Actor Johnny Depp married Amber Heard in 2015. It was a disaster. By 2016, they were divorcing and Amber was claiming that Johnny had been physically abusive towards her during their marriage. She even showed up to court one day sporting bruises she claimed had been inflicted by Depp.
The world and his dog rounded on Depp. He went from Hollywood's A-list to Tinseltown's black-list. J.K. Rowling got no end of grief when she cast him as Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them. And Disney has apparently decided to drop him from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.
It didn't help that in December of 2018, Heard penned an op-ed for The Washington Post which didn't mention Depp's name but discussed "her experience with abuse". A few months later Depp filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against Heard over the op-ed.
And it drags on and on and on. To complicate matters, Depp is also suing the UK tabloid newspaper The Sun for libel. Seems they called him a "wife-beater". Not surprisingly, he took objection to that.
Why might the suits be a big mistake? Let's take a look and see. In part, it comes down to this: Once you start slinging mud around, some of it invariably sticks.
Even If He Wins, A Lot Of Bad Stuff About Him Is Out There
Amber Heard's lawyers have reportedly lined up a stable of witnesses that are willing to say Heard was abused by Depp. If the case does not settle out of court, these witnesses will be put on the stand to tell their version of events. A lot of detail may come out. And it won't be flattering to Depp.
In addition to that, The Sun newspaper claims that it has copies of texts from Depp to his assistant asking for drugs just days before Amber Heard claims she was assaulted. They say the drug was probably ecstasy.
And, no doubt there will be more to come. Sure, some of it may be damaging to Amber Heard and her career. But Depp's career, currently on the brink, might be pushed into oblivion by the leaks and revelations. It's harder to stage a comeback if you are a 50-something (Depp), as opposed to a 30-something (Heard). The clock is ticking loudly for Johnny Depp.
Some say Depp should have learned his lesson on the hazards of filing lawsuits when he sued his managers for incompetence and mishandling his money. Sure, he settled it out of court in 2018, but not before details of what his managers termed his over-the-top spending were leaked. The $30,000 a month he supposedly spent on alcohol was bad enough. But he reportedly paid $200,000 a month for the use of a private jet, $1.2 million a year to keep a private doctor on call, and $75 million on 14 residences.
And let's don't forget the private island and what seemed like compulsive overspending on art. He came out of the suit looking like a man out of control, a man who was his own worst enemy, and a guy that had single-handedly blown $100 million of his $450 million net worth.
That's what happens when your dirty laundry gets washed very publicly. But he obviously didn't learn a thing from the experience.
Was The Heard Op-Ed A Bad Move Or A Deadly Trap?
Some say that Amber Heard's op-ed detailing her experience with abuse was a real cock-up on her part. Until then, Depp really had no grounds on which to sue her. Sure, she had said a lot of bad stuff about him in court during the divorce, but you can't really sue somebody for claims they made in court.
But others say that the op-ed was a trap intended to push Johnny Depp into taking action, knowing full well that if he did her accusations against him would once again go viral, further damaging his career.
Sure, she might be seen as a cheater and a liar, but that's not as bad as being suspected of being a drunken, drug-addicted wife-beater, is it?
If He Loses, It's All Over For Him
So, there's a lot of dirt flying around. That's bad enough. But if he loses to Amber Heard? It's going to be a complete melt-down of a disaster because, albeit indirectly, it reinforces Heard's version of events. Career over. Finished. Dead. He will become Johnny Depp the wife-beater forevermore.
The Sun libel case will be heard on July 7th, 2020. If his lawyers manage to talk the newspaper into settling out of court, it may be a kind of mini-victory for Depp. A win for Depp in court would bolster his chances of prevailing over Heard. But (and it's a big but) if Depp loses that one, it will be the first nail hammered into his professional coffin. A loss to Heard would finish off the job. That's why the lawsuit could be Depp's biggest mistake ever.
Win, lose or draw, it won't be the end of the lawsuit trail for Depp. According to his now-former managers, he has spent millions and millions on lawyers "to bail him out of numerous legal crises" and to pay "hush money".
He's just that kind of guy. If he loses, he may just be forced to retire to his 5-house compound in Los Angeles to contemplate his next lawsuit. Our money is on him suing the lawyers that lost him the case.