Johnny Depp vs Amber Heard: Was she abused or is she an abuser?

We’re all oppressed & oppressors at the same time, looking for someone to point fingers at is just an illusion to escape this reality. The televised trial featuring Johnny Depp vs Amber Heard is finally over and with hope, all the punitive comments on social media will end too. Johnny Depp won the defamation case and Amber Heard is burned & canceled everywhere.

Does this mean the politically correct side to be at is Johnny’s? In the first place, why should we take a side on this? It’s impressive how normalized it is to judge foreign processes. This case has also been proof of how misogyny sneaks in when a woman does something wrong, suddenly she’s completely canceled and unlike a powerful man, she’s broke too. 

This case has been extremely polemic, not only due to the visibility of the parts involved but also due to the wrong usage of the Me Too movement. Yet, does this make Heard the worst person in the world? She definitely needs help, but when will this stop being a Depp vs Heard battle? In fact, the final jury verdict was that they both harm each other. 

Greyscale 

Perhaps escaping the black & white, good & bad way of thinking is one of the hardest tasks. We were all raised under a binary thought that makes us automatically want to filter the world morally and obviously release a punishment over the part we don’t agree with. This case has only made visible how uncritical and extremist audiences can be, and how cruel cancel culture is. 

In 2019, Johnny Depp was the craziest and the worst man ever for violating Amber Heard, now, Heard is the worst woman in the world for defamation. Both Depp & Heard have lost and won followers & job opportunities over these years. But which version is the real one? Was Amber Heard abused or an abuser? Can she be both, and also be a mother, a woman, and a human being?

The truth is both Depp & Heard harmed each other and there’s juridic evidence of this. It’s also almost a fact that both of them carry on several important psychological issues that definitely appeared during the relationship and transformed into harm. 

But what is this, V from Vendetta? Maybe if the case wasn’t so public and people didn’t comment & cancel, none of the parts would feel the need to be so shady & punitive. Now that the trial is over, it’s time for people to start letting go of this binary thought over good & bad, human relationships are definitely more complex than that. 

Trial resolution 

The media is currently depicting Depp as a winner, but what happened in the courtroom? Now, we know none of them was completely innocent but what were the official results on this? There are millions of details but we can resume three important bullet points about this. In former trials Depp gave millions of dollars to Heard on damage repair, now jury members awarded Depp $10.35 million. 

Although Heard isn’t an innocent lamb and it was proven there was malice behind the article she wrote over Depp, she was also damaged. Heard suffered defamation from Depp’s lawyer, which awarded her $2 million. Right after the jury took its decision, Heard used Instagram to vent her feelings by sharing she was disappointed & heartbroken. 

While Heard lamented to herself, everyone was celebrating Depp’s freedom by shouting “Johnny, Johnny” effusively. Heard has also been open about how all this situation has affected her personal & professional life. Being in the public eye from a negative perspective isn’t only hard but can completely destroy someone’s life. Hopefully, hate stops being that hard over her after the Depp vs Heard trial ended.