Can Actors Johnny Depp, Amber Heard Save Their Careers?

Can Actors Johnny Depp, Amber¹ Heard Save Their Careers?

After a fiery² six-week libel trial followed by millions of people, actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard face the same task: rebuilding their images and careers.

Depp won his lawsuit³ against Heard, his former wife, in a civil claims court in the state of Virginia on Wednesday. He had accused her of defaming him in a piece she wrote published by The Washington Post newspaper. To defame means to harm the public's opinion of someone, especially by saying things that are false or unfair.

The jury agreed that Heard defamed him by accusing him of abusing her.

"Depp has a hill to climb. Heard has a mountain to climb," said Eric Dezenhall, a crisis mitigator⁴ in Washington, D.C. He had no involvement in the case. Dezenhall added that if Depp "understands that he's unlikely to hit his former heights, he can have a solid career if he takes things slowly."

The difficulty for Heard, Dezenhall said, is that some people believe she abused and perhaps even damaged the #MeToo movement.

In her 2018 newspaper piece, Heard identified herself as a domestic abuse victim. She did not directly name Depp in the piece. However, she had already been accusing Depp of abuse for two years when the piece was published. Depp and Heard were married for 15 months between 2015 and 2016.

The jury found that Depp had been defamed by three statements in Heard's opinion piece. The jury awarded the Pirates of the Caribbean star more than $10 million.

Jurors also found that Heard was defamed by Depp's lawyer. He had claimed that she created a hoax⁵ to support her abuse accusations⁶. She was awarded $2 million.

Some experts believe Depp's decision to sue Heard was an attempt to increase his star power after he lost an earlier connected case in a court in Britain. He had sued British newspaper The Sun for libel after it described him in a story as a "wife beater."

"I think the defamation⁷ case was a Hail Mary," said David Glass, a family law lawyer in Los Angeles. A "Hail Mary" is a decision to do something that has only a small chance of success.

Depp sued Heard for $50 million over the piece in The Washington Post in which she called herself "a public figure representing domestic abuse."

Heard countersued Depp for $100 million, accusing the star of defaming her through his lawyer Adam Waldman.

Many of the last days of the trial centered on the effects of both claims. Depp said in court: "I lost nothing less than everything" Heard accused him of trying to destroy her ability to work.

"Now as I stand here today, I can't have a career," Heard testified at the close of the trial. "I hope to get my voice back. That's all I want."

But the images raised by the trial may remain regardless of the court's decision. Depp was presented as a physically⁸ and sexually abusive aging actor dependent on drugs and alcohol. Heard was presented as mentally ill and someone who made marks on her body to look as if she was beaten by Depp.

Throughout the trial, Depp's fan base remained solid. Fans often slept outside the courthouse overnight for the chance to attend the trial. Heard also had fans at the court, but there were far fewer.

Danny Deraney has done crisis public relations for some of Hollywood's #MeToo accusers. He said men are more likely than women to find new work in the entertainment industry "when it comes to forgiveness and when it comes to the things that they've done."

He added: "I think it's going to be easier for Johnny. For Amber, whether she's innocent or guilty or whatever it is, it's going to be difficult."

Danielle Lindemann is an assistant professor of sociology at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. She said Depp's ability to earn a lot of money had already been affected⁹, whether due to his own self-destruction or Heard's accusations.

"But I don't think he's 'canceled,'" said Lindemann, writer of True Story: What Reality Says About Us.

The damage to Depp's career is also likely to be a lot less severe in Asian and European markets, where his popularity remains¹⁰ strong. And he is likely to still get work on smaller, independent productions that he has enjoyed throughout his career.

Since the former couple began accusing each other of wrongdoing, Heard has faced intense backlash on social media. She said Depp fueled campaigns to get her fired as an ambassador for the L'Oreal makeup¹¹ company and cut as the character Mera from Aquaman. However, a movie official testified that Heard will appear in the film, which is set to come out next year.

Depp's future is unclear in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, something he has blamed on Heard's accusations. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer has said that two more Pirates films are in development, but neither will include Depp's character Captain Jack¹² Sparrow. That part earned the actor an Oscar nomination¹³.

Words in This Story

libel –n. the act of publishing a false statement that causes people to have a bad opinion of someone

defame –v. to cause others to have a bad opinion of a person by saying something that is false or unfair

mitigate¹⁴ –v. to make something less severe or painful

domestic –adj. something taking place or found in the home

hoax –n. an act meant to trick or deceive people

Hail Mary –n. a last minute attempt at something that has little chance of success

backlash –n. a strong public reaction against something

fire –v. to dismiss someone from their job

1 amber   

n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的

参考例句：

• Would you like an amber necklace for your birthday?你过生日想要一条琥珀项链吗？
• This is a piece of little amber stones.这是一块小小的琥珀化石。

2 fiery   

adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的

参考例句：

• She has fiery red hair.她有一头火红的头发。
• His fiery speech agitated the crowd.他热情洋溢的讲话激动了群众。

3 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

4 mitigator   

n.缓和者

参考例句：

5 hoax   

v.欺骗，哄骗，愚弄；n.愚弄人，恶作剧

参考例句：

• They were the victims of a cruel hoax.他们是一个残忍恶作剧的受害者。
• They hoax him out of his money.他们骗去他的钱。

6 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

7 defamation   

n.诽谤；中伤

参考例句：

• Character defamation can be either oral or written.人格诽谤既可以是口头的也可以是书面的。
• The company sued for defamation.这个公司因受到诽谤而提起诉讼。

8 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

9 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

10 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

11 makeup   

n.组织；性格；化装品

参考例句：

• Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。
• Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗？

12 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

13 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

14 mitigate   

vt.（使）减轻，（使）缓和

参考例句：

• The government is trying to mitigate the effects of inflation.政府正试图缓和通货膨胀的影响。
• Governments should endeavour to mitigate distress.政府应努力缓解贫困问题。