Was Johnny Depp A Victim of Domestic Abuse?

This is something we are seeing debated a lot. For some reason, despite all the video and audio evidence proving his innocence, there are many people who believe Johnny Depp wasn't a victim of domestic abuse. Instead, he was the abuser. I wrote something similar in response to the question of if Britney Spears was a victim of human trafficking. I figured I could write something similar in regard to the Johnny Depp case. Now, I'd like to clarify that I am NOT a professional in this area. I do not claim to be. What I am basing my knowledge on is what has been shared in the trial, in addition to previous videos/audios that were released, as well as the research provided in this article. Understanding how domestic abuse works will clear any misconceptions regarding the issue.

Related: Was Britney Spears A Victim of Human Trafficking?

What is domestic abuse? As defined by the Center for Family Justice, domestic abuse is "a pattern of coercive, controlling behavior that is a pervasive life-threatening crime." From the research I have done, the two main categories for domestic abuse are physical and emotional/mental. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, "1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have experienced some form of physical violence by an intimate partner." Regarding emotional abuse, the Ananias Foundation shared that nearly 49% of both men and women experience at least one form of psychological aggression by their partner. How does this tie into Johnny Depp? Going off of what Johnny has shared in his testimonies, the evidence shown during the trial, and previous videos, here is what proves that Johnny was, indeed, abused by Amber Heard. 

I'll first focus on the physical aspect of domestic abuse. Physical abuse can include shoving, hitting, punching, intimidating, slapping, and many others. Johnny discussed several times Amber was physically abusive to him. He mentioned during one of their arguments, he ran into their bathroom. Amber was trying to push the door open, while Depp tried to push the door close. He described hearing Amber scream in pain. Believing he might have slammed the door into her foot, he bent down to look under the door to see if he did. Amber then slammed the door open into Johnny's head. There's also the whole story of Amber destroying Johnny's finger. When she threw a bottle of vodka into his hand, tearing off the top of his middle finger. That finger had to be reconstructed. One Tik Tok video that has gone viral was actress Dakota Johnson noticing how disfigured Johnny's finger was. Johnny told the courts, "I knew in my mind and in my heart: this is not life... No one should have to go through this." These are just two horrible examples of the physical abuse Johnny experienced. 

Related: Johnny Depp: The Case for Male Victims of Domestic Abuse

How about emotional/psychological abuse? A common misconception surrounding domestic abuse is that it's only violent. This is also a common characterization of how human trafficking works. In actuality, just like human trafficking, domestic abuse includes emotional abuse. Manipulation, name-calling, humiliation, putting you down (in private or public), these are all examples of emotional and psychological abuse. Throughout the trial, we have heard separate testimonies from numerous people, discussing how Amber verbally abused Johnny. Johnny's sister, Christi Dembrowski, recounted the time that Johnny told Amber how Dior contacted him to work with him. She stated that Amber's reaction was the following: "Dior, why would Dior want to do business with you? They're about class and style and you don't have style." Dembrowski also stated she had heard numerous insults to Johnny from Amber. In a separate testimony from Depp's trial against The Sun in 2020, a former employee described hearing Amber call Johnny "a fat, old man." Again, these are just a couple of examples, but there are more. 

Something I would like to note, and this is something that has been happening to other conservatives who have chosen to openly support Johnny Depp, is that we shouldn't be. After all, he did say, "When was the last time an actor assassinated a President?" Obviously the reference was towards former president, Donald Trump. I don't support what he said, nor do the conservatives standing with Johnny support what he said. I wouldn't be alright if James Woods said that about Barack Obama or Joe Biden. Calling for violence against someone else for no reason is wrong. This case isn't what that is about though. It's much more than politics. Conservative or liberal, I think everyone agrees what Johnny Depp experienced was horrid.

Now, Amber has taken the stand, and personally, nothing she's said makes me believe her anymore than I did before. I don't doubt we won't have some revelations about Johnny. However, if you listened to the audio, watched the videos or testimonies, you'd see that Johnny was the victim, not Amber. Unfortunately, and this is something even Johnny has said, the damage was done. His career and name will never be the same. I do wonder how this will play out, and who will truly come out victorious. Hopefully, Johnny will be the one who wins.