Johnny Depp Tried To Get Amber Heard Fired, Got Himself Fired Instead
Johnny Depp was trying to get Amber Heard fired from Aquaman 2, and it sounds like it backfired.
This article is more than 2 years old
Amber Heard has been in the news over the last few months, but not for reasons she (or really anyone) would ever want. The ongoing battle with her ex-husband Johnny Depp has spilled out and over into the media with basically all aspects of their relationship being litigated in both court and the court of public opinion. It’s been a total mess from start to finish. And the hits keep on coming with recent word that Depp might be trying to take Heard down with him with respect to their employment. He’s been fired and he wants her fired as well.
The issues between Amber Heard and Johnny Depp go back quite some time. After co-starring with Depp in The Rum Diary the two started dating a year later and moved in with each other. They were eventually married in 2015. It was basically all downhill ever since and the writing was mostly on the wall in 2016 when she filed a restraining order against Depp.
It was from this restraining order where accusations of abuse at the hands of Depp started coming to light with Amber Heard even appearing at the courthouse with bruises on her face. Eventually, they finalized a divorce in 2017 and reached a settlement for Depp to pay Heard $7 million dollars. That should have been the end of things, right? Nope, and not by a long shot.
The pair’s embattled relationship was put out in the public sphere again when the British tabloid paper, The Sun, printed an article calling Depp a “wife-beater”. Depp sued The Sun for defamation and libel because of the choice of words and over the summer the case went to court. This move backfired in rather sad and spectacular fashion.
Because Depp tried to prove the allegation was false, essentially the defense was forced to prove Depp was, in fact, an abuser, and Amber Heard was even brought in to testify. What followed were disturbing allegations with specifics around their relationship. Some got a good chuckle like Depp being passed out covered in ice cream after a binge-drinking session. But other details were anything but funny. The Sun’s legal team outlined numerous incidents of both physical and verbal abuse on the part of Depp as well as making the case that he’d been abusing both drugs and alcohol during his brief marriage to Heard. When it was all said and done, Depp lost the case against The Sun with all of the horrible details of his relationship and actions aired out in the public sphere.
The case closed against Amber Heard and The Sun on November 2nd and it didn’t take long for Hollywood to begin distancing from Depp. First the Pirates of the Caribbean folks informed him that he would no longer be part of the franchise’s reboot. This wasn’t all that earth-shattering considering Depp would only have been reprising his Captain Jack Sparrow role in a cameo.
The bigger “you’re fired” moment came just a day later when it was reported he was also being fired from his role as Gellert Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 3. Depp reportedly was rather gracious (at least publicly) with this news and announced it over Instagram. But, as we said at the top, he didn’t want to be the only one out of work. Depp contended that Amber Heard should have also gotten the ax as well.
Amber Heard most recently starred in the adaptation of Stephen King’s The Stand. But that’s not where Depp was shooting. Warner Bros. controls Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them but they also own the DC Cinematic Universe, including the Aquaman movies. Heard starred in the original alongside Jason Mamoa as Mera, the Queen of Atlantis. And she’s slated to reprise the role in Aquaman 2 which has been announced for a 2022 release. Depp contends that the negative publicity that resulted in his ouster should be applied to Heard as well.
Depp also has claimed that Amber Heard levied abuse against him during their relationship and that if he needed to exit the Warner Bros. productions, she should have been given the same treatment. Some fans of Depp have seen it the same way, calling for Heard to be removed from the production. As of right now, it doesn’t appear Warner Bros. has plans to follow through with that, and Heard is currently still cast as Mera.
In all, this whole story has been a disaster for all sides and is unlikely to go away anytime soon with Amber Heard likely heading back to court for Depp’s $50 million lawsuit against The Washington Post. That case is almost definitely headed for trial. With so much negativity, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Warner Bros. eventually follow through on Depp’s request for Heard’s firing just to save themselves the PR nightmare.
