this is important, years later, after the false claims of abuse that caused Mr. Depp to file this very lawsuit, Ms. Heard came up with an elaborate story about what actually happened, according to her, in Australia. And what she said happened was that it was a three-day hostage affair, an episode, where she was violently attacked, and then sexually assaulted by Mr. Depp. You will see for yourself that the evidence does not support the story she told after she was sued. You will learn that there came a time when Mr. Depp was done. And you'll learn from him, and he will tell you why. The evidence will show that on May 20th, 2016, Mr. Depp's mother, Betty Sue, passed away. You will hear from Mr. Depp that his mother's passing was a wake-up call that helped confirm what he already knew, that the relationship with Ms. Heard wasn't working, and that Ms. Heard was not going to change. If you've ever lost a parent, you understand how much this experience can change your perspective on what is important for your own well-being. So Mr. Depp resolved to finally divorce Ms. Heard, and told her that very day that he would do so respectfully, and most importantly, discreetly. The evidence will show that on May 21st, 2016, when Mr. Depp went over to the Eastern Columbia Building to gather his things, Ms. Heard caused a final dramatic scene. In the wreckage of their relationship, Ms. Heard spun the final encounter between them into a tale of domestic abuse. Now, I understand that many of you may be asking yourselves, why? Why would Ms. Heard say that Mr. Depp abused her during their relationship if it didn't actually happen? Why would she make up the detailed, dramatic tales of abuse that you will surely hear in this courtroom over the coming weeks? By the end of this trial, you will have the answer to that question. The evidence will show exactly who Ms. Heard is. You will hear from Mr. Depp and other witnesses, including their marriage counselor, Dr. Laurel Anderson, that Ms. Heard would go to great lengths and even resort to physical violence to stop Mr. Depp from leaving her. But once Mr. Depp did leave, Ms. Heard tried to avoid public humiliation and present herself as a noble survivor and representative of the Me Too movement. You will hear evidence, including the testimony of Ms. Heard's former personal assistant, Kate James, that Ms. Heard is obsessed with her public image. It's her number one priority. And you will see evidence that after she received a $7 million divorce settlement from Mr. Depp, Ms. Heard released a public statement claiming she wanted nothing from him and would donate the entire settlement to two charities: The Children's Hospital Los Angeles in California and the American Civil Liberties Union, also known as the ACLU. But then she did not make the donations. Quite simply, Ms. Heard had publicly cast herself in the role of a domestic abuse survivor. There was no going back. When Mr. Depp finally stood up and fought for his good name in court by filing this lawsuit, Ms. Heard, because she couldn't back down, went on. After this lawsuit was filed, and it's important, the timeline here, after this lawsuit was filed, Ms. Heard started making up more and more alleged incidents of abuse. And if you'll recall, ladies and gentlemen, the headline of the op-ed references sexual violence. But Ms. Heard had never made that accusation against Mr. Depp. It was never part of her allegations of abuse. So what changed? What changed between 2016 and 2018? We submit to you, and the evidence will show, when she realized the seriousness of what she had alleged, she panicked, and she alleged sexual assault. Ms. Heard and her lawyers are going to tell you some truly horrific tales of abuse before this trial is over. But the horrific details are designed, they're designed to shock you, and to overwhelm you. They are designed to be explosive. And they are designed to distract you from the evidence, and most importantly, from common sense. That tells you, the common sense and the evidence will tell you, that it is all a lie. That none of this, not one single alleged incident of abuse, could have happened as Ms. Heard claims. Ms. Heard's pattern is consistent. She tells the lies, then covers up that lie with still more lies, in a constantly changing, evolving, ever more dramatic story. You're going to hear a lot about Mr. Depp during his trial. Ms. Heard is going to tell you a lot of things about him. That he abused drugs and alcohol. That he used bad, offensive language. And it's true, that Mr. Depp has had real struggles with substance abuse in his life. He's not denying that. You may know people close to you, who have struggled too. But struggling with drugs and alcohol, doesn't make you an abuser. He has also used some very colorful language. He uses words that I don't use, and you probably don't use. And he uses them frequently. Mr. Depp, like all of us, is not perfect. But he did not abuse Ms. Heard. All of this is just meant to distract you from what this case is about. This case is about what Ms. Heard said in her op-ed. The evidence will show that Ms. Heard painted a picture of herself as a heroic, innocent survivor of abuse by Mr. Depp. A beaten woman who finally stood up to her tormentor. The evidence will show that Ms. Heard used her allegations against Mr. Depp to raise her own profile and to advance her own career. The very same day that the op-ed was published, under the title, quote, "I spoke up against sexual violence," end quote. She posted that article that's now displayed on your screens, and the title on her Twitter page, right along with an announcement that she was becoming an ACLU ambassador on women's rights to make sure that, quote, "women and girls can live free from violence," end quote. She presented herself as the face of the #MeToo movement, the virtuous representative of innocent women across the country and the world who have truly suffered abuse. The evidence will show that Ms. Heard portrayed Mr. Depp as the representative of abusers everywhere, the agent of her suffering, the villain in her heroic journey. That was a lie, too. And more than just a lie, it was an act of cruelty. Mr. Depp will go to his grave knowing that whatever he does, there are people out there in this world who will always believe that he abused a woman. This is a case about what Ms. Heard said. It's also a case about what a man named Adam Waldman said. Adam Waldman is a lawyer who has worked for Mr. Depp. After, again, the timeline, after Mr. Depp filed this case against her, Ms. Heard filed her own claim against Mr. Depp, which is also the subject of this trial. In her claim, Ms. Heard says that Mr. Depp defamed her because Adam Waldman, his attorney, made some statements to reporters denying the truth of her claims of abuse. Adam Waldman is not in this courtroom. Ms. Heard chose not to name him in her claim. And I won't take up too much of your time with a discussion of her claim against Mr. Depp, except to say a few things. The evidence will show that those statements weren't even made by Mr. Depp. They were made by Adam Waldman. And Mr. Waldman, the evidence will show, is not under Mr. Depp's control. The statements were merely Mr. Waldman's opinions, made in justified defense of his client and friend, Mr. Depp. Mr. Waldman believed those statements. And finally, at the end of the day, Mr. Waldman's statements merely reflected the reality that we intend to prove in this trial. That Ms. Heard's portrayal of herself as a victim of domestic violence at the hands of Mr. Depp is a lie. Ms. Heard, as you know, is an actress. When she accused Mr. Depp of abuse and painted herself before the world as a representative of abuse victims everywhere, Ms. Heard took on the role of a lifetime. She can't back down. She has been living and breathing this lie for years now. And she has been preparing to give the performance of her life in this trial. But this trial is about the evidence. It's about a man's reputation. And it's about his whole life. His ability to walk down the street, look people in the eye, without having them think he's an abuser. It's about the truth. And the truth will come out in this trial. At the end of this trial, we will ask you to render a verdict for Mr. Depp. We will ask you to tell the world that he is not the abuser she described, and that she is not the victim she portrayed. And we will ask you to tell Ms. Heard that what she did was wrong. Thank you very much. [00:41:25] Speaker ?: Thank you, Ms. Vasquez. [00:41:27] Speaker 1: Thank you. All right. All right. Opening statements. Yes, sir. Mr. Rottenborn. May I approach? [00:41:45] Speaker ?: Good morning, everyone. [00:41:46] Speaker 3: My name is Ben Rottenborn, and together with Elaine and Adam, I represent Amber Heard. In a few minutes, Elaine will get up here and she'll introduce you to Amber. And she'll address the allegations that you just heard in Mr. Chew and Ms. Vasquez's opening statement. And she'll explain to you why all those inflammatory things are things that are designed to mislead you, mislead you from the truth. She'll explain to you what the evidence will show. And that's something that we're going to focus on in this trial. Not attempts to distract you. We're going to focus on the evidence. Not what we wish the evidence showed. Not some crazy conspiracy theories, but what the evidence and the facts actually show. And as you assess the evidence in this trial, I would ask that you keep one question in mind above all else, which is this: Why are you here? What are you being asked to decide? You're being asked to decide a very simple question. And that question is: Were the words that Amber used in the December 18, 2018 opinion piece that was published in the Washington Post, protected free speech under the First Amendment or not? That is the question. And that's what you're being asked to decide. At the end of the trial, the judge will explain to you what the law is on defamation. And what Mr. Depp's burden is to prove in order to establish defamation. And she'll tell you a lot of things about the law. But among them, she will tell you that Mr. Depp will have to prove that the words misheard used were about him and that they were false. And if he can't do that, and if he can't meet the other elements of the claim, then he loses that claim. And he can't do that. He can't come close to doing that. And for that reason, you're going to hear, in this trial, Mr. Depp's team is going to make it about trying to distract you from that very simple question. Mr. Depp's team is going to try to turn this case into a soap opera. [00:44:06] Speaker ?: Why? [00:44:08] Speaker 3: I'm not really sure. Because the evidence isn't pretty for Mr. Depp. It's not. You're going to see who the real Johnny Depp is. Behind the red carpets, behind the fame, behind the money, behind the pirate costumes. You're going to see who that man really is. Amber is going to tell you about it. You're going to hear who he really is from other witnesses. And you're going to hear who he really is in his own words. In the vile, graphic, terrible messages that he wrote about Amber and ways he used to describe Amber and what he wanted to do to Amber. From the earliest days that they were dating, through their marriage, and after their marriage. You're going to hear about that. But this case isn't about that. This case isn't about a day-to-day chronicle of their marriage. It's not about who is the better spouse. It's not about who you like more. It's not about which party can sling more mud. But you're going to hear a lot of that in this trial. You're going to hear that because that's what Mr. Depp wants to turn this case into. He wants to turn this case into a six-week long public spectacle of the most intimate aspects of their relationship and their marriage. And you know what? I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry. I'm sorry that we're going to have to do that. I'm sorry that you're going to have to lift all of it. And I'm sorry that Amber's going to have to relive that. But that's the case that Johnny Depp chose to bring. And we're not going to stand idly by and let him sling mud at our client and make inflammatory and false statements like you just heard in opening and not let those go unresponded to. But ultimately, what this case is about is about the First Amendment. About that December 18, 2018 op-ed piece. And whether Ms. Hurd's freedom of speech and the First Amendment give her the right to say the words that she said. That right, that freedom of speech is what Amber Hurd is asking you to uphold and protect in this lawsuit. And that's a very simple question, a question you could decide this afternoon. And it does not require you to stand and serve as the umpire of two movie stars in perfect marriage. It doesn't. And so we're going to focus on those words. We're going to look at those words. And as we look at those words, I'd ask you to keep this in mind. Keep in mind what you just saw on the screen from Mr. Chu when he put up those words. Keep in mind what you didn't see. You didn't see the rest of the opinion piece. And what we'd ask is that as you look at those words, that you look at them in the context of the piece in which they were written. Now, whether you look at them individually or in the context of the piece doesn't really matter because the words are true. But context matters. And so what I'm going to do is I'm going to ask Heather to put up the article, put up the opinion piece, and I'm going to read that to you. And we're going to look at those words in the context of what this piece was about because Mr. Depp's team wants to make you think that this opinion piece was designed to destroy Johnny Depp. That this was designed to maliciously talk about him and their life together. And it wasn't. So let's take a moment to look at this. I'd ask that you follow along if you can, but either way, let's take a look at what the piece as a whole says. This is the piece that Amber wrote. I was exposed to abuse at a very young age. I knew certain things early on without ever having to be told. I knew that men have the power physically, socially, and financially. And that a lot of institutions support that arrangement. I knew this long before I had the words to articulate it, and I bet you learned it young too. Like many women, I had been harassed and sexually assaulted by the time I was of college age. But I kept quiet. I did not expect filing complaints to bring justice, and I didn't see myself as a victim. Then, two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our culture's wrath for women who speak out. Friends and advisors told me I would never again work as an actress, that I would be blacklisted. A movie I was attached to recast my role. I had just shot a two-year campaign as the face of a global fashion brand, and the company dropped me. Questions arose as to whether I would be able to keep my role of Mira in the movies Justice League and Aquaman. I had the rare advantage point of seeing, in real time, how institutions protect men accused of abuse. Imagine a powerful man as a ship, like the Titanic. That ship is a huge enterprise. When it strikes an iceberg, there are a lot of people on board desperate to patch up holes. Not because they believe in or even care about the ship, but because their own fates depend on the enterprise. In recent years, the #MeToo movement has taught us about how power like this works. Not just in Hollywood, but in all kinds of institutions. Workplaces, places of worship, or simply in particular communities. In every walk of life, women are confronting these men who are buoyed by social, economic, and cultural power. And these institutions are beginning to change. We are in a transformative political moment. The President of our country has been accused by more than a dozen women of sexual misconduct, including assault and harassment. Outrage over his statements and behavior has energized a female-led opposition. MeToo started a conversation about just how profoundly sexual violence affects women every area of our lives. And last month, more women were elected to Congress than ever in our history. With a mandate to take women's issues seriously. Women's rage and determination to end sexual violence are turning into a political force. We have an opening now to bolster and build institutions protective of women. For starters, Congress can reauthorize and strengthen the Violence Against Women Act. First passed in 1994, the Act is one of the most effective pieces of legislation enacted to fight domestic violence and sexual assault. It creates support systems for people who report abuse and provides funding for rape crisis centers, legal assistance programs, and other critical services. It improves responses by law enforcement and it prohibits discrimination against LGBTQ survivors. Funding for the Act expired in September and has only been temporarily extended. We should continue to fight sexual assault on college campuses while simultaneously insisting on fair processes for adjudicating complaints. Last month, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos proposed changes to Title IX rules governing the treatment of sexual harassment and assault in schools. While some changes would make the process for handling complaints more fair, others would weaken protections for sexual assault survivors. For example, the new rules would require schools to investigate only the most extreme complaints and then only when they are made to designated officials. Women on campuses already have trouble coming forward about sexual violence. Why would we allow institutions to scale back supports? I write this as a woman who had to change my phone number weekly because I was getting death threats. For months, I rarely left my apartment. And when I did, I was pursued by camera drones and photographers on foot. On motorcycles and in cars. Tabloid outlets that posted pictures of me spun them in a negative light. I felt as though I was on trial in the court of public opinion. And my life and livelihood depended on myriad judgments far beyond my control. I want to ensure that women who come forward to talk about violence receive more support. We are electing representatives who know how deeply we care about these issues. We can work together to demand changes to laws and rules and social norms. And to right the imbalances that have shaped our lives. I know that was a lot. But that is the central issue in this case. Are those words that Amber wrote, are those protected by the First Amendment? And the answer is very clearly yes. So let's talk about that article for a minute. First of all, the article doesn't mention Depp by name. It never once contains his name in that article. It is not about Amber's relationship with Mr. Depp. There are no details of any abuse in that article. The article is about proposed legislation and strengthening of government laws and policies designed to protect abuse victims and people who report abuse. That's what the article is about. And it was written in the midst of a social movement in which the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU, asked Amber to use her platform to speak on these important issues. And that's what she did. To do so, she drew on her experiences as someone who had reported domestic abuse. And there's no question, there is no dispute that she did in fact report domestic abuse in 2016. Depp side admits that. She talked about her negative personal experiences and her reactions and opinions after being someone in Hollywood who reported abuse and the consequences that flowed from that. She talked about what she experienced in the days and months following reporting that abuse. That's what the article is about. The article isn't about Johnny Depp. The article is about the social change for which she is advocating and that the First Amendment protects. And so I hope you remember as this case goes on that you saw from Mr. Chu only the three statements in isolation because they want you to forget that. They don't want you to pay attention to what the article is about. Now, if it had been Amber's intention to use this article to detail the abuse that she suffered and that you'll hear about over the course of this trial, believe me, the article would have looked very, very different. She could fill a book with those details. She probably would have started out by calling out Mr. Depp by name. She probably wouldn't have published it in the Washington Post. She would have described in great detail the man who has described himself, the violent side of himself, as the monster. That's what she would have done, the monster. She would have told you about the monster. [00:56:18] Speaker ?: But she didn't. [00:56:19] Speaker 3: That wasn't the point of this article. And she was careful to avoid that, even having her lawyer review the article to make sure that it was okay. And she relied on that lawyer's advice, and you'll hear testimony on that during the trial. But because Johnny Depp brought this case and asked for it, all of that is going to come out. Just know that Amber Heard never wanted to unearth for the public who the real Johnny Depp is. But that's going to come out over the course of this trial. I'd like you to also take into consideration who isn't here today. You don't see the Washington Post sitting here as a defendant in this courtroom. Depp didn't sue the Washington Post. He had no interest in doing that. He only sued Amber. He could have sued the Washington Post, they published the article. But he didn't. And he chose to bring Amber to court here in Virginia, where she has no ties, has never lived, he's never lived, where they never spent any time. Because he wanted to make her life hard. He wanted to ruin her life. He wanted to destroy her. That's what he did. And I wish I could say that that's surprising. It's certainly disturbing. But it's not surprising. Because the evidence will show that for years, all Mr. Depp has wanted to do is humiliate Amber, to haunt her, to wreck her career. That's what the evidence will show in his words. That's what he wanted. But he made a mistake bringing this case in Virginia. Because you're the people who are going to hear this case. A qualified, prepared jury, who respects the First Amendment. And with that, even though we've looked at the article as a whole, I'd like to spend a few minutes looking at the individual statements that were made. Just as Depp's side showed you. Because I think it's important to do that as well. Can we pull up slide one, please? And then, two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse. And I felt the full force of our culture's wrath for women who speak out. There's absolutely nothing false about that statement. First of all, the evidence will show that Amber did suffer domestic abuse at the hands of Johnny Depp. And it took many forms. [00:59:09] Speaker ?: Physical, sure. [00:59:10] Speaker 3: But also emotional, verbal, psychological abuse. It's all domestic abuse that she suffered at his hands. So that's the truth. But what else is the truth? Is that on May 27th, 2016, two years before this opinion piece was published, Amber walked into a courtroom in California with bruises on her face that were given to her by Johnny Depp on that incident in May 21st, 2016. That Elaine's going to tell you more about. That absolutely were given to her. And she took out a domestic violence restraining order that she obtained from the court in California to protect herself. And she was, of course, a public figure. She was a movie star. She didn't want the paparazzi, the press photos. She got those, of course. Who wants to be photographed with a bruised face walking out of court? She didn't want that. And the evidence will show that. But she was a public figure. And two years before she wrote this article, she was a public figure representing domestic abuse. That is 100% true. And try as he might to take it away, Amber's freedom of speech gives her the right to say that. Can we pull up slide two, please? This is the second statement. I had the rare vantage point of seeing, in real time, how institutions protect men accused of abuse. Once again, that statement is 100% true. Amber did accuse Johnny of abuse. And she saw how he was protected at the same time that her career took a downturn and that he did everything that he could to try to wreck her career, as the evidence will see. But she accused him of abuse. That statement is true. That statement is true. You don't need to relive every intimate detail of their marriage. You don't need to decide what happened on any individual day of their marriage to determine that the First Amendment protects that statement because it is true. He wants you to forget that. He wants you to forget that. Don't take the bait. Let's pull up the third statement, please. Now this statement was in the headline of the online edition of the article. I spoke up against sexual violence and faced our culture's wrath. That has to change. The undisputed evidence in this case will be that Amber did not write these words, did not review these words, did not approve these words. That's how op-eds work. She wrote the article. She didn't write this headline. And for that reason, that reason alone, it's not defamatory. But here's the thing. Like the first two statements, tragically, it's true. Amber did suffer sexual violence at the hands of death. And Ms. Vasquez tried to minimize that and tried to make you think that it's all made up. [01:02:25] Speaker ?: But it's not. [01:02:27] Speaker 3: You will hear in the most graphic and horrifying terms about the violence that she suffered. You'll hear that straight from her. She will get on the stand and she will tell you that. It happened. And by taking out that domestic violence restraining order, by obtaining that from the court, she did speak out against it. And all the other abuse that she suffered. And she said, "Enough is enough. I need to protect myself." She didn't want to do that. She didn't want to be forced to get that restraining order, but she did. She spoke out against the abuse by doing that. And the evidence will show that she did face her culture's wrath, perhaps illustrated no more clearly by the fact that she's here today facing this lawsuit brought by an obsessed ex-husband hell-bent on revenge. That's why she's here. That's why she's facing our culture's wrath. And as you consider whether these statements are true, I'd ask you to keep this in mind as well. The evidence will show that in May of 2016, when she obtained the restraining order, Mr. Depp never denied the allegations. In fact, he signed a statement that Amber hadn't made any false statements for financial gain. He signed a statement saying she hadn't made any false statements. And you'll see that in evidence in this trial. And it was only two years later, as his career was in freefall and her career was taking off, that he pounced, that he chose to bring this lawsuit after saying that she hadn't made any false statements. And one thing that you'll be instructed at the end of the trial, but that Mr. Depp's side will try to distract you from, is that any damages that he suffered and any defamation has to flow from that 2018 opinion piece. This case isn't about the statements made in 2016, even though they're true. This case is about the December 2018 opinion piece. That's what the case is about. I want to say, it's pretty ironic. It's pretty ironic that a piece that briefly discussed Amber moving on from Johnny Depp, that briefly discussed her life experiences after Johnny Depp, is the very vehicle that he uses to try to keep her from moving on. To try to keep her from living that life. Rather than give her her life back. Rather than take personal responsibility for his own actions. It's ironic that he uses that piece to do that. But like I said, it's not surprising. Because you will see clear and graphic evidence of his intentions. Dating back years. Now in five or six weeks, Elaine or I will get up here, a closing argument, and we'll remind you. We'll remind you what this case is about. We'll remind you that this case is about one piece of paper. Amber's words in this article that wasn't about Depp, wasn't about her marriage, wasn't about her relationship, but it was about life after that. It's about the freedom of speech. It's not about the soap opera that Depp will turn this case into. It's not about who you like better. It's not even about whether you agree with the words that she wrote. It's about her right to speak them. Now before I sit down, I'd like to briefly discuss some of the damages that Depp alleges in this case. Because he can't win the case if he can't show damages. And the evidence will show that he has not suffered one cent of damages from this op-ed. Not one. Now, make no mistake, Johnny Depp's reputation is in tatters. His career is in free fall. But it's because of problems that he created. Problems that he is responsible for. And he's here in court asking you to blame Amber for them. But it's not Amber's fault. They're from the choices that he made. You'll hear a lot of evidence in this trial about those choices. You'll hear evidence of crushing drug and alcohol abuse. You'll hear evidence of Depp taking more drugs than you can count. You'll hear evidence that before one of the instances of abuse, a cross-country plane flight in May 2014 from Boston to Los Angeles when he kicked Amber in the back on a private jet. You'll hear evidence that he had had no food for days, that he had used cocaine, that he had had half a bottle of whiskey, that he had had countless Red Bulls and vodkas, that he had taken pills and, on the plane, decided to top all that off with two bottles of champagne. You'll hear evidence of that. And he blacked out on the plane. And he abused Amber and didn't remember anything about it when he woke up. You'll hear evidence of drug binges with his good friend Marilyn Manson. You'll hear evidence of that three-day blackout in Australia that Ms. Vasquez tried to minimize and tell you was false. A three-day blackout in which he abused and sexually assaulted Amber all because she had the courage to confront him about his drinking. Imagine that. A concerned spouse confronts her husband about his drinking and gets rewarded with that. That is what the evidence will show. That is what happened to my client. That three-day blackout that led her to be so in fear for her life that she barricaded herself in her room. That same three-day blackout that kept him from being able to do what he was in Australia to do, which was to film Pirates of the Caribbean 5. His behavior on that trip, both before the blackout and during it, kept him from being a reliable actor. He showed up late to the set. And after that blackout, he was gone from the set for a long time. Now, he did cut off his finger. But the evidence will show my client did not do it. And just imagine this. What Ms. Vasquez is trying to get you to buy is that Amber Heard somehow developed a major league-level fastball and cut off his finger with a bottle. You'll see the evidence. You'll see that that doesn't make any sense. And you'll hear from Ms. Heard's experts who testified, including orthopedic hand specialists who testified, there was no way that that happened. You'll also see pictures of what Mr. Depp did after he cut off his finger, when he dipped it in blood and paint and wrote graffiti all around the house. That's what you're going to see he did. And you're going to ask yourself, how can someone that is blacked out, how can they deny that they abused someone? How can they deny what they were told that they did? He has no credibility when he gets up here now in this court and tells you he didn't do this or do that when he was blacked out. So just remember that. Those were problems that he created. You'll hear evidence that the same addictions that led him to abuse Amber also led to the demise of his career as an actor. Like I said, as you saw with Disney, as the evidence will show with Disney, he was unreliable as an actor. The same self-destructive tendencies led to financial distress. Quite simply, he was running out of money. And that distress fueled his abusive tendencies toward Amber. And it led the public to think less and less of him. And you will see a parade of witnesses who testify in Johnny's case that all have one thing in common. They all rely on him. They're all on his payroll for the most part. Or they rely on him for some sort of luxury in their life. And you'll see that of these witnesses. And in a lot of ways, Amber previewed the parade of witnesses when she said in her op-ed, and I'm going to read from it and quote it here. She said, and you remember when I said this, "Imagine a powerful man as a ship, like the Titanic. That ship is a huge enterprise. When it strikes an iceberg, there are a lot of people on board desperate to patch up holes. Not because they believe in or even care about the ship, but because their own fates depend on the enterprise." Remember that as Depp's witnesses take the stand. None of whom know what happened behind closed doors between him and Amber. None of whom can testify to that. But remember that these are people who care about their own financial well-being, just as Amber previewed in that article. And they know what happens to people who stand up to Depp. They know what happens because they've seen it. They've seen it with Amber, and they've seen it with other people in his life who had the courage to ask him to change. And who he lashed out against. These are people who helped enable the man who describes himself as the monster. Make no mistake. This man's poor choices have brought him to this courtroom. His own bad behavior. His own refusal to commit to sobriety. His own violence. His poor choices. And the people who have spoken up against it, they're the ones that have suffered the consequences. You'll hear evidence that he fired his longtime agent. That he got rid of his business managers and his law firms that had represented him for years. And no one has suffered from his refusal to take accountability more than he ever heard. You'll hear evidence that two years before the op-ed, two years before that, Mr. Depp brought someone else into his life who helped convince him to blame other people. That man, Adam Waldman, who Ms. Vasquez introduced you to, had never met Mr. Depp while he was in a relationship with Ms. Hurd. Or while he was represented by his agents or his former business managers. But he convinced him that all these bad things that are happening in his life, he helped convince him of this, were other people's fault. And you'll hear evidence of that. Rather than take responsibility for cleaning himself up, Depp chose to blame other people. That's why we're here. The evidence will show you crystal clearly that the op-ed had nothing to do with damages that he suffered. He's going to try to make it sound like this caused him to lose Pirates of the Caribbean 6, which is a movie that hasn't been made. But that Disney wasn't going to cast him in it because of Inker's article. But there's no evidence of that. The evidence will actually show that months before the op-ed, it was reported that Disney was considering dropping him from Pirate 6. The evidence will show that Disney had a dossier on him that had articles from the press, had other information about Mr. Depp, and they didn't have this article at all in their files. It didn't register with them. Just as it didn't register with the public. The public had known since 2016 what Amber had to say about Johnny Depp. This didn't change any of that. The evidence will also show that he said he would not make Pirate 6 even if Disney paid him far more money than he'd ever made on a film. That's what the evidence will show. So any damages that he suffered in his career are not because of this op-ed. And it's time to make Johnny take responsibility. To tell him, "Mr. Depp, stop blaming other people for your self-created problems." To take responsibility for your own life. And it's up to you, ladies and gentlemen, to make him do that. It's up to you. Because you are uniquely qualified to do that. No one else has the power to do that. Only you. To tell him enough is enough. To stand up for the First Amendment. To stand up for the truth. And Amber's right to speak it. [01:16:05] Speaker ?: Thank you. [01:16:08] Speaker 1: Thank you, Mr. Rodenborn. Ms. Bretterhoff? [01:16:12] Speaker ?: Yes. I'm going to switch out. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [01:16:44] Speaker 1: Good morning, still. It's good to see you all again. And thank you again very much. Ben told you we will be relying on the evidence. Rather than the hyperbole and the personal attacks. And he was right. The evidence in this case, simply put, is overwhelming and compelling. In the six weeks, we're going to try to show you as much as we possibly can. There are many, many, many photographs. Now, you've heard Ms. Vasquez try to say, uh-oh, you can't trust those. It's not the originals. She's got that wrong. It's not from the original devices. Ms. Heard took all kinds of photographs and her friends took photographs. And all of those remained on the cloud. And all of them have been imaged. And all of them have been examined by their IT experts. And they cannot discredit one photograph. Then she says, oh, and it's got a photo editing thing. Well, all iPhones have the photo editing. It's where you can make it a little lighter or darker. You can move it to the center or not. And that doesn't discredit the photographs. And we will have an IT expert who will testify that all of these are legitimate, authentic photographs. Not only that, but Ms. Heard produced all of her different devices over the years, including her most recent laptop. And they were pulled from many, many sources. And all of them are identical. So if she was going to go in and try to manipulate, she would have had to do it everywhere. And Ms. Heard will tell you she doesn't have that level of talent. There may be a couple of you on the jury who have that talent. She does not have that talent. They're all very legitimate photographs. And listen carefully to the evidence from the experts. And you will find every single piece is authenticated and is true. And they show bruises. And they show cut lips. They show hair pulled out of her hair. They show two black eyes when he head-butted her. Those are all going to be there. We also are going to show you a video. And I'll talk about the time frame of it. Ms. Heard took that on her iPad. And it was one day when she was in the kitchen with Mr. Depp. And it was February 10th, 2016. And he's on a tear. And he's going around. He's yelling at her and being abusive to her. And he's slamming the kitchen cupboards in their glass. And you can hear them rattling. And you can hear them breaking. Then he goes over with a big glass of wine. And he has a huge bottle of wine. And he pours more in there. And then she says, did you drink all of that? And then he sees that she's videotaping him. [01:19:23] Speaker ?: And bam. [01:19:24] Speaker 1: That's going to be a pretty graphic one for you to see. Then you're going to hear audiotapes, which are pretty significant, too. Ben told you about the May 2014 plane, Boston plane incident, we call it, where he kicked her, where he was so drunk and he blacked out. Well, Amber audiotaped him when he went to the back of the plane and passed out and was moaning loudly. You will hear that. You will also hear some other audiotapes that are very significant. One of them in Australia at the end of the three-day hostage situation. You will hear, apparently, Mr. Depp turned on Ms. Hurd's iPhone. She was never allowed to have a password, by the way. He would never let her do that during their relationship. But he must have inadvertently turned it on. There's five hours of audiotaped. It's during the cleanup of all the broken glass and the liquor and the urine and the blood stains and everything else in that house. And you can hear his handlers talking about it. You can hear them talking about trying to find his finger. And you can hear them say, "She's stone cold sober." You will hear all of that. It's very, very significant evidence. What this is going to tell you is the story of a very different Johnny Depp. One who is always, always, well I can't say always. Because he has the charismatic side that Amber fell in love with. But he has an enormous amount of rage. You will see the medical records and hear from the psychiatrist that talked to him for a while in 2014. Where he admits that he has rage. That he's like a demon. That he views his wife, Amber, like his mother and his sister that he hates. That's what you will see. You will see that. And it will be fueled by the alcohol and the drugs. Ben told you a little bit about that. You're going to see a list of his prescription drugs that his concierge doctor and team who charge him $100,000 a month and have since 2014. And they are still his concierge doctors. That's the list of medications he takes in one day that they prescribe. That doesn't include the cocaine. It doesn't include the ecstasy, the MDMA, the mushrooms and all of the others. Now, it's during these rages that Mr. Depp engaged in verbal, emotional, physical and sexual abuse of Amber. Let me introduce you to Amber, the lesser known person here. And I know when we were doing the voir dire, none of you had even watched as much as three of her movies. So I'm going to tell you a little bit about Amber. She's 35 years old. She's from Austin, Texas. She grew up outside of Austin, Texas. She has a daughter, Una, who turned one last week. Amber grew up in an area. Her father was a construction worker, primarily a painter, but he would break horses as part-time. They lived out on a ranch area. Her mother, Paige, who died two years ago at age 63, dropped out of medical school to marry Amber's father. She worked for the state of Texas in internet communications. They grew up very poor. Amber has a sister, Whitney, who's 16 months younger than her. And you will see and hear from Whitney later because, unfortunately, she also witnessed some of the abuse. Amber rode horses with her father. She tried to work with him to help him break the horses. She remembers having a broken arm at least four times, being in casts during that time. But there were some things she learned from breaking those horses that was very significant. Her father taught her she couldn't show fear. She couldn't show pain. And she couldn't show emotion. That's how she could break those horses. It's significant for you to know that so you can understand how Amber could have remained in this relationship with Mr. Depp for as long as she could and the dynamics of some of the abuse you're going to hear about. Because that's what would be her instinct, is to stand up and not let him show that he's caused the pain, that he's caused the fear, that he's caused the humiliation. You'll hear about a long line of jobs that Amber started from back, you know, age 12 as soon as she could, working in a soup kitchen. She's a volunteer, but then she took all kinds of miscellaneous jobs, lifeguards, everything else, trying to improve herself. She's not somebody who had a great break. What happened was she got recognized by a Hollywood agent who expressed some interest in her. She took her $180 that she'd saved up and she went to L.A. All she had to her name. The testimony will be she worked all kinds of different jobs when she was in L.A., anything that she could get. And she would go on, but she didn't have a vehicle, so she would go on buses and she'd go up to six, six different auditions in one day. She'd have a map and she'd have the bust and then she would just go around, she had a big sweater, so she could change underneath it to whatever the role was so that she could get things. And she wasn't going for, you know, famous actor roles. She was taking one-liners, she was taking extras, she was doing anything she could to make money to survive. And then you know what she did with it? She gave a bunch of it back to her parents. She started helping support them. Then when Whitney graduated from high school, she brought her out to L.A. and put a roof over her house and put her through community college. She took care of her family with what she made. When she met Johnny Depp in 2009, when he hired her for Rum Diaries to star across from him, she felt like she was pretty successful. She starred in some roles, she had an apartment, she had a vehicle, a Mustang, she could go to Starbucks, she could afford Starbucks. She viewed herself as doing pretty well at that point. Now during the Rum Diaries, she got to know Mr. Depp. Not true that she was pursuing him or anything else. She was in a long-term relationship with Tasha Van Ray, and he was in a long-term relationship with Vanessa Paradis. Neither of them had any kind of romantic relationship at that time. When she departed from the Rum Diaries in 2009, Johnny started pursuing her. In fact, he sent her a number of gifts. One of them was a guitar, and she returned it. Now two years later, fast forward, that's when the press junket started. And that's when she had to come back and meet with him, and they ran on the press tours. At that point, she had ended the relationship with Tasha Van Ray, and he said he had ended his relationship with Vanessa Paradis. So during the press trips, that's when they started dating, and by both accounts, fell madly in love. She loved the side of Johnny that we see in the movies, the charismatic one, the charming one, the generous one. That's the man she fell in love with. But sadly, the monster came in the way. And that monster would come out when he was drinking, and when he would take the drugs. Amber will never forget the first event of abuse. She was sitting in his house in Sweetser, on the sofa, and he was across from her. And they were talking about a tattoo that he had, that had had Winona, Winona Ryder, forever. He had altered that to wine forever, after he broke up with Winona Ryder. Just an aside, he had Slim, which was his nickname for Amber. When they broke up, he turned it to scum. But in any event, he had that on there. And Amber thought he was making a joke when he was talking about it. And she laughed. And he up and slapped her. Now you see the rings that Mr. Depp has on him hurts when he slaps. And she was stunned. She had no idea what to think. And she kind of laughed, thinking, well, maybe that was a joke. What just happened? And he slapped her again. And then she just froze. And just looked. And she hit her again. And this time, it knocked her right off the sofa, under the ground. And she remembers, her face was in this dirty, filthy carpet. That's what she remembers and fixated on, the dirty carpet. And she's thinking, oh, my God, I have to leave. I have to leave. But I love him. I have to leave. But I love him. And she sat there for the longest time. She laid there for the longest time. Then Johnny came off the sofa, got on his knees, started crying. Told her he was very, very sorry that he had done this. It would never happen again. And he said some very significant words. I thought I had put the monster away for good. That's what he said to her that day. Well, Amber ended up leaving that day. And she went out to her car, her Mustang. And she remembers that it was cold. And she sat in the car for the longest time. And she remembers watching her breath, because it was cold. And she was thinking, I have to leave him. But I love him. She just kept thinking that. She finally drove away. But Amber made the mistake that millions before her and millions after her have, who are victims of domestic abuse. She chose to stay and try to fix the problem. And thinking that she could do that. So she stayed. Now Amber was also, she grew up in an abusive family. Her father abused her mother. And sometimes she and Whitney. So she had that cycle in there. Just as you've heard that Johnny had that cycle in his house. And so what's the normal to them is a little bit more difficult than some of us can understand. You will hear expert witness testimony about the cycles of violence. And what happens with these people. And how they react. And all the dynamics of thinking they can fix them. She thought all the way through. She could fix them. If she can just get them sober and clean. Then everything was going to be that wonderful side that she fell madly in love with. And she kept trying. And she kept trying. She went to Al-Anon meetings. She went to therapists. She tried to do couples therapy. You'll hear about their tape recording sessions to try to resolve fights or deescalate them so he wouldn't get mad at her for anything. But you'll hear that he gets mad at her for all kinds of things. He didn't want her to work. Here she's a budding actor who wants to be out there and succeed. And he doesn't want her to take roles. He starts controlling what she wears. He starts looking at her lines when she tries out for places. He nixes any romance scenes. Sex scenes. He gets mad and accuses her of sleeping with every single one of her co-stars. It became a cycle of that. A control as well. Emotional abuse as you go. But what's also significant in that is the property damage. And that's a hard one for Mr. Depp to be able to escape when he's claiming that he's such a docile thing and that it's all misheard. You're going to see pictures. He writes on mirrors. Horrible things to her. He writes on lampshades. You know. On clothing. On countertops. In Australia. When you heard Ben talk about Australia. He wrote the third day as Amber comes out after she's barricaded herself and gone through a lot. And I'll back up on that in a minute. She comes out. He's got mashed potatoes spread across the top. He's written along the wall of the staircase going down all kinds of nasty things about her. And Billy Bob Thornton. The last one she was in a co-star with. And you know. Fucking ambition. And all kinds of things like that. And then he's written on the lampshades downstairs. And then he's got more on the mirrors. And then. On top of it. You've got all the broken glass everywhere. And you've got the liquor everywhere. And it's just. And then he's urinated. Tried to urinate messages to her. That's the Johnny Depp. That's the other side. Now you're going to hear that Amber tried to protect him. All the way through. She didn't want the public to know this. She didn't want his kids to know this. And so she didn't tell people about it. So let's go back. The first event that I told you about. Was 2011. And how do we know that it was in 2011? Because Amber was going to her therapist. Bonnie Jacobs. And Bonnie Jacobs has therapy notes. Of her sessions with Amber. And in those therapy notes. She chronicles. The first time that Amber tells her. That Johnny hit it. And it goes through. Into 2012. 2013. 2014. And you will see. And you will see. And you will hear from Bonnie Jacobs. Her saying. You know. This is a cycle of violence. This is a cycle of abuse. You can't enable him. You need to. You need to stand up for yourself. Amber will testify. About how. Johnny would get so drunk. And so drugged out. That he would vomit all over himself. And worse. Lose control of his bowels. She would clean him up. And. And you'll see. Bonnie Jacobs. And these notes saying. Don't do that. You're enabling him. Don't do it. Leave him there. But what would happen. Was his handlers. Would then take care of him. If she left him. So. That's. The story you're going to hear. On that. Let me just tell you. About a few. Of the events. And I'm going to start. In Australia. She gets there. Now. You will hear. Mr. Depp. Testify. Under oath. That for. 15 to 18 months. Before. The March 2015. Australia event. When he's there filming. That. That he's been. Sober. Clean and sober. Then you'll see. All the text messages. For the last 18 months. In which he's scoring drugs. In which. You'll hear testimony from people. In which he's gotten drunk. And. And. Taking all kinds. Of different drugs. The whole time. He doesn't get clean. And sober. But he claims. That he was clean. And sober. That she came. There she. This is a month. After they are. Just got married. She flew in. From filming. The Danish girls. She's there. And he claims. That he was just sitting. There calmly. And he just. And she was haranguing him. So he took a shot. Glass. Of vodka. And when she did. When he did that. She got mad. Took the bottle of vodka. Was eight to ten feet. About where I am from you. And hurled it at him. And it happened to just. Take off. The bottom part. Of his finger. And then he says. She came. And burned a hole. In his. In his cheek. The testimony. Is going to be. That he. Self mutilated. On a number of occasions. And burned. Himself from the cheek. And also cut himself. But Amber never did that. And you're going to hear. From the experts. Testifying about. This finger injury. And how fantastic. This version is. But the other part of it was. He was with Marilyn Manson. For the week before. Scoring on cocaine. You'll have. You'll see text messages. Of him getting it. From his handlers. The cocaine. And the liquor. And you'll hear. So much before that. But Amber gets there. And instead. What he does. Is he takes. Eight to ten tablets. Of ecstasy. Almost immediately. And the next. Three days. Are just. A cycle. Of. A very. Very. Very violent. Activity by him. Amber keeps trying. To calm him down. She tries. To get him to eat. She tries. To get him to sleep. She tries. To do these things. And. He would just. At different. He was. You know. At times. [01:35:16] Speaker ?: Delusional. [01:35:16] Speaker 1: Paranoid. And by the way. We'll talk about. The prenup. But. He called. Her. Lawyer. Who she had. Because she wanted. To. Give him a prenup. And then. They got married. Too quickly. So she was going to. Give him a postnup. He called. The lawyer. From Australia. Called her a bitch. And fired her. You'll hear the testimony. From the lawyer. On that. That's the type. Of Johnny Depp. That was there. And he didn't want. The postnup. That was mad. You're going to hear. She had a lawyer. [01:35:49] Speaker ?: And she was cooperating. [01:35:49] Speaker 1: Completely on that. So. As you go through. Those three days. Of Australia. Some pretty horrendous. Things happen to her. He rips off. Her nightgown. He has her jammed up. Against. A bar. He has hurled. Bottles and bottles. At her. He has dragged her. Across the floor. On the broken bottles. And the liquor. He has punched her. He has kicked her. He tells her. He's going to fucking kill her. He fucking hates her. He's pounding at her. Pounding her. And then. He penetrates her. With a liquor bottle. That's the Johnny Depp. That you're going to hear about. In this case. Now. After. That. Amber goes to the airport. And what does she do? She buys a book. By a. By a. Psychiatrist. Who's talking about. Couples therapy. She's already. Trying to figure out. A way. To fix it. Again. Fix this marriage. That's only. A month old. And her husband. [01:36:45] Speaker ?: Has just done. [01:36:46] Speaker 1: These horrible things. To her. Now. They go back. To. L.A. He's got to. Get his finger fixed. So he has to stop. Filming. Pirates. Five. They get there. And there's another fight. A little drunk. But Amber. Finds. On a. TV screen. His monitor. She finds. Pictures. Of another woman. Naked pictures. Of a woman. And text messages. Which show. That he's clearly. Having an affair. She gets extremely mad. Amber. Amber. Can be jealous too. She can get angry. She's half his age. And you know. She's defiant. And we're not going to say. She's perfect. She was mad. As can be. When she saw that. And she confronted him. Now her sister Whitney. Happened to be in the house. She was summoned. She literally was awakened. To come. And try to resolve this fight. Between the two of them. While she's there. Johnny starts hitting Amber. And Whitney ends up. Getting in between them. And Amber thinks that. Johnny's going to throw her down. Push her down the stairs. Because he's in that position. So Amber actually gets up. And punches Johnny. In the face. She'll tell you. That's the only time. She has ever laid one on him. You know. In an aggressive manner. But it's after he's already been hitting her. And it's in defense of her sister. And she'll admit. She got him that time. And she actually did have an impact on him. She'll testify about how many times. They were in their fights. And she said. You know. She's almost half his size. So he. You know. She said. If I pushed him. He doesn't move. He pushes me. I go flying across the room. There isn't any. You know. Ability on her part. To be the abuser. What she'll also tell you. Is it took her a while. To ever fight back. That. Many times before that. She would do. What she did. When she was breaking the horses. She wouldn't show fear. She wouldn't show pain. She would look at him. He would just be defiant. And all it would do. Is piss him off more. She'll tell you. That she tried everything. She tried everything. You know. From trying to be nice. Trying to get away from him. You know. She would throw things in his way. To get him from running after her. She would. She would try to. You know. Flail back. She would use her hands and legs. And she would go. And try to fight him. She'd run into a room. And try to barricade. And push his hands. And everything out of there. She'd try all those things. But she couldn't figure out. What. Could get him to calm down. You know. I'm going to fast forward now. To the next one. And that is. I'm going to jump you up to. After the stair incident. And Johnny had to get surgery on his finger. That's the longest period of time. He stayed sober. Sober. It was almost three months. You're going to hear. That he has never been through rehab. Even though he has been a lifelong. Drug addict. And alcoholic. Never. Has he gone through a rehab plan. Instead. There's twice. That he went to some New York hospital. And did a cleansing. One time it was for three days. And one. One time it was for five days. And that's it. He's never made any effort whatsoever. To get sober. Or stop. The drugs. But this particular time. He did. For almost three months. And you'll see the text messages. We're going to take you through this whole. Story. And all the text messages. And all the emails. And all the testimony. That you're going to get. So fast forward to. December 2015. That was one of the worst. Australia was pretty bad. But this one was even worse. In this particular occasion. He gets angry for some reason. And he starts dragging her by her hair. Through the apartment. Kicking her. Punching her. Tearing her hair out. At one point she gets up. And looks at him. And he headbutts her. And she gets two black eyes from it. Then he goes and grabs. her up the stairs. Puts her on the bed. Puts his foot and knee in the back of her. And he continues to punch her. Telling her he's fucking hating her. And he's fucking going to kill her. And he's got his boot. Stuck in the bed frame. As he's doing it. And the force of what he's doing to her. Causes the bed frame to splinter. That's how much force. She is suffocating in the pillow. And she believes truly. She's going to die on this one. She wakes up. To her friend being there. She doesn't know how long. That she was unconscious or subconscious. She doesn't know. But Johnny was gone at that point. And her friend saying, are you okay? Are you okay? You'll see the pictures of all of this. You'll see the pictures of the hair. Imagine how much that must hurt. The hair that's out on the ground. And you'll see the pictures of Amber. Now here's the ironic thing. The next day she's got to be on the James Corden show. And you can see the text messages. She's not sure if she can go. She's worried. She's got two black eyes. She's got a split lip. She's got bruising. She's got her hair missing. But her friends rally with her. She's got a makeup artist. You're going to hear from Melanie Iglesias. Who does the best job of makeup you could imagine. To get her through the James Corden show. And she does it. But you'll see the pictures. The before. And you'll see them then. And that's the resilient Amber. Who says I'm going to go do this anyway. Now her friends. She tells Io. You're going to hear about Io Tillett Wright. He was in New York. She texted him and said. Johnny beat me up really good this time. Can you help? And he says. I was filming something. I stopped. I got the first flight out of there. I'm flying from New York back to LA. I see her on the James Corden show. I can see the swelling. Because I know her well. I can see the swelling. And then he said. Somebody touched her. And she flinched. On the show. He said. That's not like Amber. He got there. They hadn't cleaned up all the mess. He sees the hair. He sees the splinter. He sees all of the other things. And he is so upset. He was a good friend of Johnny's as well. He'll testify about all of his friendship with Johnny. But he put his foot down on that one. And said. You need to have consequences. You cannot do this. To Amber anymore. I am not your friend anymore. Now. There were several people that were supposed to go to Johnny's island. Bahamas Island. In December. For Christmas. He was going to bring his two kids. He had invited Amber's parents. Who loved Johnny. And unfortunately her father used to drink. And do drugs with Johnny a lot. And he was also going to take Rocky. Her friend who lived next door. In a penthouse. And her fiance. And Rocky's parents. Imagine being able to go to a Bahamas island. For Christmas. What a cool thing to do. But they all were so upset. What he did to Amber. On December 15. They said no. We're not going. We're not going to. We're not going to condone this. We're not going. But he talked Amber into going. He guilted her into going. I'm going to be with my kids. Please come. I'll be better. I'm going to get better. Amber went. And then he ends up assaulting her. Even there. And sexually assaults her. Even there. Now you'll see a video from them. Of the Bahamas. The Bahamas. The place that they stayed in. On his island. And the video just conveniently. Leaves out the wardrobe in the bathroom. Where he committed the assault. He just goes around. And makes it look like it's a one room. And his kids were there. And there's no way they could have done that. But you'll hear the testimony. And you'll see the pictures. Then from then on. Things really were bad. For Amber. And she was really considering. Leaving him at this point. And she was talking to her friends. And confiding. You'll see. You know. The medical records. And. In February 2016. I told you. You'll see that video. That same night. Before the video. He called Io. Tillit Wright. And left him a voicemail message. That he said. Was just absolutely delusional. It was crazy. He was pretending. Like he was the property management. It was just. An insane call. And then. The next day. We have. The picture. Of the video. Then we get to. April 30th. Or. April 21st. 2016. Amber's 30th birthday party. She was going to turn 30. She was going to turn 30. The next day. Pretty big event. Her friends had a tape. That they put together. Of everybody giving their tributes. Johnny doesn't participate. They have a dinner. And a party for her. That night. Johnny says. I have a business meeting. At 7 p.m. I'll be there. After that. What kind of business meeting. Do you need to have. At 7 p.m. When your wife turns 30. That's. That's. That's Johnny. Right. And he can't say. That it was an important. Financial one. Because he'd fired. His financial manager. The month before. When as you heard. From Ben. It was blaming him. For all his financial problems. So. He's the problem. So. He shows up late. Drunk. Drugs. And after everybody. And he's even drinking. While he's there. And he's telling the other friends. And you'll hear from one of them. That he's saying. Hide. Here. Hide the bottle from Amber. For disappointment. He gets mad. And assaults her again. Including sexually assaults her. Then he goes away. And he doesn't come back. For a month. Now. This is. An important event. May 21. 2016. This is the last one. And this is. The final straw. That leads out. To the DVTRO. The domestic violence. Temporary restraining order. So he says. He's coming over. To get some clothes. He's going to go out on tour. She says. Okay. He comes over. And he's. His mother died. The day before. And he's. Already in the state. He's been drinking. He's clearly high. And he comes in. And he's got. On his mind. This. Obsession. That. When she. When she. On her birthday. Go back to her birthday. The next day. She and her friends. Went to Coachella. But his housekeeper. Had come in to clean. After that. Always did. Um. And the housekeeper. Found. Some. You know. Feces. On the bed. [01:46:25] Speaker ?: Um. [01:46:25] Speaker 1: And had been upset about it. And taken a picture. And sent it to him. So all of a sudden. A month later. He's got it. In his head. That Amber. Has conspired. With her friends. To. Defecate. On the bed. It's human. Not dog. Even though they got two dogs. Major problems. You'll hear about boo. And pistol. Um. And somehow. Amber was doing this. So he would get back there. And find it. Even though he had no intention. Of coming back. And even though the housekeeper. Was there. And he. He won't lose it. He. He won't get rid of it. He's just obsessed with it. Then he decides that it's. Ayo Tillich Wright. Who did it. Even though. Ayo wasn't at the birthday party. And wasn't even in town. So Amber gets Ayo on the phone. Ayo's in New York. And she says. This is what Johnny says. Can you please just calm him down. Tell him this isn't true. Tell him we didn't do. I don't have a conspiracy here. And Ayo's thinking. What? And you'll hear from Ayo. He'll say. Amber's fecal phobia. I mean. She can't even. You know. She's so embarrassed about that stuff. She would never conspire. Never do anything like that. To him. So they're kind of laughing. At the absurdity of it. And that was the biggest mistake. Because that triggered his anger. And then he. He started after. Started hitting Amber. He took her. Grabbed the cell phone from her. Wound it up. And bashed it into her face. And you will see the pictures. You will see the boobs there. And you'll see the form of it there. Now Ayo's very, very upset. He's worried. Because he knows about the December 15, 2015. And he says. He says. Amber. Get out of there. Get out of there. You know. Are you safe? Get out of there. And he calls Rocky. Who lives next door. And then he calls 9-1-1. And it's not clear. You know. Whether Amber said call 9-1-1. Or he said call 9-1-1. But they call. He calls 9-1-1. But he's in New York. And he's genuinely concerned. For her safety. So he calls 9-1-1 there. And he calls a friend in LA. And says. Please call 9-1-1. And just tell them this. So they get somebody there. So we can get somebody fast. I don't know what's going on. So the police are called. Twice. Essentially. And now. Here's what happens next. Johnny goes around. And he trashes the apartment. Before he leaves. He loves to do that. And you're going to hear about his pension for that. Does it a lot. And you'll see a picture of him in the elevator. Afterwards. Leaving with his bodyguards. And he's a little agitated there. And the police are called. You will see pictures of Amber. With metadata on them. Both before. During. And after. The police officers are there. But what happens is. Amber calls. Her attorney. The one that she had consulted. After the December 15 event. And the attorney says. If you press charges. They'll arrest him. And Amber says. I can't have that happen. I don't want his kids to know about this. I don't want the public to know. I can't have that happen. So when the police show up. She refuses to cooperate. She says. On the advice of my attorney. I'm not going to cooperate. But. Her friend. Jackie. Whose fiance was there. Josh at this point. He takes them around. And shows. One of the police officers. All the property damage. Around the house as well. And the police officers say to him. Look. She's got the red mark on there. You know. If you just give us the name. We'll go get him. And he says. I can't. She won't let me. So they leave. Now here's what happens. And creates all of the. You know. Noise here. That you're going to have to deal with. So the police officers. Don't make an incident report. They don't take a report. They don't document the property damage. They don't document the facial damage. Instead. They go out. And they write on their CAD. That's their little system in there. They write. Verbal dispute only. Victim uncooperative. That's their language for. We don't have to write a report. You'll see that the police officers. Have another one later. That night. Another. And they put verbal dispute only. That's their magic language. Now. That's notwithstanding. That you will see these pictures. But Amber wasn't cooperating with them. And they were quite convinced. She wasn't going to. So. As many domestic violence. You know. Calls that they take. They're not going to. You know. They're not going to. This is one that they. They figure it's. It's gone. Now. The other police officers. Come two hours later. They've cleaned up the place. At this point. They don't know. That these police officers. Are arriving. But when they do arrive there. They try to discourage them. Even from coming in. Josh answers the door. Says. No. The other lawyers. The other. Police officers. Were already here. And he said. And they said. No. But we just have to see her. And they have body cams. By the way. So you'll see the body cam footage. Of this. So they go through. And they do that. And. They've had. That the two police officers. Sets. Are communicating with each other. And that's. First set says. I don't think she's going to change her mind. And they. And they know who the officers were. The first time. Because they say. Officer signs. Hear this. And you'll see it. In that body cam footage. So they go through. Amber says. No. Everything's fine. You can see. On there. And they leave. Now. The reason this is so significant. Is what they have done with this. In creating. And that's part of the counterclaim. And what. What their. And their version. Of the reality is. Is that. That Amber. The cops. Then they don't see any injury. So. They mess up the place. Spash. Splash. A little. Wine. And then call another set of cops. Does that sound like. The situation here. No. No. And it's really important. To look at the evidence. And think about this. You'll hear from many. Actually. Nobody of the police officers. Will put on. But we have. You know. Between four and six. LAPD. Police officers. And experts. Who will say. Those police officers. Even when she declined. To cooperate. Should have taken a report. They should have documented it. That was police policy. So. When. Faced with this. Big public. You know. Big public. DVRO. And all of the. Publicity later. Now they go back. To the police officers. And say. Hey. Wait a second. They're stuck. You know. If. All of that was true. And they admitted. It was true. Then they violated policy. By not doing the report. Because they were supposed. To take a report. So. The police officers. Chose the other. And said. No. There was no evidence. But you're going to watch it. You're going to see it. In real time. You're going to see it. On metadata. So. Amber goes. To get the DV. The domestic violence. TRO. You're going to see. The letter. That her lawyer. told them. That that's what she would have to. She was going to do. If. But. [01:52:56] Speaker ?: But. [01:52:56] Speaker 1: Giving them opportunity here. To be able to resolve it. To get a mediator. You know. Just make sure that she's safe. That she can stay in the residence. Until. They figure things out. That she can drive her vehicle. Until they figure it out. You know. Some attorney's fees. Whatever. You're going to see the letter. And you're. You know. And it says right in there. She's going to go in on Friday. They chose not to go. They keep saying. Ex parte. But they chose not to appear. And they knew she was going to appear. Well. Amber didn't call TMZ. But somebody called TMZ. To take all those photos that day. Now. You also heard them say. That all kinds of people. Saw Amber that week. And she didn't. She didn't have any bruises on her face. [01:53:36] Speaker ?: Well. [01:53:37] Speaker 1: Let me show you this. This is. What Amber. Carried in her purse. For the entire relationship. With Johnny Depp. She's an actor. Do you honestly think. She would have left. Her apartment. Ever. Without makeup. Do you think. That she ever. Would have wanted other people. To see her bruises. And her cuts. This. Was what she used. She became very adept at it. And you're going to hear. The testimony. From Amber. About. How she had to mix. The different colors. For the different days. Of the bruises. As they were. As they developed. In the different coloring. And how she would use these. To touch those up. To be able. To cover those. She also used. Concealer. Foundation. You'll hear from a makeup. Person. That Amber. Didn't even leave her bedroom. Without having foundation on. And one of the people. That was at the building. Testified. He said. She had makeup on. He would have covered that verse. So. That's. That's the testimony on that. Now. Let me talk about. The divorce. Just for a moment. So they go through. They have the two months. Of trying to resolve the divorce. Ben already told you. That. They signed a joint statement. In which. Mr. Depp. Admits. Don't make any of these allegations. Falsely. And not. For financial gain. But. They brought up the donations. So I want to talk to you. About the donations. For a moment. Now. Here's the story. Amber didn't have a prenup. She didn't have a postnup. She was more than willing. To do that. But. As I told you. Mr. Depp. Fired her lawyers. And said. Only till death. That's the only way. We're going to part us. Through death. We're not. We don't need a postnup. We don't need a prenup. That's Johnny. It's true. His advisors were all telling him. Get one. And she said. I'll get one. And she hired a lawyer. But anyway. She didn't have a prenup. So what you're going to hear. Is that meant. No matter what. Whether it was abuse. Adultery. In irreconcilable differences. Abandonment. Doesn't matter. She's entitled to 50% of everything. During that marriage. Well. He did Pirates 5. And he did two other movies. At that time. And you'll see. That he made $65 million. During those two years. Half of that is 32.5. Amber didn't want that. You'll see a letter. You'll see an email. From her lawyer. That she forwarded on. To her agent. Who became Johnny's agent. Later. Saying. I want you to sign this. Because you're entitled. To a whole lot more. Than 7 million. And I don't want you to come. Basically. I don't want you to come back. And sue me. For malpractice. That's what her lawyer. Tells her. And then her lawyer says. I offered them even less than they. I demanded less than they offered. In other words. The 7 million was less than. Mr. Depp's team. Was even offering to her. And she said. I just want to be left alone. I just want to get out of this marriage. I don't want. I'm not doing this for financial gain. So she didn't take the money. So she said. I'm going to donate. I'm going to donate. All 7 million of this. To charity. Half to the ACLU. Half to Children's Hospital. And. And then. What happened was. The first. And. By the way. The 7 million was paid out over time. It's installments. It was over. You know. And you'll see. You'll see the documents. But it's over a couple of years. Right. His business manager. Ed White. You'll see the letters. He sends the first 100,000 out of the 7 million. To each of them. And says. This is a pledge. Towards the 3.5 million that Amber's donating. And she'll be paying that in installments. So everybody knows she's paying it in installments. You're going to hear differently from them now. But you're going to see. That was the admission at the beginning. You're going to hear from Children's Hospital. And the ACLU. That they assume this was a pledge. Paid over a period of time. Because that's what they do. Because of tax deductions. And things of that nature. So Amber does make. She makes a $250,000 payment. To Children's Hospital. Then she also makes a $250,000 payment. To Art of Elysium. Which is another charity that she worked for. And used to feed. And used to do a lot of arts work. With the Children's Hospital. She pays $350,000 to the ACLU. Now in addition to that. She also was dating Elon Musk by this time. You'll find out that Mr. Depp is obsessed with Elon Musk. But she's dating him. So he gives $500,000 to both of those charities. In her honor. Now she doesn't claim that's part of the $7 million. But what happens is that she gets. She makes her payments up through 2018. Mr. Depp sues her March 1, 2019. In this litigation. She can't afford right now. To be making those pledges. She's got to defend herself. But she has every intention. Of continuing to make those payments. She has been a lifelong person. Who has served charities. She used to volunteer at Children's Hospital. Three times a week. When she could. She's very much that kind of person. And she intends to. And both. Both. ACLU. And Children's Hospital. Will tell you. They have no reason to believe. She won't. Be good on her pledges. There's nothing that required her. To do a certain amount. At a certain time. And she will give it to him. Once she's able to afford it again. Now. Let me talk about the counterclaim for a minute. And then I'm going to. I have to promise to let you go at some point. Don't I? So Mr. Depp. Has decided. You heard from Ben. You're going to see some really. Really. Terrible. Text messages from Johnny Depp. On how he viewed Amber Heard. He calls her some horrific names. But in the summer of 2016. He vows. He vows he's going to haunt her. He vows she's going to suffer. Global humiliation. He says he's going to live in her. And she will never forget him. And he meant it. So. In the summer of 2018. You heard Ms. Vasquez say. He wants to clear his name. He can't be called a wife beater, etc. But an article. An op-ed. Appeared. On the Sun. Times. In London. They called him a wife beater. It was written by Dan Wooten. The CEO. Or the. Yeah. Chief editor. Of the Sun. At the time. And he is writing. Because. Johnny Depp is being cast. In Fantastic Beasts 3. And so. He. He's. The article is. Why is J.K. Rawling. Genuine Lee. [02:00:06] Speaker ?: Yes. The article is written by Dan Wooten. 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The article is written by Dan Wooten. The article is written by Dan Wooten. Adam Wooten. You heard from Ben that Adam Wooten didn't come into Johnny Depp's life until October 2016. He wasn't there for any of their marriage. He doesn't have any personal knowledge of their marriage. Everything he does is based on Johnny Depp. Johnny Depp used Adam Wooten as his agent, and you will see a bunch of texts where he's saying, "Yeah, man, he's going after these people. He's doing all this stuff for me. He's suing my business manager. He's suing the lawyer. He's doing all this." He's also going to the press and making all kinds of statements about Amber Heard. And those statements are as follows. Heather, if you can pull up the first. The first one is Adam Waldman, Depp's lawyer, said afterwards, "Amber Heard and her friends in the media use fake sexual violence allegations as both a sword and a shield, depending on their needs. They have selected some of her sexual violence hoax facts as the sword, inflicting them on the public and Mr. Depp." Now, there isn't any sexual violence hoax. There isn't any hoax at all. But he's out there affirmatively stating that she's got this conspiracy with her friends and she's making these things up. And it's very, very damaging and harmful to her. The testimony will be that these Depp fans take and run with these things. And you're going to hear from an expert who talks about computer-wise when you search the hoax and you see that it just spreads out into the internet and the social media and generates a lot of negative publicity for Amber. Statement two, please. This was made in April of 2020. Depp's lawyer, Adam Waldman, said the various discrepancies prove that nothing Heard and her friends said about the events of May 21, 2016 could be considered credible. Quite simply, this was an ambush, a hoax. They set Mr. Depp up by calling the cops, but the first attempt didn't do the trick, he told DailyMail.com. The officers came to the penthouses, thoroughly searched and interviewed, and left after seeing no damage to face her property. So Amber and her friends spilled a little wine, roughed the place up, and got their story straight under the direction of a lawyer and publicist, and then placed a second call to 911. Now, I've already told you all about the events of May 21, but you're also going to hear from the second set of officers. There's no way that Amber was trying with her friends to now get charges pressed against Johnny. They cleaned everything up, they didn't want him in there. The absolute opposite of what he says there. The third statement, if you may. Depp's attorney Adam Waldman said, "When Amanda Day-Cadene, that's a friend of Amber's, Amber Heard's best friend and #MeToo activist, recants her support for Ms. Heard and testifies against her, you know we have reached the beginning of the end of Ms. Heard's abuse hoax against Johnny Depp." Amanda Day-Cadene never testified against her, but that's not the part that we're claiming is the defamation. It's abuse hoax against Johnny Depp. In other words, in all of these articles, he's saying that she created an abuse hoax, and you're going to make those determinations of whether that's true or not. But what we're going to show you is that that not only was tremendously damaging to Amber emotionally, and you're going to hear from an expert on domestic violence and intimate partner violence, IPV, about how those triggers happen. When you have somebody who's gone through all of this, and she's trying to heal, and she's trying to get past this, and then bam, you come in there and you inflict this and put this out in the public, and everybody runs it. There's over a million, we're going to tell you about a million different searches on the Twitter from these different hits. How that impacts her emotionally, every time somebody calls her a liar for what she went through, and how hard she tried to protect Johnny Depp, so that his children and the public never found out about that Johnny Depp. And how much that has harmed her, and how much emotionally that's impacted her and re-triggered and re-triggered. But we're also going to talk to you about the reputational damages for that. Amber made it through the divorce. Then she got cast in Aquaman. A few of you saw that. That was a blockbuster. It was the highest grossing movie in DC films history ever, up to this point. It hit over a billion dollars in a very short period of time. It was a mega, mega hit. She was moving forward. Then she gets hit with these defamatory statements and all of the Depp followings and the computer and Twitter and everything else. Nobody wants to touch her. And you're going to hear from an expert who's going to say, look at Jason Momoa, look at Gal Gadot, look at other people who started coming up in those tracks. She was Justice League and then Aquaman. Look what they're getting. They're getting commercials. They're getting all kinds of different film opportunities. These are the things that she would have gotten. Nobody will touch her. She's a pariah. And we're going to ask you, as Ben said, to hold Mr. Depp responsible. Enough is enough. But we're also going to ask you to hold him responsible and try to fully and fairly compensate Amber for what he has done to her. Thank you very much. Thank you, Ms. Bretterhoff.