It’s only been three months since everything was resolved between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. It feels like it’s been a lot longer, right? It was just this summer when the back-and-forth between their camps heated up to a crazy level. They came to an agreement at the end of August, where Depp agreed to pay Amber $7 million in their divorce. She announced her plan to donate the entire sum to charity, and then Depp decided to “donate” the sum “on her behalf.” We haven’t heard much from Amber since then, and I wondered if part of the divorce agreement involved a non-disclosure agreement. Well, I guess not, because Amber Heard recorded a PSA about domestic violence, and she’s saying full-on that she was a victim of domestic abuse.
She says, in part:
“I guess there was a lot of shame attached to that label of ‘victim.’ It happens to so many women. When it happens in your home, behind closed doors, with someone you love, it’s not as straightforward. If a stranger did this it would be a no-brainer. If I hadn’t had a few people that I really trust around me, a few women support, a few friends. If I hadn’t had them around me, how different my life would be. As a women having gone through this in the public stage, in the public arena that I did it in, I have a unique opportunity to remind other women that this doesn’t have to be the way it is. You don’t have to do it alone. You’re not alone, and we can change this.”
“We need to take responsibility for how we talk about these things. The only way people are going to feel comfortable coming forward, raising their voices and standing up for themselves, is if we change the system in place that keeps them quiet. Speak up, speak up. Raise your voice, your voice is the most powerful thing and we, together, as women standing shoulder to shoulder cannot and will not any longer accept silence.”
I think it’s great that A) she apparently didn’t sign a confidentiality agreement and B) that she’s using her experience and her platform to speak, educate and advocate for women. I’ll admit it, Amber surprised me throughout this whole year. This time last year, I thought she was a vapid trophy wife. Now I look at her with so much sympathy – she was being constantly manipulated and abused by one of the biggest movie stars in the world, and she found a way to stand up for herself. Not only that, but she found a way to expose him. Props to her.
One other thing: a week ago or so, the Hollywood Reporter announced that Amber was being sued by producers for her part in the apparently disastrous production of London Fields. Amber filmed London Fields a while back, when she was still with Depp, although the film has been in post-production purgatory for more than a year. Heard is being sued for demanding costly script rewrites, and for not promoting the film at any film festivals. It’s a weird lawsuit – you can read about it here.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I love this woman and really admire her for this. Then I remember that her abuser ex was cast in the Fantastic Beasts franchise and want to go vomit.
He was cast before the divorce.
Welcome to the man’s world.
According to TMZ, she did sign a confidentiality agreement but she’s not directly mentioning him in this video so it’s okay.
How is using someone that has a verifiable record (that they tried to have erased) for abusing her own ex a good idea for this? Yes, I know her ex dismissed the abuse but no one would care if a guy’s ex-girlfriend dismissed the abuse he leveled at her and was now on good terms with her. He would still be considered an abuser. If anyone read the report it says how some of Tasya jewelry was broken during the fight and she was visibly upset. I know someone will bring up what Heard said about the arresting officer being homophobic, but the arresting officer was actually a lesbian that has worked for years to stop abuse in the LGBTQ community.
Also is anyone else getting a Katherine Heigl vibe from her and this new lawsuit? Why agree to do a script that asks for nudity and sex scenes, especially when the source material is full of sex and nudity and the character she agreed to play is called a nympho, take the money to play said role as it was written but then with the director conspire to change it without the permission of the people whose money is being used to make said movie? That’s f-ed up and unprofessional. Just give up the role if you no longer agree with it.
Also, the fact that this should pop up on her friend’s organization site, that has nothing to do with domestic violence, right after this new lawsuit is not going unnoticed by me.
receipts?
It was covered here this summer: http://www.celebitchy.com/489240/amber_heard_was_arrested_for_domestic_violence_against_tasya_van_ree_in_2009/
yes, thanks. but i meant the bit about the cops that tasya herself called homophobic and misogynist not being true. i can’t find any evidence of that, other than the cop saying ‘i’m not misogynist and a homophobe because i’m a lesbian’ which means nothing at all.
You are just going to have to google because every time I have tied to post links in the past the comment never gets accepted. Sorry.
Is she any less of a victim in this situation with Depp? She was being abused, and even his assistants knew. Instead of helping her, they text her to forgive poor widdle Johnny, he just can’t help himself.
Her message of saying something, of reaching out to get help, is so important. There will never be a perfect messenger.
Maybe because one person’s past doesn’t erase another person’s present behavior? Since the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard situation played out so publicly, she’s a recent victim on people’s minds, and a lot of people (not just Hollywood enablers, but MRAs, desperate Depp fangirls, and other everyday basic misogynists) were pushing the typical “This Lying, Manipulative Gold-digging thirsty fill-in-the-blank is just trying to ruin this poor, innocent popular guy’s future” narrative, she’s a good choice.
It doesn’t seem like abuse is a subject were anyone needs to cry ‘reverse sexism’ on, by the way. Our current president-elect and the fact that there are still people upset about Depp being exposed shows just how normalized men abusing women still is in society and how much people are willing to overlook it.
Nice try Jinni as usual but just stop it with the Depp ass kissing for once! THE MAN HAS NEVER DENIED ABUSE OR EVEN DEFENDED HIMSELF EVER. And about that “abuse” which wasn’t really that. DV in the 4th degree in Washington means that if you even if you just grab somebody and a “reasonable” person finds it offensive then you can be arrested with or without injury or witnesses.Research before you victim blame.And it WAS Tasya that said that the people in power position came off as misogynistic and homophobic NOT that one lesbian cop.And her she was never even charged and the “Victim” defended her years after they broke up and said she has the up upmost respect for her! She not on Amber’s payroll like Depp’s leeches that defended him.But if you want to talk about records then let’s talk about your boy Depp who’s had multiple arrests for violent drunken outbursts. You clearly don’t like Amber and that’s okay but let’s not turn that hatred into victim shaming please. You sound really pissed that your Little Lost Scarf-Boy was outed for the SCUM that he is and have to blame Amber for outing him. I’m glad she did this psa because people like you and that SCUM that she married won’t silence her!!
SCUMber said she still loves Johnny and wishes the best for him in the future. She (and her leeching friends) never said he’s a bad person, quite the opposite. And he did deny her claims, so did the police who examined her and found no evidence of abuse.
His “multiple arrests” had nothing to do with DV, BTW. All his exes say he was never abusive.
I have some complicated feelings about that video.
I believe Johnny Depp abused her. And I, too, gained a lot of respect for her throughout the messy process of her divorce. But something about her in that video comes off as weird to me. It’s just kind of off. But maybe I was viewing it with an unconscious bias, still secretly not wanting her abuse claims to be true? And who am I to say how victims should talk about their abuse experiences? Idk.
She comes off affected in this video just as she did in the dog scandal apology video. I have had the same feeling as you in that this seems more like a performance than coming from a place of real emotions. I felt the same way when she was reading the letter from the rape victim during the Glamour awards. When Gabby and Frieda were reading, it felt natural. When she was reading her part I felt like I was watching a parody of a dramatic reading.
I think she comes off as someone who’s fighting to not cry. I didn’t get a weird feeling from it – it seemed like she was forcing her words out to keep herself from crying – it seemed pretty genuine and painful to me.
this.
@Erin: That’s exactly how I interpreted .
That’s how it came across to me too, Erinn.
I sound just like that on camera (because I can’t act, tried to do a psa a few years ago, also an issue I cared about so it was genuine but looked fake and affected), maybe she looks that way when she is not working – she isn’t that good an actress after all (although miles ahead of me, obv). I believe her though, abuse is so widespread for this exact reason – victims don’t look a certain way, victims don’t behave a certain way, they have nothing in common, abuse isn’t picky, abusers look just like everybody else, that’s the catch
This is very responsible of her. Follow-up did need to happen. And I see her being very vulnerable in that video…. Moving. Thanks for reporting on this.
Anyone in an abusive situation– Trust those moments of clarity. Take care of yourself. It’s so hard. You are strong.
According to TMZ there’s a non-disclosure agreement between them…but she doesn’t seem afraid to speak out for some reason. Maybe she knows the last thing Depp would want it would be to open the door again for her to continue leaking videos or pictures if he sues her back now for violating their NDA. Still kudos to her for being bold and to not accept silence anymore
About the lawsuit. I read is part of another suit between the director and the producer and that’s the reason why she’s being sued, because she refused to cooperate in anything of the movie because she and the rest of cast took the director’s side. The director sued the producer the past year (which pulled out the movie from some film festivales) because the producer edited and presented his own cut of the movie and is highly inflamatory
I watched this psa and it made me cry. I have been there too and it was just nice to hear her say some stuff about these abusive situations – the whole, “I’m not a victim, I am strong, I am smart . . . ” and “if a stranger did this . . . it would be a no brainer” – I have felt those exact things myself. I am glad she did this psa. Thank you, Amber.
I agree, those were really powerful points and I am glad they were made.
We are some judgey bitches toward women who come forward to discuss being terrorized and having the crap beat out of them.
Ugh.
The human race is awful and hateful.
Let’s parse the victim and her motives until words have little to no meaning.
But hey, I hear johnny depp has a new franchise.
She’s right about silence enabling abuse. This must have been hard for her to do, knowing how some people might react, and yet she did it. At a time when the US president-elect has encouraged violence against women, and men are acting ever-more-openly on his permission, Amber Heard comes across as especially courageous.
👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
I’m impressed. I’m impressed by how she has handled this over all.