As if I needed more evidence that Amber Heard had crappy lawyers who gave her consistently terrible advice. Just weeks after Amber and Johnny Depp settled their epic divorce, we’re now learning that Depp had something special folded into the settlement: he wanted Amber to drop her defamation suit against his friend Doug Stanhope. Stanhope was and is Depp’s ride-or-die bro, to the point where Stanhope wrote an essay for The Wrap about how Amber is a manipulative liar who manipulated Depp and lied about being physically abused. Heard and her lawyers threw a defamation suit against Stanhope shortly after his op-ed was published. But now Amber has dropped it. TMZ reported it first, and they said that it was part of Johnny and Amber’s settlement talks. People Magazine had more details:
Now, just three weeks after Heard and Depp reached a settlement in their divorce, PEOPLE confirms that the actress has dropped the defamation suit against Stanhope. Stanhope’s attorney, David S. Gringas, tells PEOPLE that Heard and his client did not reach any agreement to settle the case. Furthermore, Gringas says that no money was exchanged between Heard and Stanhope, and that there is no confidential agreement between them. Gringas adds that he has not been in contact with Stanhope since the lawsuit was dropped, and says that given the comedian’s busy schedule, “I’d be surprised if he even knows anything about the conclusion of the case.”
According to the attorney, the dismissal “was negotiated as part of a larger deal between Ms. Heard and her ex-husband, Johnny Depp. Doug Stanhope is one of Johnny Depp’s closest friends, and it appears that Johnny was able to convince Amber to drop the lawsuit against Doug as part of a global resolution of their divorce.”
Gringas also notes that the case was dismissed without prejudice, meaning that Heard could re-file the lawsuit within one year of the date that Stanhope’s article was first published. “As far as we know, Ms. Heard has no plans to re-file the case against Mr. Stanhope, but that option remains available to her,” he explains.
In her initial court filing, Heard claimed that Stanhope “orchestrated a plot to write an article, which was published at TheWrap.com, which falsely accuses plaintiff Amber Heard of ‘blackmail’ and other criminal behavior towards her husband, Johnny Depp, from whom she is seeking a divorce.”
The actress called the claims “completely false and defamatory” and added that they have caused her “tremendous harm.” In a statement to PEOPLE, Heard’s lawyer, Charles J. Harder, had said that Heard planned to donate any potential jury awards to a domestic violence charity in Arizona.
Ugh. So not only did Johnny Depp manipulate Amber constantly throughout their marriage, he continued to manipulate her throughout the divorce settlement negotiations and he got almost everything he wanted? Like, I’m sure it hurt him to write a check for $7 million, which is why he didn’t sign the check to Amber, which was his legal f—king obligation. Everything about Johnny and his bros is so petty and weird. Also: the fact that the defamation lawsuit was even part of Johnny and Amber’s divorce talks just proves (to me) that Stanhope wrote the essay at Depp’s behest. So gross.
Photos courtesy of Getty, Fame/Flynet.
I hope Depp and Stanhope are partying at some point and Stanhope says or does something to enrage a drunken Depp and I hope there are lots of people around with cell phones.
Because Depp’s security would let people get away with footage of that, right?
I hope they’re too busy trying to break up the fight between Scarfy and Sweaty. The tape gets free, and everyone finds out about The Scarf Monster.
Lol, right, after this his team will be on lockdown. A girl can dream though.
I’m dreaming with you. And since were dreaming everyone in the audience at his standup shows gets up and leaves and Amber writes an editorial about it in the times.
That’s never gonna happen.
Legally, that lawsuit was always going to be a risk- her chances of establishing defamation were mixed, and any cross-examination focused on her character could have been very difficult.
Defamation is difficult and much of what he said was his opinion, not facts that could be subject to defamation laws. And the facts involved would have essentially meant going through proving abuse which is both difficult legally and emotionally. And the upside of proving it against Stanhope probably wasn’t worth the trauma of proving it. Sometimes a legal move that seems like giving up is the best thing for a persons actual life.
She was never going to succeed with this. Public figures have an insanely hard time successfully winning a judgement for defamation of character. That’s why when you hear about a celebrity suing a publication it is almost always a foreign one. Europe has stricter laws on what constitutes public interest and their courts don’t have the same open season mentality relating to public figures.
Amber is a public figure so she would have to prove actual malice which would be difficult. He was relaying what he saw and what his friend had told him so he wasn’t wrecklessly ignoring the facts. On top of that proving actual damages would be a problem. The industry she works in and the public is fickle, proving she lost money or opportunities because of what he said would have been nearly impossible, especially considering she was going through a high profile divorce at the time. As a public figure she is only entitled to restitution for economic damages. As opposed to a private citizen who can also seek damages for emotional suffering. She saved herself a lot of time, money, and heartache.
This was the right PR move. Filing the lawsuit was a show of strength, and withdrawing it after the divorce settlement is an act of magnaminity. Amber already demonstrated that she’s not after money, and at this point it’s time to move on. Leave the thin-skinned lawsuits to Tom Cruise.
Agreed. She’s more than proved her point about what she went through with Depp, etc.
She put Depp through an abuser’s worst nightmare – being exposed as one.
That’s sad but whatever. She exposed JD for what he is and that’s a win in my book.
Exactly!!
It puzzles me that it looks more and more like the settlement was completely on his terms. I mean only 7 million which is the minimum she can get, no houses no car like she originally asked, no spousal support plus she drops all her lawsuits. How possible would it be for him to have some actual evidence against her? His list sure didn’t look like a joke and of course neither did hers. I don’t know I’m still skeptical about the whole thing.I think both had a lot to hide. Definitely not black and white situation here.
I agree, this whole thing has always been gray. I’m not a domestic violence apologist, quite the contrary but this situation reeks of Sid and Nancy or the Joker and Harley: two f-ed up people with a million demons and dificulties, who had chemistry and created an atomic bomb. Depp was the first to lose it and Amber suffered the horrible consequences of it. I hope both see themselves for who they are and take a step towards better days.
Honestly, I think once she heard he was going to bring up things from the Australian case she knew that things were getting too real. She could have been put away for like almost ten years for smuggling in the dogs, so who knows what he knew about what she did to get out of that.
To me it seems more like a lawyer’s war. It all about qualification of both attorney teams, not so much about the subject.
This. Have you looked into Depp’s lawyers? He has the best of the best.
And it seems to me that Amber just wanted out, whatever it took.
YES. Why don’t more people recognize this?
If he had “something” on her, she would have gotten nothing, not $7M.
That’s impossible because she was entitled to get half of what he made during their marriage even if he had something on her, because they settled out of court.
@Ruth
I agree, exactly how I feel. They both had a degree of wrong things and secrets going on.
Unless you know their income and expenses during the time they were married there is no way to know what she was legally entitled to. In California all divorces are considered no fault divorces and the court cannot award you more because you have suffered abuse. We don’t know the number the court would have given her a judgment for (her
lawyers do) it was enough over that amount to keep her out of court. The fact she accepted a settlement you don’t like is not indicative of her having something to hide.
She only asked for temporary spousal support and housing and transportation until the divorce was settled. It is a common request when their is a huge disparity in income. It keeps the lower earner from being forced to take an unfairly low settlement out of desperation because they need money to support themselves, a place to live, and transportation. In their case they had two properties in LA and she wanted one to be “hers” throughout the divorce and when it was settled she would buy her own place and car.
If he really had something on her it would have been “accidentally” leaked to the public.
i don’t think she wanted the house or anything else. His fans have some court documents about this case with Stanhope and Amber changed her address before their settlement, back on July, it was informed to the court for this lawsuit against Stanhope
So it looks to me she just requested the apartment for their TRO until she recharged her battery and she were ready to move on with her life and after she just moved and wants nothing from him or their relationship
She wants to move on and be normal, right? So let her move on and be normal. Also I don’t see how trying to get your friend out of mess that they only got in because of trying to defend you is a bad look. Wouldn’t anyone do that for their friend?
This was the last thing binding them together and now she has no ties to her ex, everyone should be happy for her.
I agree and this is what is best for her well being. She would continue to be dragged through the mud for the duration of this lawsuit. Not to mention having to constantly relive the trauma. Best to let it go and move on. Holding on to a grudge against a worthless scumbag just lets them reside in your head, rent free.
I know I am going to get it in the neck for this, but she should just have filed a police report against Depp and handed the matter over the them to investigate. Trial by media is just BS.
I totally agree with you. Many DV victims don’t want to go to the police, true. But Amber went very public with the case and actually promised that she will go to the police and that she will go to court -Neither happened. Trial by media is BS.Justice through the court of law or through the police is what really matters. In fact if she had went to the police more people would have taken her seriously.Even now the majority doesn’t believe her and it isn’t only because Depp is loved but because she used the media more than the justice system especially. Then it was the deposition etc. Cases like this are serious and have no place in the public except of a few headlines just for information. This was handled in the worst way possible for everyone. Your opinion isn’t popular here but I’m with you.
I agree with you completely.
I also agree.
Her lawyers were bad from start to finish. Between that and the JD fandom who won’t believe that their precious star is anything other than an angel, she probably had enough after years of abuse and agreed to anything to get out and be done. The jerk couldn’t even let her have the donation moment unsullied. Not sure how that ended (as far as we know he can posture about how he wrote the bloody cheque, never mind that it was hers to write).
Amber, be well. Hope she improves her acting, hop she gets more modelling endorsement deals, although I wouldn’t be surprised if his team continues to derail her career.
People keep talking about how he is going to derail her career, but I wonder what career did she even have to derail? She was in the business ten years before they got together and her career went nowhere. When they got together she was able to use his connections to make some moves but even then people weren’t clamoring to work with her. Even in the big budget movies she got roles in no one ever really talked favorably about her performances. The award festival that invited her to present at could not even get her name right, remember “Amanda” and the film she did with James Franco she was billed as “Amber Herd” because they too couldn’t even bother to get her name right. This was when she had the most push and a chance to make something of her career and so far nothing has happened.
If she can’t make a dent with this role in Justice League she most likely won’t have a career and that won’t be because of Depp, but because, as you pointed out she can’t act. Plus she doesn’t have the charisma to even have people that work with her remember her name let alone the public.
Minorly ot, but have you all seen his latest perfume commercial? It’s so disturbing. There’s this random shot of him burying something in the desert and all I could think about was his creepy hands. He looks pretty refreshed (not his teeth) in the face. Who knows what sorcery they used to make that happen. Yuck.
That ad came out a year ago.
Did it? I wonder why it’s being run in such heavy rotation now.
Shame. Doug Stanhope is pretty hilarious imo.
Yeah, I used to really like him; I saw him live in 2010 and owned his albums. I wish I could return them.
So happy for Amber that she is out of this shit show. Hopefully Depp and Disney feel the grossness of their choices in their bank statements.
I can’t say if her lawyers are bad or not. People forgets that the only thing informed was the settlement for her to drop the restraining order and to agreed to continue with their divorce privately. They aren’t divorced yet and the fact that almost 3 weeks after their settlement she drops the lawsuit against Stanhope and not right after their settlement in mid August, shows to me that their lawyers are still tying the loose ends of their divorce and negotiating
It’s obvious that whatever she would sign, Johnny would make sure she drops every chance to bring him to the court so she must have renounced to a civil lawsuit against him too.
But like Harvey said several times at TMZ Live here is a confidentiality agreement and we don’t know what she’s getting under that confidentiality agreement, we only know the 7 million that were made public and that his team seemed angry at her with her press release for the donation because she again insinuated the domestic violence and that’s the forbidden topic for them.
I think that Amber is a poor tactitian. As this case started I wrote that she’s lost it but didn’t know it yet.
So she exposed Depp, yes? I don’t think so. The way he donated the money is anything but admission. I take it actually as a big warning sign attached to her name. So what happens if there is a next occasion of DV? Will she be believed? How many would think that Depp was possibly, may be framed? How many would think it’s about money because she got nothing the last time?
I would have donated the money and only THEN showed the receipts ala KK.
I hope this mess was not the advice of her team because it’s the worst publicity I can think of. But that leads to :Amber is a poor tactitian.
ROFLMAO “Framed” Dirty depp wasn’t framed honey but if you wanna troll keep believing that
I think we’re missing a bigger piece of the puzzle. Amber doesn’t come off as someone who can be manipulated. She has always said she was an independent woman, she made it in Hollywood on her own. Something else went on here.
It says it was dismissed with predjudice, that gives her the right to refile, if she does, then she has a case, she will finally get on a witness stand under oath and tell her story. Something the public has been waiting for her to do for a long time.
I don’t see how she would agree to this unless something happened in those negotiations that really crumbled her case. I saw both their evidence lists and there seemed to be some damning evidence against her from her friend via text messages. Raquel Pennington has deleted all her photos from her IG which is strange and iO Tillet Wright has unfollowed Raquel and other Amber’s friends on social media.
If Johnny Depp did something illegal with that money, he would be brought back to court. I think people should leave Amber alone and stop trashing on Johnny, this is only hurting her career. They put out a joint statement and she wished him well. I for one wish them both well. I believe it was a terrible marriage and we will never know what went on but nothing was done illegally or done without Amber’s consent as far as this is concerned. She’s a tough woman and will prevail. I wish no ill on either party.
I am looking at Raquel Pennington’s IG right now and she hasn’t deleted all her photos at all. There are photos of her with Amber and IO on there too, so there doesn’t seem to be any kind of falling out there.
After Depp and Amber settled their case out of court I figured this suit would go away. Its not a surprise that dropping the suit was part of the settlement deal too. If you are Johnny Depp and agreed to pay $7 million in order to avoid being put on trail for domestic violence why would you allow yourself to be put on trial for DV in another case, essentially? Its not even about protecting Stanhope its about Depp protecting himself from being called an abuser in a case not directly involving him but where he is a key figure (and would be called to testify and be deposed most likely). Obviously see why he wouldn’t want that.
There is no way Amber could pursue the case without putting Depp on trial through Stanhope. The heart of Stanhope’s article was the DV accusations Amber leveled against Depp. He called her every name in the book to try and discredit those accusations and protect Depp’s reputation and control the damage being done to him. That is what Amber’s suit against Stanhope was about, she was the DV victim being defamed by one of the abuser’s friends in order to protect the abuser; that is the angle she was going to take the case if you read the documents of the suit filing. She filed against 20 John Does too, to potentially take on Team Depp if she had to.
So once she settled and dropped the restraining order filing how the hell would she go about pursuing her case against Stanhope? Her options would’ve been severally limited in what she could present to the jury without torpedoing her settlement agreement with Depp. So why would it even be worth it? What would the point even be? Especially if she settled with Depp in order to move on with her life.
So yeah, its obvious why she dropped this suit.
It’s interesting that other sites are reporting that Depp and Stanhope are long-time best friends when they met a mere 3 years ago and shared maybe a few shallow get-togethers. And now Depp has moved on, sailing around with other new best friends.
Ms. Heard probably consented to whatever Depp’s counsel desperately asked for against her attorney’s advice just to get out and move on lest she was embroiled in even more sickness.