Where it all went wrong for Johnny Depp and Amber Heard
It’s the drama-filled court case that has captivated the world. So how did it go from happy couple to hellish divorce for Johnny Depp and Amber Heard?
Hook Ups
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- ‘F***ing savage’: Shocking photos from Depp’s trial
- Heard afraid of ‘monster’ Depp
- Hostage: Heard reveals Aussie hell
When they first met, Johnny Depp and Amber Heard were the ultimate in Hollywood glamour couples.
Cast together in the Hunter S Thompson adaptation of The Rum Diary, the 2011 film framed the two as lovers – him as journalist Paul Kemp, who takes a job in Puerto Rico and falls instantly for Heard’s character Chenault, who is already dating another man.
In still photos from the set, a clearly smitten Depp gazes adoringly at the screen siren beauty beside him; her blonde locks swept up like Grace Kelly, her skin the colour of sunshine.
It wasn’t the first time Depp had falling deeply in love with a co-star, or contemporary, plunging into obsessive affairs with American actress, Winona Ryder and fashion model Kate Moss before his relationship with French film star Vanessa Paradis settled into some kind of domesticity, dating for 14 years and welcoming two children, Lily-Rose and John Christopher.
Heard, who had little to no profile before scoring the Rum Diary role, was also spoken for – ending her two-year relationship with artist Tasya van Ree around the same time Depp and Paradis announced the end of their long-term union.
The same-sex romance had not been without its troubles, with Heard arrested in 2009 on a charge of physically assaulting her then-girlfriend at an airport in Washington.
The charges would later be dropped at the behest of van Ree who said Heard was “wrongfully” accused by police who had “misinterpreted” the couple’s public brawling.
Once free to begin their own relationship, Heard told Vogue in 2011 that “working with Johnny was torture. It was better than I ever imagined, which is really saying something.”
Less than a year later, the couple’s engagement would be heralded by the appearance of a blindingly big diamond ring, described by USA Today as “the rock that sunk the Titanic.”
Even Depp was caught up in the giddy wedding preparations, sporting “a chick’s ring” on his finger and giggling during one interview: “It’s probably a dead giveaway, isn’t it? Not very subtle.”
In 2015, the seemingly devoted couple – him the swashbuckling star of the blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, her an in-demand screen ingenue – tied the knot, not once but twice: first at his Los Angeles mansion, then again at his private island in the Bahamas.
It was an intimate affair but the kind lavished in luxury details – from her floor-length couture lace gown, to Depp in the kind of tuxedo worn by matinee idols.
People magazine would report the guests spent the wedding weekend snorkelling and dining on special menus prepared by a coterie of private chefs.
Depp, who included his children in the beach wedding party, was said to be “madly in love” with his bride, with one guest telling the magazine: “She is a freethinker and an independent woman who makes her own decisions. Her presence has changed his life.”
But the idyllic portrait of marriage was already straining by the end of that same year, just as the couple travelled to Australia for him to film the latest Pirates action movie.
In a story that bounced between the celebrity gossip pages to serious political analysis shows, the couple were charged with breaching biosecurity laws, after failing to declare their Yorkshire terrier dogs when they jetted into the country on his private plane.
Using their celebrity to ease the diplomatic dispute, they would film a bizarre video, apologising for breaking the rules to bring along their dogs, Pistol and Boo.
While cartoonists and comics had a field day with the stoush, the pair retreated to a rented mansion, owned by motor cycle champion Mick Doohan, on the Gold Coast hinterland; surrounded by lush forest and a voracious press pack, parked at the property’s locked gates.
But that’s seems to be where the fun and games ended for the picture perfect pair, whose relationship began to unravel behind the home’s closed doors.
Cracks in the fractured fairytale would first appear in late May, 2016, when Heard filed for divorce from Depp and also obtained a temporary restraining order against the Oscar-nominated actor.
Her allegations were shocking, accusing Depp of physically abusing her during their relationship, usually while under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
The legal action had been triggered by an incident where she claims Depp threw his phone at her, leaving her with a bruised face.
Depp vigorously denied the damaging accusations and through his representatives retaliated, stating Heard was “attempting to secure a premature financial resolution by alleging abuse.”
Significantly, a police investigation into the domestic incident radio call found that no crime had taken place.
A $7 million settlement in her favour may have ended things there, but the total destruction of this once happy couple was only just beginning to unfold, and how.
A joint statement, released to mark the end of their marriage on August 23, belied the depth of animosity between the warring parties, instead positing the relationship as “intensely passionate and at times volatile, but always bound by love. Neither party has made false accusations for financial gain.”
It continued: “There was never any intent of physical or emotional harm” with Heard believed to have donated her payout to charity.
In the split, Heard retained custody of the couple’s dogs, while Depp walked away still in possession of his property portfolio and collection of classic cars and motorcycles.
What boiled away though, was her anger over the abuse claims, breaking confidentiality agreements to pen an opinion piece in the Washington Post where she stated again she had been the victim of abuse.
Depp was not named, but he was also not going quietly – launching a $70 million defamation action against the paper and turning the tables on his ex-wife.
In court papers, he upped the ante, stating Heard was “not a victim of domestic abuse, she is a perpetrator;” denying again he had ever abused her.
The suit said Heard’s allegations were part of an “elaborate hoax to generate positive publicity” for the actress.
In her reply, she dubbed Depp as “the Monster” in their marriage, detailing multiple instances of alleged abuse.
Heard claimed she still had scars on her arms and feet from an incident where Depp allegedly “threw her through a ping pong table and dragged her through broken glass.”
That litigation continues, but within a year of the divorce, a new battle was brewing and Depp’s determination to clear his name opened up on another, more damaging front: suing The Sun newspaper for libel over a 2018 article describing him as a “wife beater” and questioning how Harry Potter author JK Rowling could be happy with his casting in another of her books, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.
But before he would take the stand, for an explosive three-week trial in London’s High Court on The Strand, Depp would get an early break in the court of public opinion, when a secret tape of Heard admitting she had “hit” him was leaked.
The phone recordings confirmed the dangerous and combative relationship the couple had hinted at in their carefully scripted divorce decree.
While both are apologetic in the phone call discussing the destructive night before, it is Depp who signals where the horror show of their lives could be heading, telling her: “I told you this once. I’m scared to death we are a f***ing crime scene right now.”
Heard replied: “I can’t promise you I won’t get physical again. God, I f***ing sometimes get so mad I lose it.”
When the trial began, the devastating extent of their dysfunction was drip fed daily to a global audience staggered by the horrendous detail both stars were willing to share publicly in order to damage one another.
Taking us back into the Gold Coast mansion they shared in 2015, for example, the court would hear $150,000 worth of damage was done to Doohan’s property, including the severing of Depp’s finger and her fears he was “going to kill me.”
She described part of her stay there as “a three-day hostage situation” where she alleged Depp had ripped off her nightgown, leaving her naked as he touched her breast and “shoved her against the fridge.”
“The end of the incident” was detailed in a confidential statement provided to the court.
Depp, refuting his ex-wife’s version of events, claimed he was a “Southern gentleman,” who would “never strike a woman” because “chivalry was extremely important.”
Both actors would rely on a cast of supporting witnesses, including sworn statements from Ryder and Paradis in Depp’s defence.
Heard’s sister Whitney Henriquez and her makeup artist Melanie Melanie Inglessis took the witness box for her, detailing their accounts of dealing with the abusive aftermath.
However, her former assistant, Kate James of Brisbane, painted a different picture, testifying Heard would send her a “barrage of drunk text messages between 2am and 4am each day.”
Another former staffer Ben King said she would regularly drink “two bottles of wine” a night despite her claims she was a moderate drinker.
Depp’s estate manager Kevin Murphy would claim it was Heard who demanded he make a false statement to Australian police about the arrival of Pistol and Boo in Australia; prompting calls by then deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce for the actress face perjury charges.
His bodyguard, Malcolm Connolly also admitted he lied about how the actor’s finger was severed during a row with his then wife to protect her; when in fact, Depp had told him she had struck him with a vodka bottle and put a cigarette out on his cheek.
In more grotesque detail, she alleged he used that finger as a paintbrush, daubing the words “I love U” on a mirror, in his own blood.
And the war of words went on.
During her time under cross-examination, Heard admitted she had punched Depp, but only when she thought he was about to push his sister down the stairs at their Los Angeles apartment building.
“I recalled that he [Depp] had pushed a previous girlfriend, Kate Moss, down the stairs. I recalled that information and in a flash I acted in defence of her,” she said.
Eleanor Laws, QC, acting for Depp, jumped on the reference to the 1990s supermodel, and accused Heard of making up the story which she had never previously mentioned in one of her seven statements to the London court or in a video deposition in the Washington Post case.
Heard was also angered by suggestions in medical notes that claimed she was “jealous and insecure” when Depp was away filming, arguing that they were incorrect because it was Depp who had those feelings.
The couple’s pets were even drawn into the disgusting mess of the court case, when the parties argued over who pooed in Depp’s bed after they had a fight on her 30th birthday, in April 2016, for which he was late.
Depp claimed it was her, or one of her friends’, deposits, left as a prank.
Heard claims it was either Pistol or Boo, who had an issue with bowel control, she said, after ingesting some of Depp’s stash of marijuana.
Cleaner Hilda Vargas, who found the squashed mess when Heard departed with friends for the Coachella music festival, said the faeces were definitely human.
Text messages tendered in court also took no prisoners.
She claimed he had claimed she would end up “sucking c*** under the freeway;” while another exchange with his friend actor Paul Bettany said: “Let’s drown her before we burn her. I will f*** her burnt corpse afterwards to make sure she’s dead.”
Not surprisingly the couple’s substance abuse issues played a starring role during their brief, but devastating marriage.
He testified he’d had “every drug known to man” by 14, quoting his late friend and author Hunter S. Thompson in court, saying: “I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they’ve always worked for me.”
Unleashing from the witness box, Depp claimed to be the victim of a “hoax” concocted by Heard, who he alleged had affairs with Tesla billionaire Elon Musk, and actors including James Franco.
Sasha Wass, QC, for The Sun, who prosecuted Rolf Harris in London for sex offences, re-examined Heard this week, where she asked her if she had benefited from the stories about Depp, or if she wanted the case to come to court.
“What woman has ever benefited from being the victim of domestic violence?” Heard replied.
Now it’s up to presiding judge, Mr Justice Andrew Nicol to decide who to believe.
Originally published as Where it all went wrong for Johnny Depp and Amber Heard