Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's legal battle continues as the divorced movie stars face off in a $50 million (or more) libel trial.
The trial began April 11 in Fairfax County, Virginia, outside Washington, D.C., with a panel of 11 – seven jurors and four alternates.
Depp, 58, is suing Heard, 35, for $50 million, alleging she defamed him in an opinion column she published in the Washington Post in December 2018.
In the column, she claimed to be a victim of domestic abuse, a claim she first raised during their corrosive divorce proceeding in 2016 in Los Angeles.
Heard never proved she was abused because Johnny Depp and Amber Heard divorce was settled out of court in the midst of a media uproar.
And the settlement statement they jointly issued said in part: "Neither party has made false accusations for financial gain."
Ahead of the trial, Heard shared a statement on Instagram informing fans she will be "offline for the next several weeks" while in Virginia.
"Johnny is suing me for an op-ed I wrote in the Washington Post, in which I recounted my experience of violence and domestic abuse," She Wrote
"I never named him, rather I wrote about the price women pay for speaking out against men in power." She further wrote
I continue to pay that price, but hopefully when this case concludes, I can move on and so can Johnny." Amber Heard continued
Depp and Heard will eventually take the stand along with testimony from as British movie star Paul Bettany and American film star James Franco and mega-billionaire Elon Musk.
Following the end of his relationship with Vanessa Paradis, Depp began dating actress Amber Heard, with whom he had co-starred in The Rum Diary (2011).
The couple married in a civil ceremony in February 2015. Heard filed for divorce in May 2016 and obtained a temporary restraining order against Depp.
She alleged in her court declaration that he had been verbally and physically abusive throughout their relationship, usually while under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Elon Musk’s name was dragged into the trial by Depp, who accused him of having an affair with Heard during his famous 2020 libel case.