Hollywood actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard have been all over the news for the past few months for their nasty divorce and defamation cases. Depp has now lost his libel against UK’s tabloid The Sun over an article that called him a ‘wife beater’ published back in 2018. The publication even questioned his casting in films namely Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them franchise.
Three months after the three-week trial, the high court ruled the judgment in the favor of the UK tabloid that stated the reports of Depp beating his former wife as ‘substantially true.’
Over the course of three weeks in July at London’s Old Bailey, the judge Mr. Justice Nicol heard evidence from both Depp and Heard about their failed marriage, alleged accusations, affairs and abuse of alcohol and drugs. In his 128-page ruling the judge, said, “The claimant (Depp) has not succeeded in his action for libel … The defendants (the Sun and News Group Newspapers) have shown that what they published in the meaning which I have held the words to bear was substantially true.”
Depp told the court that he was never violent towards his ex-wife and her allegations were a hoax. He even accused her of being a ‘gold digger’ which was dismissed by Nichol. “I recognise that there were other elements to the divorce settlement as well,” Nicol noted, “but her donation of … $7m to charity is hardly the act one would expect of a gold-digger”. Not just this, he found 12 of the 14 assault allegations made by Heard to be proven true. “I have found that the great majority of alleged assaults of Ms. Heard by Mr. Depp have been proved to the civil standard.”
Moments after the ruling, the publisher issued a statement saying, “The Sun has stood up and campaigned for the victims of domestic abuse for over 20 years. Domestic abuse victims must never be silenced and we thank the judge for his careful consideration and thank Amber Heard for her courage in giving evidence to the court.”
(Source- The Guardian)