It’s no secret that Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s relationship is a problematic one. The ex lovers are still currently facing off against each other in battle of defamation lawsuits about who abused who during their relationship and marriage that already ended in 2016.

Johnny and Amber started dating in 2012. They announced their engagement in 2014. The two tied the knot the year after in a private wedding ceremony. In 2016, Heard filed for divorce from Depp and accused him of physical abuse. She said that on May 21, shortly before filing for divorce, Depp hurled his phone at her, leaving her with a wounded face. According to a police official, an examination into the domestic incident radio call revealed that no crime had occurred. Depp refuted the allegations and said Heard was "trying to secure a premature financial resolution by alleging abuse" through his representatives.

The divorce resulted in a 7 million dollar settlement after Heard withdrew her restraining order for domestic violence request. The ex lovers released a joint statement saying: "Our relationship was intensely passionate and at times volatile, but always bound by love. Neither party has made false accusations for financial gain." It continued: "There was never any intent of physical or emotional harm."

Their divorce was finalised in 2017. However, Amber Heard seemed to want to drag the issue further for the years to come. She wrote for the Washington Post: “I became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our culture's wrath for women who speak out." but she didn’t mention her ex spouse. Depp sued Heard for what she wrote in the Washington post. 

Depp’s lawsuit said that Amber Heard “is not a victim of domestic abuse, she is a perpetrator," and denied that Depp ever abused her. Instead, the suit said that Heard's allegations were part of an "elaborate hoax to generate positive publicity" for the actress. The lawsuit went on.

In 2020, phone recordings of Amber Heard admitting to hitting Depp were released. However, three months after the lawsuit began, the judge ruled that Depp was violent towards Heard. The judge referred to 14 incidents that justified that Depp was in fact a “wife beater”. Because of this rule, Depp lost film projects such as his return in Fantastic Beasts. He posted to instagram after the ruling,"My resolve remains strong and I intend to prove that the allegations against me are false," Depp added. "My life and career will not be defined by this moment in time."

In 2021, Johnny Depp was once again denied permission to appeal against the high court ruling by the Court of Appeals in London.

Their 100 million lawsuit in America began in April of 2021, and it dragged on to 2022. The court case began with opening statements from their separate lawyers. Depp took a stand in court and said that Amber Heard had a “need for violence” during their relationship. He said that “possessed” Amber Heard severed his finger with a bottle after an argument.

In a pre-recorded deposition shared in court, Dr. Laurel Anderson, Depp and Heard's former couples therapist, classified the relationship as jointly abusive – an assessment that has sparked debate. According to some specialists, mutual abuse is a fiction, and Depp and Heard's relationship was one of reactive abuse, with power imbalances favoring Depp. Other experts argue that abuse is not always conducted by a single person and that power imbalances are not always present.

Their ongoing trial has turned into a series of pointing fingers to be gossiped about by the whole world. So, who abused who? 

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