Youtube recommendations, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram — trending pages seem to be flooded with the trial of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard recently. With the status of these two stars, the trial was bound to gather a massive amount of attention. 

It all started in May 2016, when Amber Heard submitted a court case depicting herself as a victim of domestic violence. At the time, Heard was in a relationship with Depp, so the public naturally inferred that she was referring to him as the abuser. While evidence has since negated her past claims, Heard’s accusations at the time were met with a wave of support from both fans and true victims of domestic violence. 

Heard, in reality, had faked photos of bruises and posted them on Twitter, implying that they were inflicted upon her by Depp. After a grueling court process, Heard and Depp finally divorced, with Heard receiving a settlement of seven million dollars. Heard claimed that she donated the entirety of the settlement money to charity, but as of recent court trials, it has been proven that she actually pocketed the money for herself, deceiving the public. 

In 2018, Heard went on to publish an article that was featured in the Washington Post that portrayed herself as a victim of domestic abuse. This article and these accusations caused Depp to lose millions of dollars and numerous acting gigs. The most prominent was the loss of his role in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, with Disney removing Depp from future movies. On the other hand, Heard has so far faced no professional losses, maintaining her acting roles in movies like “Aquaman.” Additionally, throughout their journey through court over the years, Depp has consistently suffered losses in and outside of court, constantly having his appeals to the original case rejected, even when there was good reason to appeal. This is a painful example of how society tends to turn a blind eye to domestic violence when the victim is a man rather than a female — a bias that has ruined the lives of Depp and other male victims.

The prosecution presented multiple audio recordings, photographs and eyewitness accounts that prove Depp’s innocence. There was additional evidence that incriminated Heard as the perpetrator. From pictures of bruises across Depp’s face to audio recordings of Heard admitting to hitting Depp, the evidence is undeniable. In 2020, the Daily Mail released recordings of Heard openly telling Depp that yes, she indeed hit him.

“You can please tell people that it was a fair fight, and see what the jury and judge thinks,” Heard told Depp in an audio recording. “Tell the world, Johnny, tell them, Johnny Depp, I, Johnny Depp, a man, I’m a victim too of domestic violence.” 

She seems to be taunting Depp with the knowledge that according to how our society works, it is unlikely that anyone would ever believe a man could be a victim of abuse. 

Furthermore, a possible explanation for Heard’s behavior has come out in a court trial. In recent testimony, Shannon Curry, a forensic psychologist, explained that Heard had borderline personality disorder, and she continued to describe everything in great detail. 

“Essentially externalization of blame, tending to have a lot of inner hostility that is attempted to be controlled, a tendency to be very self-righteous, but to also deny that self-righteousness… Miss Heard had the clearest code type of three-six… a lot of that anger is expressed in this code type,” Curry said. “There can actually be a lot of cruelty.” 

Such a diagnosis aligns with all the accounts of Heard’s abusive behavior. Curry also testified that in a test for post-traumatic stress disorder, Heard’s results showed that, according to past patterns, it is very likely that she was exaggerating PTSD symptoms, purposefully pretending to have PTSD in an attempt to play the victim. 

In light of all the evidence, the court is coming closer to a verdict. This is a great relief to many of the people involved, as the case has dragged on for several years already. Depp has millions of people all across the world rooting for him; this case is a step forward in the justice system for all men that are overlooked victims of domestic abuse.