Johnny Depp was handed a legal win on Tuesday when a Virginia judge refused to dismiss his $50 million defamation lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard.
Depp is suing Heard for defamation following an op-ed the actress published in the Washington Post claiming to have been the victim of domestic abuse. She didn’t directly name Depp, but it’s pretty obvious who she’s talking about, especially after communications arose between Heard and the ACLU discussing that very matter.
Heard sought to dismiss Depp’s defamation suit on the grounds that a similar libel lawsuit Depp filed against the U.K. paper The Sun had been tossed in that country. Basically, Heard wanted the American defamation suit thrown out because Johnny lost the UK libel suit against the Sun.
Judge Penney Azcarate, however, remained unconvinced. “Defendant argues she was in privity with The Sun because they both had the same interest in the case,” Azcarate wrote. “The Sun’s interests were based on whether the statements the newspaper published were false. Defendant’s interests relate to whether the statements she published were false.”
In other words, no. The UK libel suit wasn’t about Amber Heard. It was about whether or not the Sun believed what Heard told them.
The American defamation suit is about whether or not Amber is lying when she says that she was abused at the hands of Johnny Depp, an assertion she’s repeated doggedly since the couple split. Entirely different animal.
So, as of right now, Johnny Depp’s defamation suit can continue as scheduled.
Meanwhile, Johnny Depp is receiving awards in different countries for his body of work, recent work, and ongoing projects. Anybody who said that Johnny Depp was over is seriously mistaken.
Heard, on the other hand, has no scheduled projects on her IMDB page. Perhaps she plans to spend time being a mother to her recently acquired baby daughter. Nothing wrong with that at all. A precious new life is a gift that deserves to be taken care of with the very best of intentions.
Or Heard has fried all her bridges in Hollywood.
Whatever the reason, Heard’s film dance card is decidedly bare except for her dubious involvement with Aquaman 2 and a project called “Run away with me” that’s been languishing in limbo for years.
What do you think? Have we seen the last of Amber Heard on the silver screen? Or is she plotting some way to get new roles? Stop by Twitter and let us know what you think.