It’s no secret that Johnny Depp and his estranged wife Amber Heard’s divorce proceedings have been messy. With allegations of domestic abuse and bad publicity tarnishing Depp’s reformed bad boy image, it’s tempting to wonder why Depp and his lawyers aren’t giving Amber Heard whatever it is she wants to make the domestic abuse allegations disappear quickly and quietly.
There may finally be an answer. According to TMZ , Heard and Depp’s legal war has reached a stalemate , and things aren’t likely to thaw anytime soon. According to California law, Amber Heard is entitled to half of the money Johnny Depp earned during their 15-month marriage, minus living expenses and taxes. Heard and Depp’s lawyers settled on $8 million, including lawyers’ fees. The sum may seem generous, but it is reportedly far below the amount Amber Heard asked for. It is likely that no figure would make the process go faster, because Amber Heard wants more than money from Johnny Depp. She wants him to publicly admit that he abused her.
There’s a problem, Johnny Depp refuses to make any statement admitting to committing acts of domestic violence against Amber Heard, because according to him he never abused her. While Depp and his lawyers continue to refuse his ex-wife’s demands, Amber Heard has hired a new lawyer. Pierce O’Donnell, who represented Shelly Sterling the ex-wife of former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, is now representing Amber Heard in the divorce case.
If Johnny Depp and his lawyers are hoping that Amber Heard will drop her domestic abuse allegations soon, they might be out of luck. As previously reported by The Inquisitr, footage released Monday, August 15, 2016, tipped the scales of public opinion far in Amber Heard’s favor. In the video, which was apparently shot by Amber Heard on her cell phone, Depp angrily swears and grumbles loudly as Amber watches and asks what happened. As the video progresses, Depp slams cabinet doorsand seems to smash wine bottles. Near the end of the video, Depp fills a large glass with wine and grabs Amber Heard’s cell phone.
It’s unclear from the video whether Johnny Depp hit Amber Heard after the recording of the video, but it certainly seems like he at the very least picked up the cell phone and threw it across the room. Either way, the video paints an ugly picture of Johnny Depp as a potentially violent drunk with anger management issues, both of which are exactly the things Amber Heard has accused her ex-husband of being.
It gets worse. According to Hollywood Life , graphic images have emerged of a grisly injury Johnny Depp received during an argument with Amber Heard in March 2015. Around that time, news emerged that production of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales had to be halted because Depp received an injury to his hand which required surgery. Most media outlets assumed that the injury occurred on set, but the truth might be far more disturbing. Amber Heard claims that Johnny Depp, drunk and high on ecstasy, smashed several wine bottles, windows, and a plastic phone during the course of the argument. One of the items severed the tip of Depp’s middle finger. According to Heard, Depp then took the severed fingertip, dipped it in dark blue paint and scrawled “Starring Billy Bob and Easy Amber” on one of the bathroom mirrors. Allegedly, in a drunken rage, Johnny Depp refused to seek medical attention, and the tip of his middle finger could not be saved.
If Amber Heard is lying about the circumstances in which Johnny Depp lost his fingertip, it should be easy to prove. Film stars have to be insured by the production, and an on-set injury should have prompted at least some sort of injury, especially to the man who is arguably the film’s most bankable star. Yet, since the photographs of Depp’s injury have emerged, no sources have come forward to offer an alternative version of how he got hurt. All of this makes Amber Heard’s version of her troubled marriage seem more likely, and Johnny Depp’s silence more damaging.
[Photo by Jeff Spicer/Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images]