Johnny Depp Sues Ex-Wife Amber Heard, Says Abuse Claims Were A 'Hoax'

Johnny Depp is taking his ex-wife Amber Heard to court following her domestic abuse allegations.

As People reports, the actor filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against his ex on Friday (March 1), claiming her 2016 domestic violence restraining order and the Washington Post op-ed she wrote on December 18, 2018 about being a domestic abuse victim was a "hoax."

According to the lawsuit, Heard “purported to write from the perspective of ‘a public figure representing domestic abuse’ and claimed that she ‘felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out’ when she ‘spoke up against sexual violence. The op-ed depended on the central premise that Ms. Heard was a domestic abuse victim and that Mr. Depp perpetrated domestic violence against her.”

“Mr. Depp never abused Ms. Heard. Her allegations against him were false when they were made in 2016. They were part of an elaborate hoax to generate positive publicity for Ms. Heard and advance her career,” Depp's lawyers continued.

The lawsuit goes on to explain how her accusations are false, and can be proved as such by a "litany" of witnesses and surveillance cameras.

Heard's attorney responded with this statement: “This frivolous action is just the latest of Johnny Depp’s repeated efforts to silence Amber Heard. She will not be silenced. Mr. Depp’s actions prove he is unable to accept the truth of his ongoing abusive behavior. But while he appears hell-bent on achieving self destruction, we will prevail in defeating this groundless lawsuit and ending the continued vile harassment of my client by Mr. Depp and his legal team.”

Depp is suing for compensatory damages from the op-ed, claiming it ruined his career, as well as punitive damages for the “willfulness and maliciousness that Ms. Heard demonstrated when she knowingly published the op-ed with the false implication that Mr. Depp violently abused her.”

The couple met on the set of The Rum Diary in 2011 and were married from February 2015 to May 2016. The same month they filed for divorce, Heard filed a domestic violence restraining order against Depp after she accused him of abuse. The movie star denied her claims, and their divorce was settled outside of court in August 2016.

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