Seeking $50 million, actor Johnny Depp has sued actress and former wife Amber Heard for defamation. On Friday, Depp lawyers have reportedly filed the defamation suit against Heard over her op-ed in The Washington Post on 18th December 2018 in which she identified herself as a domestic abuse victim.
Depp lawsuit says that Heard allegations of domestic violence against him a “hoax”. Heard “purported to write from the perspective of ‘a public figure representing domestic abuse’ and claimed that she ‘felt the full force of our culture wrath for women who speak out’ when she ‘spoke up against sexual violence’”, stated the Depp lawyers in the lawsuit.
“The op-ed depended on the central premise that Heard was a domestic abuse victim and that Depp perpetrated domestic violence against her...Depp never abused Heard. Her allegations against him were false when they were made in 2016. They were part of an elaborate hoax to generate positive publicity for Heard and advance her career”, add the lawyers say in the lawsuit.
In response to this allegation, Heard representative said, “This frivolous action is just the latest of Johnny Depp repeated efforts to silence Amber Heard. She will not be silenced. Depp actions prove he is unable to accept the truth of his ongoing abusive behaviour...But while he appears hell-bent on achieving self destruction, we will prevail in defeating this groundless lawsuit and ending the continued vile harassment of my client by Depp and his legal team.”
It was in 2016 May that the actress had filed for a domestic violence restraining order against Depp. She had accused him of abusing her. However, Depp from the very start has been denying the claims. The two had even settled their divorce out of court in August 2016 for $7 million, which she donated to charity. After the divorce, both actors signed NDAs, which barred them from discussing their relationship publicly.