Johnny Depp: Innocent #MeToo Victim?

I’m sure you’ve heard about Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s ongoing public feud, which has hit the four-year mark this year, and has led to Depp finally countersuing his ex-wife and “Aquaman” actress in a $50 million lawsuit for defamation.

Court proceedings have begun this week.

“Ms. Heard is not a victim of domestic abuse, she is a perpetrator,” says the suit in reaction to an op-end the actress penned for The Washington Post just a few months back.

“Mr. Depp never abused Ms. Heard. Her allegations against him were false when they were made in 2016.” 

“I had the rare vantage point of seeing, in real time, how institutions protect men accused of abuse,” Heard said in the “I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change” Post op-ed.

“When did Depp’s artistic downfall occurred? I would say something happened around the time of his split with Vanessa Paradis, his partner of 14 years and mother of his two children. That's when Amber Heard came into the picture and their now infamous and brief marriage back in 2014. To say this was a nightmare for Johnny, and Amber of course, would be an understatement. The divorce battle the two raged against each other was hateful and nasty, with Heard claiming that Depp was verbally and physically abusive to her. This drama was happening as Johnny faced bankruptcy. The guy was a big spender, still is; One of the more famous stories has Depp paying $5 million for his good friend's ashes, the late Hunter S. Thompson, to be cannon-balled to the sky.” [Posted on 7.4.19]

Released phone evidence had gotten people talking as, in the audio recording, Heard could be heard taunting Depp for fleeing a fight, saying "You are such a baby. Grow the f**k up" and admitting to hitting him, "I f**king was hitting you... I don't know what the motion of my hand was, but you're fine, I did not hurt you, I did not punch you, I was hitting you." 

Whether it was a punch or not doesn't really matter now. I’ve always been inclined to believe Depp’s side of the story and that, for the duration of their relationship, he was a victim of domestic abuse at the hands of Heard. But I can't say definitively that he's not also an abuser, which is why it's important that the upcoming trial is still held. However, the evidence that I could find, and that is readily available, points to Depp’s side of the story being the truer version.

First off, Heard was arrested years ago for domestic violence, she was accused of assaulting her then girlfriend. Meanwhile, when asked about if Johnny was abusive in their past, Depp’s ex Winona Ryder had the following to say "He was never, never that way towards me. Never abusive at all towards me. I only know him as a really good, loving, caring guy who is very, very protective of the people that he loves." Although not exculpatory evidence in favor of Depp, there is usually a pattern of established abusive behavior through past relationships. Depp doesn’t have that history to his name.

So let's take a look at some of his past relationships to see if maybe Winona was just a deviation.

When asked, ex-wife, Lori Anne Allison, was quoted as saying that "The man she married would have never assaulted a woman as he has been accused of doing by Amber Heard." This still doesn't completely clear him but let's keep looking. Want more? Another former partner of Depp’s, Sherilyn Fenn, tweeted out this caption along with a picture of them together in 2016 "I know JCD is not capable of the things being written." Alright, well that's a bit odd but maybe he's changed just for curiosities sake let's keep digging. Vanessa Paradis, whom Depp was married with for 14 years, dismissed Heard's claim as "outrageous" and sent a handwritten letter in defense.

Alright, so his exes are very consistent with his past behaviors and even praise him as a very caring partner. But again, this doesn't necessarily tell us that he's ‘innocent'; sometimes there simply isn't a pattern of established behavior and people just, well, snap. But it's just so odd for someone with no history of domestic violence to change so drastically.

Depp's inner circle had begged him not to wed Heard or to at least obtain a prenup. Depp ignored their advice. Coincidentally or not, this led to Depp's recreational drug and alcohol use, which seems to have had a self-destructive result on his life. Depp has made $650 million on films that netted $3.6 billion. Almost all of it is now gone. And so, the mystery of Depp’s downfall isn’t really a mystery at all, it was just a potent mix of marrying Heard being very stupid with his money and family tragedy striking all at the same time. Human frailty is a nasty thing.

Depp was once considered one of the great actors of his generation; Edward Scissorhands, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Sweeney Todd, What’s Eating Gilbert Grapes, Dead Man, Donnie Brasco …

Here’s hoping this feud gets finally resolved.