Johnny Depp sent trolls, bots to destroy my career, Amber Heard claims

Johnny Depp and his lawyer deployed Twitter trolls and Russian bots to attack Amber Heard in a smear campaign, she claims.

Johnny Depp and his lawyer deployed Twitter trolls and Russian bots to attack Amber Heard, his former wife, in a smear campaign, she says in a lawsuit. Ms Heard said she suffered attacks from automated online accounts that were meant to destroy her career.

The actor and his representatives controlled “social media accounts created specifically for the purpose of targeting Ms Heard”, her filing said. The accounts were said to be “designed to damage Ms Heard and her livelihood without being directly traceable to Mr Depp”. The suit said that Adam Waldman, his lawyer, was “publicly associated with Russian individuals with the capability to organise such attacks”.

Amber Heard outside the Royal Courts of Justice. Picture: Getty

Ms Heard made the claims in response to a defamation suit Mr Depp filed in Virginia, as he awaits the verdict of legal action in London. He had sued The Sun for an article describing him as a “wife-beater”. While the newspaper relied on 14 alleged incidents of domestic violence, his lawyer described his client as a “southern gentleman” and cast Ms Heard as a compulsive liar.

In the Virginia case Mr Depp has sued Ms Heard for implying that he was a domestic abuser in an article she wrote for The Washington Post. Ms Heard’s article did not mention Mr Depp by name but recalled a moment in 2016 when “I became a public figure representing domestic abuse”. In May that year Ms Heard had filed for divorce and obtained a restraining order against Mr Depp.

US actor Johnny Depp gestures as he leaves the High Court after the final day of his libel trial. Picture: AFP

In his defamation suit, Mr Depp claimed that the allegations were “part of an elaborate hoax to generate positive publicity for Ms Heard and advance her career”. He said that her claims had been rebutted by police officers and witnesses. “Ms Heard is not a victim of domestic abuse; she is a perpetrator,” his suit said.

Ms Heard has now filed a counterclaim, accusing her ex-husband of defaming and harassing her to bolster his career. His defamation case was part of an effort “to keep this matter in the press” and “to pursue his bitter obsession with destroying Ms Heard”. Mr Waldman responded to the allegations on Tuesday, claiming that “Ms Heard and her confederates don’t like the looming consequences of her notorious abuse hoax”.

The case was due to be heard in January but Mr Depp has asked the court to delay the trial to give his lawyers time to address her counterclaim and because he is due to be in London from next month until mid-February for the delayed shooting of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 3.

The Times