Last week, the court saw Amber Heard testify in the $50 million defamation case her ex-husband Johnny Depp filed against her.
Johnny Depp is suing Amber Heard for alleged defamation after his ex wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post in 2018, claiming she was a public face of domestic abuse. Although Heard never mentioned Depp by name, the actor is claiming he has lost work since the article was published.
Heard has now come back filing a $100 million countersuit, claiming Depp and his legal team have defamed her by calling her allegations false.
A trial consultant and body language expert, Susan Constantine called Amber’s testimony “bad acting”.
“She is not truthful and most of what she’s saying is a lie,” Constantine said.
“This is such bad acting, I don’t know how she’s going to get a movie role after this.”
However, Constantine doesn’t think Heard is lying about everything.
“I think that when she described the headbutt, she was being truthful,” Constantine went on.
“I do think he was verbally degrading at times,” she added.
First Amendment lawyer George Freeman told Fox News this case may actually be incredibly difficult for Depp to win.
“When a public figure sues, it’s much more difficult to win,” Freeman explained. “He has to prove what was going on inside her head, that she knew she was lying.”
Depp has to convince the jury that Heard’s allegations actually damaged his reputation.
When a private person sues for defamation, the person only needs to prove negligence or carelessness.
Compared to a private defamation case, Depp’s lawyer has to prove that Heard was actually referring to her ex-husband in the op-ed. Heard’s lawyer, Ben Rottenborn has argued that even if that can be proven, the jury only has to agree that Depp verbally abused Heard in order for him to lose the case.
Considering what we’re heard so far, that seems pretty achievable.
Civil and matrimonial lawyer Marilyn Chinitz who represented Tom Cruise and Michael Douglas in their divorces said: “I think they’ve both damaged themselves in this lawsuit,”
“You don’t get a favourable feeling about either of them.”
More to come.
