American actor and producer, Johnny Depp has been allowed to move forward with his defamation lawsuit against ex-wife, Amber Heard.
He is suing his ex-wife over a 2018 Washington Post op-ed where Heard wrote about surviving domestic violence. Although the actress did not name Depp in the op-ed, she accused the actor of domestic violence amid their 2016 split. The actor denied this accusation.
Court documents have revealed that a Virginia judge, Chief Judge Penny Azcarate, granted the actor the right to pursue his lawsuit. This denied Heard’s supplemental plea to dismiss the case.
In November 2020, Depp lost his lawsuit against British tabloid, The Sun. The article referred to Depp as a “wife-beater.” The court upheld the outlet’s claims as being “substantially true.”
Heard’s plea to dismiss Depp’s lawsuit came as she argued the U.K. judgment should hold sway on the proceedings in the U.S. since both lawsuits center on allegations of the actor as an abuser.
Instead, the judge rejected the actress’s plea, saying while Heard’s op-ed and The Sun’s article may be similar. Heard claims that the statements made by the tabloid and her op-ed are “inherently different.”. However, the judge maintained that they are related to claims of abuse.
Judge Azcarate wrote in her ruling,
“The Sun’s interests were based on whether the statements the newspaper published were false. [Heard’s] interests relate to whether the statements she published were false.”
In her December 2018 op-ed, Heard wrote, “I became a public figure representing domestic abuse. And I felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out.”
This is following the Pirates of the Carribean actor’s claim that Hollywood is boycutting him.
