Johnny Depp defamation trial against Amber Heard to begin Monday

nypost.com:

Amber Heard and Johnny Depp will kick off Monday in Virginia court — where the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star is suing his ex-wife for $50 million claiming she defamed him in a 2018 op-ed.The star-studded witness list for the Fairfax County trial includes everyone from Elon Musk to James Franco and the warring ex-couple themselves.At the center of the case is the piece that Heard, 35, wrote for the Washington Post, in which she spoke out about being a victim of “sexual violence.” While Depp is not named in the op-ed, the actor who once made upwards of $20 million per film, says it ruined his reputation and career after it was widely assumed Heard was writing about their five-year relationship.Defamation cases as high-profile as this one are usually litigated behind closed doors, but a jury of 12 Virginians will ultimately decide whether they find Heard’s allegations credible.Just days after Heard’s op-ed published, Disney dropped Depp from its “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, which collectively grossed more than $4.5 billion in the box office.

And after losing his 2020 court case in UK against The Sun — over its description of Depp as a “wife beater” — the actor withdrew from his role in the Harry Potter spin-off “Fantastic Beasts,” apparently at the behest of Warner Bros.Unlike the case in the UK, which had fewer witnesses but where the judge ruled that Depp had physically abused Heard, the case in Virginia has a lengthy witness list and is expected to last six weeks.Jury selection in the case starts Monday.Heard has claimed that Depp was always the aggressor and any physical response from her was to defend herself, while the actor has accused his “sociopathic” ex-wife of being the perpetrator of the violence that.