The deadly cost of Amber Heard’s courtroom humiliation

Whoever emerges from the defamation case victorious, the true cost of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s court trial is devastating.

OPINION

Ask a pub full of people their opinions on the court case Amber Heard and Johnny Depp are currently embroiled in and you’ll get a cross-section of responses, ranging from those who lament it as the final death knell of the #metoo movement, to those who will spout vitriolic slurs about Heard ‘just wanting to get her hands on his money’.

At least, this is the cross-section of responses I got when I did exactly that over the weekend.

Troublingly, while everyone had an opinion on who was telling the truth, only a handful of people knew any of the actual facts of the case.

Because as we have learnt time and time again, when it comes to the court of public opinion, facts are the least relevant part of the equation.

US actress Amber Heard stands in the courtroom at the Fairfax County Circuit Court in Fairfax, Virginia, on May 24. Picture: Jim Watson/AFP

It is this uncomfortable and dangerous truth – writ large across both mainstream and social media – that experts fear is doing the most behind-the-scenes damage to silent victims of domestic violence who may be considering coming forward about their abuse.

Sydney psychotherapist Julie Sweet says the risk is considerable.

“I work with many victims and survivors of sexual assault, domestic and family violence who struggle to disclose their abuse and don’t often seek support until in crisis,” she explains.

“When victims witness mainstream media reporting on these types of cases and see spectacles like the current humiliation of Amber Heard, they’re even more reluctant to share their own personal stories.”

Actor Johnny Depp is suing ex-wife Amber Heard for libel after she wrote an op-ed piece in The Washington Post in 2018 referring to herself as a public figure representing domestic abuse. Picture: Jim Watson/AFP

Humiliation is the right word here – in fact, it’s a word Depp used himself in an email to his former agent in 2016 when he told him Heard was “begging for total global humiliation”. It’s the only word appropriate for the way in which the public has seized with glee upon the more sordid details of the actress’ life with her older, mega-famous ex.

She’s been made fun of on SNL, had TikTok users mock her courtroom accounts of abuse, and had every facet of her character picked over relentlessly, in both the headlines and the comments section of every media outlet in the country.

The cruel irony of the situation is that Amber Heard did not even instigate these proceedings.

She is being sued for $US50 million ($A70 million) by her ex-husband after he took issue with the fact that she described herself in a Washington Post opinion piece as “a public figure representing domestic abuse”. She did not name Johnny Depp in the article.

In fact, Depp lost a libel suit against The Sun in 2018 for calling him a “wife beater” after 12 of the 14 alleged incidents of abuse were found by the court to be true.

The decision to have every single moment of the trial televised was also Depp’s – In February, Judge Penney Azcarate ruled the month-long trial in Virginia could be televised on Court TV after Depp’s lawyer, Benjamin Chew, said the actor wanted “transparency” throughout proceedings.

Powerful men have been weaponising the legal system against women who speak out about abuse for decades. Whatever the outcome of proceedings, it has done immeasurable damage to the plight of those who most deserve to have their voices heard.

“Barriers to disclosure of domestic violence range from fear, lack of financial resources, safety of self and children, being blamed, judgment, culture, normalisation of abuse and not being believed,” Ms Sweet says.

“If these are only a few of the obstacles victims confront in their everyday lives, you can imagine what can run through their minds when a well known, or famous person is suffering similarly by not being believed, being mocked or experiencing victim blaming.

“Victims and survivors begin to question themselves and often ask “if someone like Amber Heard isn’t being believed, why would I be?”.

Graveyards are filled with the proof of how our legal system lets vulnerable people down.

The limitations that exist within our justice system already make it dangerously difficult for victims and survivors to gain protection. Tragically, it seems that whatever the verdict in Depp’s court case, there will only be losers – some of whose names we will never learn.

Bek Day is a freelance writer.