Has Johnny Depp Completely Ruined His Career?

A court has just ruled that it’s ok to refer to Johnny Depp as a ‘wife beater’ in the press.

The ruling has been a huge blow to Depp’s reputation after years of really public disputes with his ex-wife, Amber Heard.

So, what led to this moment?

And How Did Johnny Depp, One of Hollywood’s Absolute A-Listers, End Up Becoming Such A Controversial Figure? 

The case that just ruled against Depp started in 2018 when the British newspaper, The Sun posted this headline on their website.

The headline criticised Depp’s casting in the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them franchise and called him a “wife-beater”.

They were referring to allegations from Amber Heard that he’d physically attacked her multiple times throughout their marriage.

Depp sued the paper for defamation, but he lost.

Ashley Spencer: “The judge really, really sided with Amber Heard in this. He basically dismissed the case … He threw out a lot of Johnny Depp’s claims that Amber had been the one kind of, instigating the violence … and it had been a mutually toxic relationship. The judge kind of, threw that back at him and said, ‘you’re the perpetrator’.”

That’s Ashley Spencer, she’s an entertainment reporter and she filled me in on the ins and outs of this whole story.

The case was pretty ugly and there were a lot of details of the actors’ relationship aired in an extremely public way.

But the final verdict has really been held up as a win for domestic violence survivors.

So, What Actually Led To This Moment For Depp? 

His relationship with Amber Heard was reportedly volatile and there have been a lot of lawsuits, as well as sniping through the press.

Heard’s abuse allegations against Depp came to light properly after they filed for divorce, when Heard also filed a restraining order against him.

She said that Depp had regularly beaten her, and some pretty disturbing photos of the alleged abuse emerged.

Then in 2018, Heard published a column in the Washington Post talking about her experiences as a domestic violence survivor and how she was treated by the press.

That seemed to seriously piss Depp off and he filed a defamation suit against her for 50 million US dollars.

AS: “In doing that and going after the media in that way, he really opened himself up to continue the narrative and continue having these gritty salacious stories come out … and I don’t think that’s been great for anybody’s image.”

So, What Has Happened To His Image? 

Ashley said that Depp has always been a Hollywood ‘bad boy’, and kind of presented himself as the counter-culture Brad Pitt through the height of his fame.

That grungy, partying image proved to be really successful and he’s had these crowds of diehard fans defending him throughout all of this, saying that Heard is the one to blame.

But Ashley said, regardless of what people believe happened within their relationship, Depp has acted incredibly poorly in public towards Heard.

AS: “This has all played out in a post #MeToo world, so this is post-Weinstein. You’re seeing one of the most powerful men in Hollywood – one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood – using that on a world stage to speak out against this woman and drag her through the mud … I don’t think that plays out very well in this day and age, to seem him do that.”

 It’s kind of unclear what will happen to his career from here but whatever ‘bad’ reputation Depp had before has taken an incredibly dark turn.

The Takeaway

Losing this defamation case in the UK was a huge blow to Depp’s reputation, in what has been a very long saga.

And his public disputes with Heard – and all of the details that have now been exposed about his behaviour – might mean that Hollywood turns away from him.